Teaching Democracy: Youth, Citizenship & Political Science

Dates: September 3-4, 2008
Call for Papers Deadline: July 18, 2008
Location: London, United Kingdom
Website: http://cep.rhul.ac.uk/news-and-events/

Teaching Democracy: Youth, Citizenship & Political Science Education will be hosted by the Centre for European Politics at the Windsor Building, Royal Holloway, University of London (Egham Campus).

An International Conference to be held on 3-4 September 2008 – Call for Papers
Politicians  and  academics  have  become  increasingly  concerned  about  the  rise  in  political disengagement amongst young people in the UK. In the 2005 general election, only 37% of 18 to 25 year olds voted compared with 67% of the general population, and political parties have suffered from rapidly  falling  and  ageing memberships  of political parties. Youth-centred  studies have nevertheless shown  that,  though most  young  people  do  not  engage  in  electoral  politics,  they  remain  interested  in political  issues  (more broadly defined). This  is  illustrated by  the dramatic  increase  in  students  taking
politics A-levels and in applications to political science programmes in HE. 
 
This conference will consider the role of political science education in universities and investigate the synergies that can be found between pedagogical and participatory goals (the civic mission of HE). It also  looks at  the outreach of civic education beyond HE and seeks  to draw on experiences  in other countries. The call invites papers on three connected themes:

1) Young People’s Politics: the audience
- the state of youth participation in democracy and the nature of young people’s politics 
- how students’ concepts/experiences of politics can be incorporated more effectively into courses/the curriculum

2) Teaching and Learning in Political Science Education: teacher-student-course interaction
- the state of political science education today (e.g. does it facilitate interactive learning?)
- teaching & learning techniques to encourage experiential learning and constructively aligned curricula

3) Teaching Democracy: outreach 
- potential outreach of political science education across universities (through HE)
- how political science dept.s can combine teaching activities with participatory activities both on and off campus
- the state of politics/ citizenship education in schools - potential outreach to schools e.g. citizenship classes
 
The conference will  take place over  two days  (3-4 September 2008),  include keynote addresses  from both  academics  and  policy-makers. A  number  of  the  papers will  be  collected  for  submission  to  a special issue of the Journal of Political Science Education. The fee for the conference will be £20 and will include refreshments/ lunch on both days. The deadline for 250 word abstracts is Friday 18 July 2008  to be sent to the conference organisor and co-director of  the Centre  for European Politics, Dr James Sloam (james.sloam@rhul.ac.uk).