1 Introduction
Immigration is the ‘new normal’ for many children and young around the world, and it is impossible for these children and young people to foresee all
Schools and local communities are the settings in which many of the acculturative struggles of immigrant young people unfold, and these settings have traditionally served as the vehicles for the acclimatization of immigrants in Europe. Thus, local community and school activities that focus on developing civic values have the potential to help assimilate immigrants into the local environment. They can provide the opportunity to prevent destructive behaviours and intervene directly in the primary environment which shapes the immigrants’ experience, providing lasting and far-reaching learning experiences. Isolation and frustration lead to different emotional disturbances and to behaviours that contradict generally accepted norms.
Two European projects that support citizenship education are relevant for this chapter: project EUCiTec, which was run in several schools in Poland, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom; and the ICT Guides project implemented in local communities in Gothenburg (Sweden), Madrid (Spain), Sheffield (United Kingdom), and Berlin (Germany).The results of these projects show that local communities can provide an avenue for engaging school students in activities that promote civic values by using information and communication technologies (ICT).
In this chapter, we will present how educational activities using ICT undertaken by local communities outside of the school context can promote attitudes that support learning with others, mutual understanding, and education for citizens. We claim that research on cultural issues in globalization and radicalization within social relations are crucial to understanding and explaining ‘learning’. The advancing technological revolution, especially in the area of sociocultural communication, has produced new perspectives on public involvement and citizenship. In this sense, new learning communities and practices have appeared that can be perceived as a new way of participating in culture, classically understood as a
(Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952, p. 181)
[…] patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour, acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action.
In this new way, a new type of social and cultural interaction is created by ICT in the online environment. Learning with ICT tools promotes the building of subjectivity; self-determination; awareness of internal, social and cultural potential; and enables knowledge-sharing and the participation of various entities in their sociopolitical reality as it is broadly understood. For its participants, ICT-based learning makes it more likely that they will accept the binding patterns of civic activity in their society and that they will abide by the general rules for social behaviour. ICT-based learning further helps participants build their status as citizens and their sociocultural relationships based on trust and cooperation.
2 Learning Civic Attitudes to Live Together in Society: The Sociocultural Perspective
Society and culture shape the mind, they provide people with tools thanks to which they function efficiently in the world, but also create a concept of self and possibilities. Learning always are embedded in a cultural environment which constitutes its important context. It refers to formal learning but mostly to informal learning.
As Livingstone (1999, p. 51) points out, informal learning can be defined as ‘any activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs outside the curricula of educational institutions, or the courses or workshops offered by educational or social agencies’. This kind of learning may not have specific learning objectives. Informal learning may occur at the initiative of the individual, but also happens as a by-product of organized activities, which may or may not have learning objectives. On the other hand, in formal learning, information is exchanged between teachers and learners. Informal learning takes place spontaneously in the course of various sociocultural activities, with knowledge being constructed through the human relationships embedded in the culture. In some cultures, the importance of learning
The direct sources of modern thinking about learning can be found in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the field of psychology was seeing intensive development while fast-growing industry and new industrial theologies required educational solutions that could prepare young people and adults quickly for the new challenges arising on the job market (Lengrand, 1975). The search for new methods of learning included not only psychology, but also sociology, cultural studies, management, and anthropology.
At various times, different theories of learning in society and culture have been developed by Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Benjamin Bloom, David Ausubel, and Howard Gardner. These theories are still important today for planning actual educational processes and inspiring further research. In relation to immigrant youths, they are linked with a phenomenon of early school leaving that has a social and cultural complexion. Early school leaving is a multi-faceted problem caused by a cumulative process of school or training disengagement. It starts at different levels educational path and has got individual, usually personal reasons. Young people leaving education and training prematurely usually are coming from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, from vulnerable groups, this includes young people with special needs, or with migration background. The risk of early school leaving is closely linked to the lower socioeconomic status of migrants, language barriers and their limited access to sufficient learning support. That is why migrants need to be offered educational opportunities which support prevention and intervention when school or training disengagement occurs. (Lubeck & Garrett, 1990, pp. 325–340; Finn, 1989, pp. 135–142; Fagan & Pabon, 1990, pp. 306–354; Traag & van der Velden, 2011, pp. 56–62).
