Teaching Citizenship: New Demands on Schools

Today, schools, especially at the initial and basic education levels, are required to have a curriculum that guarantees citizenship training in a cross-cutting and meaningful manner. The central objective of this study is to understand how the curricular intentionality of citizenship training is undermined by training requirements, the lack of conceptual and didactic elements, and the poor preparation of teachers in this area of education. From a qualitative approach, teachers of early education from institutions in the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia, participated in structured interviews. It was noted that citizenship training is diluted in educational routines and in the absence of a correspondence between curricular principles and the possibilities for their realization in the family and social environment of children.