Teaching for citizenship in Lebanon: Teachers talk about the civics classroom

National and Civic Education is a program of study compulsory across all grade levels in Lebanon aimed at promoting social cohesion and active citizenship. A sample of 19 civics teachers in Lebanon across four of the six governorates participated in semi-structured interviews. The conversations delved into their conceptions of citizenship and citizenship education and their reflections of classroom teaching experiences. Their responses revealed complex inter-relations among nationalist conceptions of citizenship, pedagogies of rote learning, emotional repercussions from controversial topics and limited opportunities to think critically and engage in dialogue in the classroom.

► Interviewed 19 civics teachers in Lebanon on citizenship and classroom teaching. ► Concepts of citizenship are to promote nationalism. ► Citizenship learning features memorization and is content-driven. ► Citizenship learning contradicts educational aims of dialogue and critical thinking. ► Teachers promote or prevent classroom debates depending on will to manage emotions.