Constructivism, especially social constructivism, can be regarded as the genesis of these theories. Its founder, Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), assumed that learning is a thought process taking place in relation with culture. Social relations, cultural norms, and values have a strong impact on learning and even intensify the process (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). According to Vygotsky, the most important element in children’s learning is the development of their learning skills, that is, the tools enabling the full use of their potential. A child’s ability to think clearly and creatively, to plan, to implement plans, and to communicate
This strong connection between learning and culture was also emphasized by Jerome Bruner. In his opinion, learning takes place in interactions with culture, which affect better understanding of cultural processes and their course (Bruner, 1963, 1973). Children’s active participation in social and cultural practices is the main condition for discovery learning as a technique of enquiry-based learning and is considered to be a constructivist approach to education. The more a child treats learning as discovering (as opposed to simply memorizing), the more it will develop a tendency towards autonomous learning in the future.
Both Vygotsky and Bruner are representatives of the sociocultural approach to learning. According to these two psychologists, learning is not memorizing but critical reflection on one’s own social position, interactions, and place in culture. Understood in this way, learning leads to social and cultural integration as well as active and creative participation in social and cultural practices.
A detailed exemplification of the sociocultural approach to learning is the concept of cosmopolitan learning developed by Rizvi (Rizvi, 2009, 2014; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). It resonates strongly with immigrants and is worth recalling, especially regarding reasons for early school leaving. Referring to the sociocultural determinants of learning, Rizvi postulates that learning should draw on experiences formed at the intersection of ethnic and social origins and the interpersonal interactions taking place at the global level today. The result of such learning is a ‘morally coherent fashion’ (Rizvi, 2009, p. 258). In his opinion, ‘if learning about global connectivity is to become cosmopolitan, then it must have the potential to help students come to terms with their situation in the world—the situation of their knowledge and cultural practices, as well as their positionality in relation to the social networks, political institutions and social relations that are no longer confined to particular communities and nations, but potentially connect up with the rest of the world’ (p. 264). According to Rizvi, the movements driven by globalization on the one hand and by immigration on the other are not complete opposites but have many similarities, which can be explained as follows. With migration, the movement
Rizvi underscores the importance of recognizing that the globalization of the political, economic, and cultural arenas has a strong impact on how immigrants relate to the world on a daily basis. As a consequence, new rules for responding to the exertion of influence within political, economic, and cultural dimensions have arisen. Therefore, learning needs to become more cosmopolitan to enable immigrants to enter new modes of thinking. Learning can foster personality traits such as criticality, critical and independent thinking, and creativity. Immigrant learners are permanently confronted by the social and cultural conditions of their new places of residence. Moreover, a deeper approach to learning can enable the development of a personal understanding that can encourage the development of qualities in their ways of thinking. With regard to the theoretical framework outlined above, the general conclusions for preventing immigrants from leaving school before completing their education can be summarized as follows:
- –Learning is a lifelong process: Due to globalization, migration, and general social mobility, formal education is not able properly to equip pupils with the knowledge that will sustain them over time and that will be suitable for various social and cultural contexts. Therefore, learning is perceived as a lifelong process, taking place in institutions and in society and culture simultaneously, involving all generations and methods. As new information and communication technologies begin to play important roles in contemporary children’s and young people’s lives and become an important part of culture, mediating and creating relationships between people, so they should also be deployed in learning.
