Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Confucian Conception of Citizenship Education

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education

Abstract

This chapter examines a Confucian conception of citizenship education by focusing on Confucius’ teachings and actions as recorded in the Analects (Lunyu). Confucius’ belief in the historicity and potential of human beings motivates him to emphasize the inheritance, acquisition, critical reflection, and appropriation of traditional knowledge for citizenship education. He balances teacher directiveness and student autonomy by foregrounding human beings as both recipients and creators of their own culture. Three main characteristics of a Confucian worldview of citizenship education are highlighted in this chapter: first, that the goal of citizenship education is to nurture junzi (exemplary persons) who perform their social roles and participate actively in their communities in accordance with zhengming (rectification of names); second, that a Confucian citizenship education curriculum reflects a “thick” conception of human good through a substantive framework of beliefs and values that centers on dao (way); and, third, that a recommended pedagogical approach, as demonstrated by Confucius, is dialogue to foster reflective citizens. A Confucian conception of citizenship education as outlined in this chapter debunks the perception that Confucius and Confucianism necessarily promote authoritarian leadership, unquestioning obedience to authority, passive citizenship, and political indoctrination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abowitz, K. K., & Harnish, J. (2006). Contemporary discourses of citizenship. Review of Educational Research, 76(4), 653–690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackerly, B. A. (2005). Is liberalism the only way toward democracy? Confucianism and democracy. Political Theory, 33(4), 547–576.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amadeo, J.-A., Schwille, J., & Torney-Purta, J. V. (1999). Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies from the IEA civic education project. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callan, E. (1991). Pluralism and civic education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 11(1), 65–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, W. (1995). Education and democracy: Confronting the postmodernist challenge. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 29(1), 75–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chou, C. P., & Spangler, J. (Eds.). (2016). Chinese education models in a global age: Transforming practice into theory. Singapore: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cogan, J. J., & Derricott, R. (1998). Citizenship for the 21st century: An international perspective on education. London: Kogan Page.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick, B. (1998). Education for citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools: The final report of the advisory group on citizenship. London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

