Standing in the gap with students: amplifying multicultural education with Culturally Sustaining Civics (CSC)

Purpose This paper makes the case for the importance of (re)imagining civics education and, in step with a call for true democratic inclusivity, provides a model for Culturally Sustaining Civics (CSC) that focuses on students interrogating their often complex, intersectional and evolving cultural identities and the civic and geo-political issues that matter to them. The purpose of this paper is to animate organic and empowering educational civic participatory experiences rooted in action. Design/methodology/approach Case studies are shared to allow for reflection on the need for CSC education to support and empower students. A blueprint for CSC that embraces youth participatory action research as an epistemological stance is presented. Findings Polarizing events have turned educational spaces into battlefields highlighting the necessity of confronting differences with courage, honesty and a spirit of reconciliation. A CSC model allows us to imagine and work for empowering action-based civics educational experiences where all student’s identities and ways of knowing are not only respected and validated but are foundational in their learning. Integrated pedagogical, curricular and community support for students to have the tools and resources to navigate an increasingly polarized world and body politic must be an integral part of schooling for true life-long democratic civic engagement. Practical implications The case studies presented in this paper allow us to reflect on how schools are failing to provide desperately needed, culturally relevant and sustaining civics education and importantly, inform a blueprint for a CSC framework to undergird a multicultural education that focuses on dismantling systems of inequity through civic engagement for true democracy. Originality/value This paper provides an opportunity to (re)frame how the author conceptualizes and delivers/facilitates civics education in terms of curricular content, praxis, epistemological stances, pedagogies, community engagement and overall commitment to equity and true multicultural democracy.