- –Changing attitudes to learning: People always move in real or symbolic social structures, and building a social life helps shape these structures. Learning appears as an activity determined by life experience and as a process entangled in qualitatively new social situations. The results are a permanent changing of relationships between the individual and the outside world. The character of individuals’ learning is influenced by the culture in
which they live as well as by agents of socialization. Therefore, the connections between learners and their culture are important. Culture offers people specific development opportunities (aside from other opportunities) that are available to communities participating in different cultures and in other interpersonal relations. Framing this assumption around the issue of reasons for immigrants’ early school-leaving and how to prevent it suggests the hypothesis that if education was not perceived as a positive value in the society or culture in which immigrants grew up, they will continue to perceive it negatively. Attitudes to education can, however, be changed through learning in a new society and culture consisting of relatively stable and inherited traditions, norms, patterns of behaviour, and material possessions. - –Learning underpinned by research: Cultural studies and critical research into the processes of globalization and radicalization are necessary to understand and explain learning (Rizvi, 2009, pp. 253–268). Therefore, learning and other educational activities should be planned simultaneously with research. This will not only allow the results of learning to be better identified but will provide a better understanding of learning processes and enable future educational activities to be optimized.
- –Harness insights from the sociocultural approach to learning: The sociocultural approach to learning does not fully explain or resolve the problem of immigrants leaving school before their education is complete. However, knowledge of the main assumptions of this approach can be used to explain the course of learning and development and to identify the origin and symptoms of the radicalization of views and attitudes. This knowledge could also be helpful in planning and implementing preventive measures.
3 ICT as a Sociocultural Construct
The role of ICT in education is becoming increasingly important and well recognized, which is evidenced by multiple research projects and scientific studies. Online worlds have quickly gained in popularity with children and young people, have become part of popular culture, and can be considered a sociocultural construct. Online platforms allow people to communicate and provide them with information and resources. However, apart from functioning as a communications channel, they are a social space in which people meet and form communities (e.g. chat, ICQ, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter messenger, MOOC, Cloud, LMS, webinars, Educasting podcasting, forums, virtual classrooms, online games, etc.). The development of ICT and virtual, online spaces has significantly transformed the ways in which we
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The modern world is confronted with a huge number of threats with potentially catastrophic consequences on a continental scale. None of the threats is a new phenomenon, but their accumulation and scale of intensity in recent years have increased mainly due to globalization and technological development. There are many reasons for this and they form a complex set of issues and problems that the search for solutions is extremely difficult. However one tendency is expressive: formal and informal education has been recognized as an effective and feasible tool for counteracting terrorism and protecting against it. Preparing society to properly behave and respond to terrorist threats has become a priority of education in many European countries and USA.
Preventing radicalization should be at the centre of educational activities both in and out of the school environment for two reasons: first, because radicalization is a destructive process, and second, because it takes various forms and is sometimes confused with other unfavourable processes.
Therefore, education has a special role to play in development of citizenship. Moreover, research results on the challenges of societies in the twenty-first century shows that the health and stability of European democracies does not depend on good governance of the state as much as on development of the values of their citizens (Sas et al., 2020; Schuurman & Taylor, 2018; Youngman, 2018; European Commission, 1998;). In the opinion of Sas et al. (2020, p. 1),
Research has shown that radicalized individuals are not uneducated, but have often completed secondary or tertiary education. Additionally, it became clear that some extremist groups consider the school environment as an attractive recruitment place. These findings led to a new approach where the education sector is considered as a prominent partner in preventing and combating the radicalization of young individuals.
In the context of citizenship education, the need for a sense of responsibility, solidarity, and tolerance towards the common good of humanity as a whole is emphasized. Citizenship in this sense is a competence that should be developed in schools and beyond: in families, peer groups, and in the neighbourhood.
