초·중·고 학생들의 정치·사회적 이슈 및 이슈 토론 관련 인식 조사: 학교 시민 교육에의 시사점

Abstract

This study purports to explore elementary and secondary school students’ perceptions of discussing and learning about political and social issues and compare them according to students' demographic and academic backgrounds. To complete this study, a survey was conducted with 529 elementary, middle, and high school students in Seoul. In general, all the students tended to earn lower average scores on the questions about whether they had discussed issues or participated in solving issues than the average scores on the questions about whether they had interest in knowing about issues. However, according to students’ residence, school level, family income, and students’ perceptions of their academic achievement, the scores tended to be various. As for the questions about the connection between democratic citizenship and issues, students living in Gangnam, high school students, students from high-income families, and students achieving highly in schools tended to agree that citizens should discuss issues and participate in solving issues. In terms of the questions about whether students had interest in discussing issues in classrooms, Gangnam students tended to answer positively. About the statement that classroom discussions on issues are beneficial in learning, students living in Gangnam, high school students, and high achievers tended to respond positively. With regard to students’ opportunities to discuss issues in classrooms, students in Gangnam and elementary school students both in Gangnam and Gangbook tended to have more chances to participate in classroom discussions on issues than students living in Gangnam and students attending middle or high schools in Gangnam and Gangbook. As for students’ endeavors to learn about issues, middle school students and students from high-income families tended to make an effort to do so. To summarize all these findings, students living in Gangbook and coming from low-income families tended to have fewer chances to discuss and participate in issues. Thus, we suggest as follows: first, issue-centered education has to be provided to the students with few chances to study issues, who are mostly in minority positions in terms of family economic background. Because students are expected to earn benefits and develop leadership from learning issues by discussion, students in minority positions must have fair opportunities to develop leadership by learning issues. Second, issue-centered education has to be differentiated according to the level of schools because students have different perceptions of learning political and social issues and the desirable teachers' role in issue-centered education.