抄録
This paper investigates the potential benefits of citizenship education in multicultural societies with particular reference to a survey conducted in five cities in England in October 2001. It was in 1999 that citizenship education was designated as a compulsory subject in English secondary schools for the first time. Since then it has attracted a wide range of support from progressive teachers, educational specialists and others who had been advocating educational programs to promote ‘global citizenship’ in English schools. In their view citizenship education can give pupils the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills and values they need to be able to live in harmony in today's global society based on mutual respect for different cultures and religions. This outlook has been heavily criticized, however, by some minority group members, particularly Muslims, who argue that ‘citizenship’ for Muslims cannot be acquired through religion-free education such as citizenship education.