Citizenship, according to Antal (2008), has functioned as a tool of legitimization and as a way of excluding and discriminating against different groups such as ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities. For Enslin (2000), citizenship confers membership, identity, values, and rights of participation. Concepts of the
In the context of education for citizens, the term ‘active digital citizenship’ is used. To Hoskins (2006), active citizens participate in community life and values, political life, and civil society, and the term ‘active engagement’ in the context of citizenship encompasses a range of actions such as voting, protesting, and participating in the everyday life of the community. Recently, digital citizenship has become the focus of research. Studies on this topic emphasize the need for education in responsible citizenship (Berson & Berson, 2004). The multidimensional concept of digital citizenship assumes technical skills, local and global awareness, networking agency, internet political activism, and critical perspective (Choi, 2016). Another important aspect of digital citizenship is working with others, which is directly associated with a person’s proficiency with ICT tools (Aesaert et al., 2015; Livingstone & Helsper, 2009).
For several years now, the European Commission has run different initiatives to promote youth actions in support of social cohesion and the promotion of equality and mutual understanding. Prevention of the radicalization of young people is also now of growing concern in Europe and beyond in both formal and informal transnational projects. One example of European transnational cooperation that takes a holistic approach to the promotion of social cohesion through citizenship education is the three-year (2017–2020) Inspiring European Citizenship through Educational Technology (EUCiTec) project, developed by higher education institutions (HEI s) and schools from Poland, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom (project number 2017-1-UK01-KA201-036710). The project uses the idea of virtual reality and online tools supporting civic education in schools. For Dioniso (2013), virtual realities, also called virtual worlds, are ‘computer-generated simulations of three-dimensional objects or environments with seemingly real, direct, or physical user interaction’ (p. 38). The distinctive features of virtual realities are imagination, immersion, and interaction (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003): users can explore structures that only exist online to practice or experience certain tasks and activities.
According to the definition by Sherman and Craig (2003), virtual realities are a medium composed of interactive computer simulations. Students using such media are users, or participants, that simulate actions to gain a feeling of being mentally immersed in the simulation or virtual world. The idea and the benefits of virtual realities have been recognized by the military, architects, and doctors, among others. With the EUCiTec project, they are now also being explored as part of citizenship education in schools. The project’s
Project implementation and effects were evaluated using a quantitative approach (Clarke et al., 2013). The aim was to estimate to what extent educational practices and innovative digital resources developed in the project allow young people to explore, develop, and practice citizenship in a safe environment representing real-world contexts that deal with issues of direct relevance to them, their lives, and their growth as citizens in a pluralistic democracy. Our study has a diagnostic nature focused on the description of the values and features of dependent and independent variables, and the results obtained are the basis for formulating judgments about the presence or absence of relationships between variables. The main findings indicate that virtual environment of citizenship learning meets the needs of youth to use online tools in curricular activities in school environment. These learning opportunities with ICT tools have become a compelling activity for youth, particular those with language difficulties (i.e. with specific language impairment or language difficulties that relate to immigrants’ backgrounds). Such programs prove previous findings on youth in digital environment, that they are ‘Digital Natives’ (Prensky, 2001), ‘the Net Generation’ (Tapscott, 2008), and ‘Millennials’ (Howe et al., 2009) and want to use virtual learning opportunities in school education, more often than it is present in curricular activities.
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Another project conducted in Europe that supports sociocultural learning using digital technologies is the ICT Guides project (see Leek & Rojek, 2019, 2020, for a previous publication of this section, including more detailed findings from the ICT Guides project). Compared to the EUCiTec project, the ICT Guides project supports civic education in out-of-school environments using the concept of intergenerational learning with digital tools, such as tablets and mobile phones. The idea of running the project in Gothenburg (Sweden), Madrid (Spain), Sheffield (United Kingdom), and Berlin (Germany) was influenced by the high percentage of young people, especially immigrant young people, at risk of early school leaving (ESL) in these cities. In addition, these cities also feature a high percentage of older immigrants who are perceived as being at risk of social exclusion because of their age. The main aim of the project was to help young immigrants to acclimatize to their new homes and to develop their sense of citizenship by helping them run a series of ICT courses for older people on how to use their mobile devices. Accompanying the courses was a research study on the challenges in supporting young immigrants through intergenerational learning in order to increase their success at school.
