Upstream with tiny oars: promoting citizenship education within a non-democratic culture and in low-cognitive-demand school settings

This text draws on the Peruvian case to illustrate that the achievement of goals relating to citizenship education requires the concomitant development of abstract thinking skills, overcoming parochial biases, and the provision of a rich learning environment. These elements become particularly relevant where the social settings are not characterised by attributes that are conducive to these types of learning. Thus, citizenship education efforts will be fostered or restrained by factors within and outside of the school setting that go well beyond the scope of typical civic education initiatives.