Teachers’ Constructions of Citizenship and Enterprise: Using Associative Group Analysis with Teachers in Hungary, Slovenia and England

This paper presents findings from a joint project supported by the British Academy and the Academies of Science of Hungary and Slovenia. The research aimed to identify similarities and differences between the ways in which teachers (of primary and secondary age children) in the three countries constructed and understood the terms ‘citizenship’, enterprise’, ‘cooperation’ and ‘competition’. Concepts associated by teachers with each of the four words have been analysed using the Associative Group Analysis technique (AGA), and this paper is based on our analysis of the responses given to the first two of these terms. AGA has normally been used to contrast two populations: this paper demonstrates a novel way to show a three-way relationship. There are significant differences between the different countries, and to a lesser extent between primary and secondary teachers within each country. ‘Citizenship’ in particular is clearly perceived very differently by the English teachers, who stress words that can be categorised as indicating pro-social behaviour, a sense of rights and duties, being part of a community and being linked to education. These categories were relatively infrequently mentioned by Hungarian or Slovene teachers, who tended instead to stress aspects referring to the specific nation, and legal or institutional terms (which were much less frequently mentioned by the English teachers). These results are analysed in terms of different histories, cultural patterns and trajectories, and there is a brief discussion on the implications for the practice and training of teachers.

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