The ICT Guides project was conducted in 2017 and 2018 as a set of ten ICT courses bringing together immigrant young people and native adults in the four participating cities. It sought to answer the following question: how can ICT tools and intergenerational learning facilitate a mutual understanding between newly arrived immigrant young people and older, native adults so that they can live together in one society? To answer this question, a mixed research approach was adopted, with qualitative and quantitative research being conducted simultaneously. In our understanding, the social world is not empirically measurable and society is not simply the sum of its individuals. Therefore, intergenerational learning can be understood and explained as a phenomenon embedded in culture, which is the exonormative matrix of the behaviour of individuals and groups. Based on this assumption, the main concept of the ICT Guides project was to use our understanding of intergenerational learning in relation to culture and to encourage immigrant young people to develop and conduct digital courses for unrelated older adults. The research concept included baseline (before the courses started) and endline (after courses finished) qualitative questionnaires. In choosing this approach with two questionnaires we applied a process perspective (expectations
The project showed that ICT tools are very useful and indeed necessary during the first few months of school education in a new country or in a new social environment when young people are facing new challenges. They allow immigrant pupils to keep in touch with their families and friends and to adjust to their new realities. During the courses, the use of ICT tools in intergenerational classes reduced social and personal barriers between young people and older people and facilitated their learning about each other. It turned out that most immigrant students are fluent in the use of ICT technologies and tools such as smartphones, tablets, laptops. This proficiency is their strength, and it can be leveraged by teachers in schools and in informal education (e.g. street working). On the other hand, there is a low level of technological maturity among the young immigrants; in other words, while ICT tools do play a very important role in their lives, young people tend to use them more for fun and entertainment rather than for learning. For example, before the courses started, most students watched YouTube for entertainment, but the adult participants made them aware that YouTube can be used for learning as well. They pointed out that most universities have YouTube channels with videos of at least some of their lectures. In this way, ICT tools enable access to almost unlimited sources of knowledge and communication. In addition, ICT tools help people to overcome language barriers in intergenerational relationships. The young people explained that their main reason for participating in the ICT Guides courses was to improve their language competence.
One of the aims of the study was to determine, via baseline questionnaires given out prior to the start of the courses, what the young people wanted to learn from their adult counterparts and to compare these expectations to what they had actually learned by the time the course ended. The young people’s expectations of intergenerational learning were to do with language and the kinds of knowledge that would be useful to their day-to-day lives in their new country. After the final meeting, the pupils were asked about their perceived benefits of the course; in their responses, they emphasized the benefits of language learning and the practical information they had obtained. The pupils also appreciated getting to know the older people and finding out more about the life of the older generation, which they had not expected before the course began.
Several dominant findings arise from our study. In our initial interactions and conversations, both the immigrant young people and the local adults were aware of the significance of ICT tools. During the actual courses, the tools used
Our study also showed that an inability to speak the dominant language fluently, unfamiliarity with cultural codes, and uncertainty about how to deal with different social groups can sometimes be challenging for young immigrants. In the opinion of the course participants, the internet greatly supported first contacts and knowledge exchange in intergenerational learning and helped the two groups to get to know each other. Other helpful ICT elements included pictures, maps, and music from online sources. These items can sometimes replace language and thus facilitate learning. In this way, ICT tools reduce intergenerational distance and help to overcome the polarization between younger and older citizens. Depending on the needs of the participants and the tools available, ICT tools were used spontaneously in participants’ intergenerational collaboration. Both age groups were interested in using ICT tools together because they both knew that the ability to use these tools is one of the key skills of our contemporary times and that the significance of ICT tools will only increase in the future.
