Civic Education and Citizenship Education: A Qualitative Study of Secondary Social Studies Teachers\u27 Understandings of the Concepts and Practices of Citizenship Education for Immigrant Students

Citizenship education is the bedrock for the (re)making of future adult citizens in mono and multicultural democratic nations, and social studies is typically and optimally the premier discipline that primes students for engaged citizenry. Anti-immigrant sentiments towards fourth wave immigrants and the nearly absent research on and training for teachers in citizenship education for immigrant students rendered the complex preparation of these youngsters for active and participatory roles an increasingly demanding work in progress for social studies teachers in U.S. public schools. This reality challenges teachers\u27 re-examination of historically contested meanings of civic and citizenship education and their citizenship pedagogies for immigrant students. Therefore, this dissertation explored how social studies teachers in Central New York make meaning of civic education and citizenship education and what citizenship education practices they implement for immigrant students in the classroom. Eight secondary social studies teachers in three school districts took part in this qualitative exploratory study. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations, and were informed by the additive acculturation framework (Gibson, 1995) and the three conceptions of the good citizen framework (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). Findings from this study revealed that these teachers held a dual understanding of civic education, and their mono understanding of citizenship education was clichéd and did not incorporate a global dimension. Moreover, some teachers struggled in confirming that these two concepts are nuanced. Furthermore, teachers\u27 language about their citizenship education pedagogies for immigrant students was laced with elements of trauma, bias resistance, and exposure to bad models leaders(hip), and revealed that teachers\u27 acculturation of these youngsters was perforated