Civility and Democratic Education

This book explores how and why civility contributes to a vibrant democratic society, and how it can be fostered and cultivated as a key part of democratic education. It suggests that civility only makes sense as a civic virtue if it is conceived in relation to civic friendship, concord and fellow-feeling. This book offers a timely snapshot of civility as a pressing, yet enduring, concern in democratic life and education. It elucidates a virtue-based conceptualization of civility and its place within democratic education, and makes use of real-life examples and cases to illustrate its arguments and to engage a range of readers. In short, this book is interested in what civility is and how schools can and do cultivate civility. 

Author Biography

Andrew Peterson is Professor of Character and Citizenship Education at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham. With an international reputation and standing in the fields of character and citizenship education his latest books include Compassion and Education: Cultivating Compassionate Schools, Children and Communities, The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education (co-edited with Garth Stahl and Hannah Soong), The Palgrave International Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Social Justice (co-edited with Robert Hattam, Michalinos Zembylas and James Arthur) and Civics and Citizenship in Australia: Challenges, Practices and International Perspectives (co-edited with Libby Tudball). He is also Adjunct Professor of Education at the University of South Australia.