However, ICT played a different role for both cohorts individually. The young cohort primarily used ICT to achieve specific goals and for entertainment purposes. For the older participants, ICT tools not only facilitated learning but were also in themselves an object of learning. In other words, the older cohort learned with the help of ICT while learning about it. Paradoxically, this difference fostered the potential for intergenerational learning as it intrigued people and made them interested in others. Additionally, it turns out that while the young people were proficient at using ICT, they were not usually prepared to function independently and effectively in our information and knowledge society in real life. This is evidenced by the fact that they primarily used ICT for entertainment and pleasure and to alleviate boredom. So, despite their proficiency with ICT, the young people exhibited low technological maturity, whereby technological maturity can be defined as readiness for the
As a result of the young people’s low level of technological maturity, the use of ICT plays an important role in their lives but nonetheless consumes time that should be dedicated to learning. Courses based on intergenerational learning with ICT support the development of key contemporary competences and soft skills, especially communication and language skills. According to both the young and adult participants of a survey we conducted as part of the project, improvement of their communication and language skills mainly resulted from their collaborative use of ICT tools. Both the young people and the adults told us that the courses definitely had an impact on their mutual understanding and gave them the opportunity to introduce themselves, learn about each other, and share their knowledge and skills.
It can therefore be seen that in order for immigrant pupils and students to increase their acquisition of key European citizenship competences as defined by European Commission (2013, 2019), initiatives can be designed using intergenerational collaboration with the use of ICT tools. However, ICT tools only make educational sense when collaborative purposes are their main function. Otherwise, ICT tools themselves become a goal and effect of learning without having any impact on the immigrant pupils’ educational lives. ICT tools cannot replace face-to-face interaction, but they can effectively contribute to a better understanding and harmonious coexistence between young immigrants and older local people living together in big cities.
6 Conclusions
The two projects for developing citizenship skills examined here—EUCiTec and ICT Guides—situate learning about citizenship within communities of practice in which young people develop an understanding of citizenship through sociocultural and personal interactions but also learn more complex civic behaviour through their interactions with other ICT users. We follow here the interpretation of communities of practice based on Wegner (1998), which claims that these are groups of people that share mutual concerns or a passion
The EUCiTec and ICT Guides projects provide young people with opportunities for constructing their own attitudes to citizenship and sharing in the practicing of it. Banks (2008) posits that citizens can cultivate multiple and overlapping identities based on national, ethnic, racial, religious, class, gender, and cultural attachments. Our research shows that the use of ICT in out-of-school environments creates promising perspectives for the emotional dimension of civic attitudes like personal responsibility or self-efficacy in undertaking actions, and that it supports intercultural and intergenerational learning. Another distinctive feature of ICT within citizenship education in out-of-school activities is the bottom-up involvement of young people (coming from and led by students) in community-based actions. Involvement is directed by the sense of purpose; in the case of immigrant young people, this purpose was the need to help older adults with using digital devices in order to promote their inclusion in the digital society (i.e. the elderly participants may then be able to book doctor’s appointments online or check local bus departures online). A sense of purpose comes from believing that one’s actions will be helpful for others; this, in turn, might contribute to preventing violent extremism, as Borum (2014) claims. In contrast, citizenship education in schools is more knowledge focused, supports civic actions, equips learners with an understanding of the social world, offers a source of information about others (i.e. the internet), and develops learners’ readiness to participate in society; it is, however, like other school activities, more curriculum focused. In this way, students learn how to process social information and discuss injustices in the world, which, as Borum (2014) describes, supports the prevention of violent behaviours.
Learning through the use of ICT promotes the building of subjectivity, self-determination, and awareness of internal social and cultural potential and enables knowledge-sharing and the participation of various entities in our sociopolitical reality. It makes it thus much more likely that people of all legal statuses, from established nationals to new and old immigrants, will follow the patterns of civic behaviour that are binding in society, that they will accept the general rules of that society, and that they will therefore build their status as citizens in their community on foundations of trust and civic cooperation.
Acknowledgements
This scientific work has been funded with the support of the European Commission, No. 2017-1-UK01-KA201-036710, Inspiring European Citizenship through Educational Technology, ICT Guides No. 2015-1-SE01-KA201-012232, and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, agreement no. 3590/ERASMUS+/2016/2.
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