Reflections on the relationship between education, pedagogy and the construction of citizenship

Abstract

In this paper I venture to reflect on the relationship between education and citizenship, especially on the ways in which educational institutions can contribute to the ethical-political literacy of their students. These reflections are based on my experience as a teacher of the subject “Ethical and Civic Education” at secondary school in the province of San Luis and rely on the works of Ruiz Silva (2008) for the construction of a civic ethics as their theoretical framework. While it is true that civic education does not depend solely on school, it cannot be overlooked that school, as the second socializing institution after family, has an unavoidable responsibility in the moral, political and civic formation of the new generations. The education of subjects as morally autonomous, politically conscious, socially committed individuals is a need that is increasingly recognized in the framework of our democratic societies, and school has a lot to do in this regard to counteract the purely instrumental rationality prevailing in our times, which privileges efficiency and individualism.