Teaching Matters: Some weeks ago, Teacher's Pet asked, somewhat plaintively, what it is about the Action Project for Junior Certificate Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) that brings teachers out in a rash?
As a CSPE teacher, I feel that I can reliably inform Teacher's Pet that the Action Project is only one of the aspects of CSPE that is rash-inducing.
CSPE is a valuable subject, full of potential for active learning. However, it has been hamstrung from the beginning by the fact that it is assigned only one period a week in the school timetable. During that single period, you are supposed to cover - and this is a random rather than exhaustive list - the workings of local, national and European democracy; development at local, national and international levels, including the complex inequalities between the developed and developing world; human rights and responsibilities; the Irish justice and court system and care for the environment. A class period missed due to a match, or an assembly, becomes a catastrophe.
In addition, each student is supposed to prepare either a coursework assessment booklet, which contains a detailed account of one unit of work, or the aforementioned dreaded Report on an Action Project (Rap). In addition, while some teachers enjoy teaching CSPE, there are a lot of conscripts, generally young teachers who are given a CSPE class to make up hours. Principals often think it is a harmless "filler" class, and have no idea of the work involved. Such conscripts usually get out of CSPE as soon as humanly possible, and the cycle starts again.
Finally, there are the students, who don't really care what the difference is between a District Court and the Special Criminal Court, but who can tell you all about the Michael Jackson court case. They are able to give you any amount of minute detail about the workings of Coronation Street, but usually have not the vaguest notion about what happens in Kildare Street.
CSPE was never meant to be about dry facts, but instead was supposed to build skills for active citizenship, everything from participation in the political system, to knowing how to go about lobbying for a skateboard park in a local area. Therefore, the Rap is supposed to examine a process, and the skills acquired in that process. All very well, but when students see their action project reduced to a standard presentation in the department's pro-forma booklet, which often does not capture the essence and excitement of a project, they can feel disappointed and cheated.
The brighter students soon grasp that there is a formulaic element to the Rap, and one even said to me: "I could waffle my way through this without ever having done a project." My reply swiftly disabused her of the notion of even attempting something so dishonest, but she was right. However, an essay-style response would lead to other problems, as fluent writers would have an unfair advantage.
It is quite difficult - some would say impossible - to organise action projects in one period a week, while also covering a course. Teachers end up begging class periods from colleagues, and are often in a state of collapse by the time the projects are completed and written up. Also, many teachers have noted a paradox: while students are more articulate and confident these days, they are often less able to take the initiative, sometimes waiting for the teacher to direct everything. Of course, such learned helplessness conflicts with the spirit of an action project, which is all about developing competence and skills oneself.
In my own teaching, I have attempted to solve the conundrum of how to get through a course while completing projects at the same time. At the beginning of second year, I divide students into self-chosen groups, and allow them to choose one of the seven key concepts. The concepts are rights and responsibilities, human dignity, stewardship, development, democracy, law, and interdependence. Each group then becomes responsible for educating the rest of the class on some aspect of that concept. The projects are staggered throughout the school year, so that at any one time I only have about eight students actively seeking my assistance.
How does it work in practice? It is easier in a Dublin school, but to take just one example, the group working on democracy organised a trip to the Dáil. The workings of the Dáil and Seanad were revised in class, but the Action Project group had to do all the arrangements for the visit. This included learning that busy TDs do not always return telephone calls, but when you approach others in your constituency to sponsor a visit by a class, the TD himself may answer the telephone. The group working on law invited a barrister to the class, and when that arrangement broke down, had to make other plans. That involved valuable learning in itself.
Of course no system works perfectly, and it is still difficult to get everything done. Sadly, CSPE has become a little parable of our education system as a whole. It is a wonderful idea, which has been starved of resources and time, and so becomes incredibly demanding on the teacher, thus leading to disillusion.
It need not be like this. There is a very supportive Association of Civics Teachers (Act), but the Department of Education and Science needs to stop expecting miracles from CSPE teachers.
Breda O'Brien teaches at Muckross Park College, Donnybrook, Dublin, and is a columnist with The Irish Times. bobrien@irish-times.ie
