Australian Teachers as Democracy Workers

Abstract

Most visions of democracy recognise the important role played by educators and education systems in ensuring that young people are both informed and capable and willing to act on that knowledge by exercising their democratic rights. This means that teachers, and especially those working in formal educational institutions, have a key role to play in the development of an active and informed citizenry. Yet teachers are often limited in their capacity to do this well—either through their own lack of knowledge, or through policy constraints that limit their agency. In addition, popular (and populist) media often presents teachers as either unintelligent or apathetic, or dangerous liberals. This chapter seeks to reframe this debate and show how teachers might embrace their role as democracy workers. It does this by, firstly, outlining the challenges facing educators as a whole, and the teaching of civics and citizenship in particular. It then describes how teachers might enact their role as exemplars of active—and perhaps even activist—citizens, and to do so in a way that encourages the development of active citizenship amongst their students.