    Google Scholar 

  • Criddle, E., Vidovich, L., & O’Neill, M. (2004). Discovering democracy: An analysis of curriculum policy for citizenship education. Westminster Studies in Education, 27(1), 27–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, W. K. (2001). The future of values education in the Pacific Basin. In W. K. Cummings, M. T. Tatto, & J. Hawkins (Eds.), Values education for dynamic societies: Individualism or collectivism? (pp. 277–290). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, W. (2010). Private tutoring and mass schooling in East Asia: Reflections of inequality in Japan, South Korea, and Cambodia. Asia Pacific Education Review, 11(1), 14–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elstein, D. (2009). The authority of the master in the Analects. Philosophy East and West, 59(2), 142–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galston, W. (1989). Civic education in the liberal state. In N. L. Rosenblum (Ed.), Liberalism and the moral life (pp. 71–88). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, R. (1996). Identity, culture and environment: Education for citizenship for the 21st century. In J. Demaine & H. Entwistle (Eds.), Beyond communitarianism: Citizenship, politics and education (pp. 42–63). Houndmills: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo, S., & Guo, Y. (Eds.). (2015). Spotlight on China: Changes in education under China’s market economy. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, D. L., & Ames, R. T. (1987). Thinking through Confucius. Albany: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, K., & Scull, W. (2010). Confucian culture in the mainstream classroom: A case study of an Asian American student. The International Journal of Learning, 17(1), 601–616.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, M., & Lian, K. F. (1995). The politics of nation building and citizenship in Singapore. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J., & Morris, P. (2010). Towards a framework for critical citizenship education. The Curriculum Journal, 21(1), 77–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, K. J. (2004). Searching for citizenship values in an uncertain global environment. In W. O. Lee, D. L. Grossman, K. J. Kennedy, & G. P. Fairbrother (Eds.), Citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and issues (pp. 9–24). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, D. (1999). Citizenship education in the curriculum: An international review. The School Field, X(3/4), 5–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, K. H. (2004). An attempt to elucidate notions of lifelong learning: Analects-based analysis of Confucius’ ideas about learning. Asia Pacific Education Review, 5(2), 117–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, T. (2009). Confucianism, modernities and knowledge: China, South Korea and Japan. In R. Cowen & A. M. Kazamias (Eds.), International handbook of comparative education (pp. 857–872). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S. (2010). Confucian citizenship? Against two Greek models. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 37(3), 438–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lai, K. L. (1995). Confucian moral thinking. Philosophy East and West, 45(2), 249–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, W. O. (2004a). Concepts and issues of Asian citizenship: Spirituality, harmony and individuality. In W. O. Lee, D. L. Grossman, K. J. Kennedy, & G. P. Fairbrother (Eds.), Citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and issues (pp. 277–288). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, W. O. (2004b). Perceptions of citizenship qualities among Asian educational leaders. In W. O. Lee, D. L. Grossman, K. J. Kennedy, & G. P. Fairbrother (Eds.), Citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and issues (pp. 137–155). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, C. (2006). The Confucian ideal of harmony. Philosophy East and West, 56(4), 583–603.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, T. H. (1992). Citizenship, diversity and education: A philosophical perspective. Journal of Moral Education, 21(3), 235–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (2013). Education and democracy in the 21st century. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuyen, A. T. (2001). Confucianism and the idea of equality. Asian Philosophy, 11(2), 61–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuyen, A. T. (2002). Confucianism and the idea of citizenship. Asian Philosophy, 12(2), 127–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Dwyer, S. (2003). Democracy and Confucian values. Philosophy East and West, 53(1), 39–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, A., & Brock, C. (2017). Citizenship. In F. Moghaddam (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of political behavior (pp. 84–86). Thousand Oaks: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483391144.n46.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Roh, Y. R. (2004). Values education in the global, information age in South Korea and Singapore. In W. O. Lee, D. L. Grossman, K. J. Kennedy, & G. P. Fairbrother (Eds.), Citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and issues (pp. 257–274). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shih, C.-y. (2014). Relations and balances: Self-restraint and democratic governability under Confucianism. Pacific Focus, 29(3), 351–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shils, E. (1996). Reflections on civil society and civility in the Chinese intellectual tradition. In W.-m. Tu (Ed.), Confucian traditions in East Asian modernity (pp. 38–71). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sim, J. B. Y., & Print, M. (2005). Citizenship education and social studies in Singapore: A national agenda. International Journal of Citizenship and Teacher Education, 1(1), 58–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slingerland, E. (2003). Confucius Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spina, N., Shin, D. C., & Cha, D. (2011). Confucianism and democracy: A review of the opposing conceptualizations. Japanese Journal of Political Science, 12(1), 143–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C. (2007). Islam and citizenship education in Singapore: Challenges and implications. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 2(1), 23–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C. (2008). Creating ‘good citizens’ and maintaining religious harmony in Singapore. British Journal of Religious Education, 30(2), 133–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C. (2013a). Confucius. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C. (2013b). For group, (f)or self: Communitarianism, Confucianism and values education in Singapore. Curriculum Journal, 24(4), 478–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C. (2017). To be more fully human: Freire and Confucius. Oxford Review of Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1391763.

  • Thomas, E. (2002). Values and citizenship: Cross-cultural challenges for school and society in the Asian Pacific Rim. In M. Schweisfurth, L. Davies, & C. Harber (Eds.), Learning democracy and citizenship: International experiences (pp. 241–254). Oxford: Symposium Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyack, D. B., & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C. (2016). Individuality, hierarchy, and dilemma: The making of Confucian cultural citizenship in a contemporary Chinese classical school. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 21(4), 435–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westheimer, J., & Kahne, J. (2004). What kind of citizen? The politics of educating for democracy. American Educational Research Journal, 41(2), 237–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, L., & Yang, J. (2016). The classical image of Confucian teachers from the Analects and Xueji. In X. Di & H. McEwan (Eds.), Chinese philosophy on teaching and learning: Xueji in the twenty-first century (pp. 97–120). Albany: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yung, B. (2010). Can Confucianism add value to democracy education? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 1919–1926.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhai, Y. (2017). Do Confucian values deter Chinese citizens’ support for democracy? Politics and Religion, 10(2), 261–285.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Policy and Leadership Studies, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Charlene Tan

Authors
  1. Charlene Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charlene Tan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Andrew Peterson

  2. University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Garth Stahl

  3. University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia

    Hannah Soong

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Tan, C. (2020). A Confucian Conception of Citizenship Education. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67828-3_17

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation