Political education as an attitude

What is this episode about?
We encounter attitude everywhere in our everyday lives. This gives us the feeling that we already know exactly what it is all about. In this lecture, attitude is not considered in the sense of everyday understanding, but from the perspective of political education. Based on the observation that attitude as a category has hardly played a role in political education to date and tends to emerge when the social discourse focuses on political problems, Susann Gessner defines the concept of attitude, clarifies the relationship between attitude and emotions and explains attitude in connection with political education programs. Finally, she discusses how attitudes arise in the first place and how they can be made accessible for reflection in the context of political education.

Before we get started:
The episode ,,Politische Bildung als Haltung'' is about 30 minutes long and thus as long as an average evening school play. The lecture is based on the text ,,Gessner, S. (2021, ed.). Civic education as attitude. Journal Demokratie gegen Menschenfeindlichkeit, thematic focus on Haltung (2)''.

The central question is:
This lecture does not have one central question, but is structured along very different questions: What is attitude? How can the concept of attitude be defined and described for political education? How does attitude arise? How is attitude made visible & accessible for reflection?

Who am I listening to?
The author and speaker in this episode is Prof. Dr. Susann Gessner. She is Chair of Didactics of Civic Education at the Philipps University of Marburg. You can find out more about her here.

Literature for further reading:

Arnold, Nina/Fackelmann, Bettina/Graffius, Michael/Krüger, Frank/Talaska, Stefanie/Weißenfels, Tobias (2011): Do you speak politics? Results of the research project and recommendations for action, available at: www.sprichst-du-politik.de/studie/ (03.06.2021).

Becker, Reiner (2019): Fragmente zu einer Ethik in der Mobilen Beratung, in: Becker, Reiner/ Schmitt, Sophie (eds.): Beratung im Kontext Rechtsextremismus. Frankfurt/M., pp. 358-376.

Besand, Anja (2017): With what attitude do we do our work? Three observations and four questions for political education 'after' Pegida, in: Frech Siegfried/Richter, Dagmar (eds.): Der Beutelsbacher Konsens. Meaning, impact, controversies. Schwalbach/Ts., pp. 104-112.

Borcherding, Karl (1965): Wege und Ziele politischer Bildung in Deutschland. A collection of materials on the development of political education in schools 1871-1965. Munich.

Bröckling, Ulrich (2017): Good shepherds lead gently. On the arts of governing people. Berlin.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1992): Politics, education and language, in: Ders. (ed.): Die verborgenen Mechanismen der Macht. Hamburg, pp. 13-30.

Detjen, Joachim (2013): Political education. Past and present in Germany. 2nd updated ed. Munich.

Fischer, Sebastian (2013): Right-wing extremism - What do pupils think about it? Investigation of pupils' perceptions as a basis for sustainable education. Schwalbach/Ts.

Gessner, Susann: (2014): Political education as a space of possibility. Perspectives on school-based political education for young people with a migration background. Schwalbach/Ts.

GPJE statement (2015): Available online here (29.06.2021)

Grammes, Tilman (1998): In search of the didactics of "politics". Community, Gemeinschaft und die Rede vom Partner, in: Dithmar, Reinhard (ed.): Schule und Unterrichtsfächer im Dritten Reich. Neuwied, pp. 259-274.

Grammes, Tilman (2011): Kooperation - Demokratie leben im sozialen Nahraum bei Friedrich Oetinger. Partnership. The task of political education. Interpretation and commentary, in: May, Micheal/Schattschneider, Jessica (eds.): Klassiker der Politikdidaktik neu gelesen. Originals and commentaries. Schwalbach/Ts, pp. 39-65.

Heldt, Inken (2017): The subjective dimension of human rights. On the implications of everyday ideas for civic education. Wiesbaden.

Herwig-Lempp, Johannes (2019): Systemisch als Haltung, in: Becker, Reiner/Schmitt, Sophie (eds.): Beratung im Kontext Rechtsextremismus. Frankfurt/M., pp. 291-316.

Himmelmann, Gerhard (2017): Learning democracy at school. Schwalbach/Ts.

Kiyak, Mely (2018): Attitude. An essay against being loud. Berlin.

Koller, Hans-Christoph (2006): Double farewell. On the entanglement of adolescent and migration-specific educational processes using the example of Lena Gorelik's novel "Meine weißen Nächte", in: King, Vera/Koller, Hans-Christoph (eds.): Adoleszenz - Migration - Bildung. Educational processes of adolescents and young adults with a migration background. 2nd revised ed. Wiesbaden, pp. 195-211.

Koller, Hans-Christoph (2012): Thinking education differently. Introduction to the theory of transformational educational processes. Stuttgart.

Kuhl, Julius (2001): Motivation and personality. Interactions of psychological systems. Göttingen.

Kurbacher, Frauke, A./Wüschner, Philipp (2016): What is attitude? Definition, positions, connections. Würzburg.

Kurbacher, Frauke, A. (2016): Interpersonality between autonomy and fragility. Basic features of a philosophy of attitude, in: Kurbacher, Frauke, A./Wüschner, Philipp (eds.): Was ist Haltung? Definition, positions, connections. Würzburg, pp. 145-162.

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Milbradt, Björn (2018): On authoritarian attitudes in 'post-factual' times. Opladen et al.

Müller, Hans-Rüdiger (2004): Auf undurchsichtigem Gelände - Über Bildung und Gefühl aus ästhesiologischer Sicht, in: Klika, Dorle/Schubert, Volker (eds.): Bildung und Gefühl. Hohengehren, pp. 94-116.

Nohl, Arnd-Michael (2009): Bildung als Formierung politischer Grundorientierungen - Anmerkungen aus Sicht der "Pädagogik kollektiver Zugehörigkeiten". Erwägen Wissen Ethik. Forum for Consideration Culture, 2, pp. 299-301.

Nohl, Arnd-Michael (2018): Overcoming the conjunctive experiential space: a pedagogical Sisyphean task?, in: Glaser, Edith/ Koller, Hans-Christoph/Thole, Werner/ Krumme, Salome (eds.): Räume für Bildung - Räume der Bildung. Contributions to the 25th Congress of the German Society for Educational Science. Opladen et al, pp. 70-77.

Oetinger, Friedrich (1956): Partnership. The task of political education. 3rd revised and expanded ed. Stuttgart.

Peukert, Helmut (2015): Education in social transformation. Paderborn.

Reinhardt, Sibylle (2009): Is social learning also political learning? An old controversy seems settled. Society. Economy. Politics, 1, pp. 119-125.

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Reschke, Anja (2018): Show attitude! Hamburg.

Sander, Wolfgang (2010): Politics at school. A brief history of political education in Germany. 2nd, updated. ed. Marburg.

Sander, Wolfgang (2007): Demokratie-Lernen und politische Bildung. Subject-specific, interdisciplinary and school pedagogical aspects, in: Beutel, Wolfgang/Fauser, Peter (eds.), Demokratiepädagogik. Learning for civil society. Schwalbach/Ts., pp. 71-85.

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Schulz-Hageleit, Peter (2011): On the emancipatory power of emotions. Food for thought on the relationship between reason and emotion in historical-political education. Journal for Didactics of the Social Sciences (ZdG), 1, pp. 10-27.

Self-assessment tasks:

Question 1: You have now learned a lot about the term "attitude". Now reflect for yourself: What makes up your professional attitude? What is important to you as an educator? Where are the red lines for you?

Question 2: When was the last time you reconsidered your own attitude and changed it if necessary? Think about what helped you to do this and what made it more difficult. What can you take away from this for your educational programs?

Question 3: Susann Gessner states that civic education should "enable individuals to transform their way of life if they feel threatened. Think about how you can achieve this objective in your educational programs.

Question 4: Position yourself in relation to this quote from the lecture: ''Which approach, i.e. which theories, methods and thus attitude I choose in a particular situation? A fundamentally undecidable question, i.e. it cannot be decided in principle, but can only be decided by each and every one of us and also always anew, depending solely on the subjects themselves, their views and convictions, their respective situations and the context in which they are currently experiencing themselves.'' (J. Herwig-Lempp)

The self-assessment tasks are to be understood as opportunities for reflection and do not generally test knowledge. They are always strongly related to the corresponding lecture and therefore differ significantly.