Can education be subversive? Postman And Weingartner and the case of citizenship in the National Curriculum for England

With the stated aim of changing the political culture of the country, Citizenship Education might be described as subversive. This workshop will consider the concept of subversive education put forward by Postman and Weingartner (1976) and some of the ‘litanies of alarm’ (Arthur 2003) which Citizenship Education was avowedly established to overturn. It is hoped that the outcomes will be a) clarification of concepts of subversive education b) understanding of the intended outcomes of Citizenship Education as part of the National Curriculum in England c) a view of the likely success or otherwise in achieving such outcomes