An Analysis of the Critical Thinking for Citizenship Education in the Curriculum at Secondary Level - research paper

Oct 15, 2026

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Citizenship education aims to prepare dynamic citizens capable of creating a peaceful social atmosphere, which requires higher-order thinking rather than passive acceptance or deceptive information. This study analyzes whether critical thinking is appropriately emphasized in secondary-level citizenship education. A literature review identified five critical-thinking elements, and a checklist with validity of .81 was developed. Four secondary textbooks, their curriculum documents, and education policy were examined, followed by a questionnaire survey of 100 teachers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose of citizenship education

Need for critical thinking in schools

Conceptual background and definitions

Elements of critical thinking for citizenship education

An Analysis of the Critical Thinking for Citizenship Education in the Curriculum at Secondary Level Ahmed Sher Awan *, Memuna Perveen** and Muhammad Abiodullah * Abstract The fundamental goal of citizenship education is to prepare dynamic citizens who should have the ability to create a peaceful atmosphere in their society. This objective can only be achieved by developing higher order thinking skills which can guide the learner to become reflective and avoid deceptive information. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the existence of critical thinking for citizenship education in the curriculum at secondary level. Through an in depth review of literature, five elements of critical thinking for citizenship education were identified. To analyze those five elements, a checklist was developed with its validity of .81. In order to analyze the three sources qualitatively, at first stage, four textbooks, i.e. English, Urdu, Pak-studies and Islamiyat of secondary level with respect to citizenship education were analyzed. At the second stage, curriculum document of these above mentioned four subjects were analyzed and at the third stage the education policy was also analyzed. The fourth stage comprised a questionnaire which was used to collect the data through survey/quantitative method from a 100 teachers who were teaching those subjects in order to verify/justify the qualitative data. On the basis of the findings of this study, it was concluded that critical thinking for citizenship education in the curriculum at secondary level was not emphasized upon appropriately. Keywords: Critical thinking, Citizenship education, Curriculum, Citizens * Assistant Professor, Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Email: [a.sherawan@yahoo.com](a.sherawan@yahoo.com) ** PhD Scholar, University of Management and Technology, Lahore. Introduction For promoting a strong civil society the role of citizenship education is mandatory (Elms, 2001) . However, many people narrowly perceive that major function of citizenship education in schools is to prepare ‘good citizens’. The ones, who should obey societal rules, respect human values, perform responsibilities and are aware of formal democratic principles (Gearon, 2003) . It is an interesting fact that many politicians would satisfy atthe presence of a passive citizen (good citizen), but the objective of Citizenship Education is the preparation of the dynamic and active citizens who are enabled, critically drew in with and attempt to influence the dimension of social events. Thus, such a critical distinction must be analyzed in both policy and practice in the context of active and passive citizenship (Ross, 2012) . Thus, in the broader sense, to meet the challenges of the 21 century, schools have to prepare well-informed and active citizens, and it is impossible without promoting critical thinking (Islin & Turner, 2002) . Because it is an open secret that rapidly growing intolerance, xenophobia and terrorism in the society is a major global issue. Now particularly youngsters are the victims of this dilemma who are enchanted by the social media. Therefore, it is the need of the time to develop the higher order thinking skills, such as critical thinking. Psychologists and educators of all the times Foresman, Fosel and Watson (2017) cited John Dewey (1913), Max Werthimer (1945) and Winn (2004) were of the view that thinking productively is far better instead of memorizing or guessing the correct answers. So critical thinking is characterized as a fine skill, which focuses on thinking reflectively, productively and ultimately evaluating the evidence (Santrock, 2014) . Similarly, Moreno (2015) explained that critical thinking is a process of systematically assessing the information and drawing an inference based upon evidence. Therefore, the major goal of citizenship education is to teach how to think rather than what to think. It is a fine tip to live in a soc

FAQs

What is the primary goal of citizenship education discussed in the study?

The study presents citizenship education as aiming to prepare dynamic, active citizens able to contribute to society through critical engagement, not merely to produce passive “good citizens.”

How did the researchers identify the critical-thinking elements for citizenship education?

Through an in-depth literature review, five elements of critical thinking for citizenship education were identified, and a checklist was developed with a stated validity of .81.

Which materials and data sources were used to analyze the curriculum at the secondary level?

The analysis used four secondary-level textbooks (English, Urdu, Pak-studies, and Islamiyat), the curriculum documents for these subjects, and education policy documents, followed by a questionnaire survey of 100 teachers.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fans