Civic education and democratic education - pretty much best enemies?
What is this episode about?
In this episode, we want to look at the relationship between political and democratic education. You might think that they are congruent, but the fact is that this relationship has been the subject of lively debate for many years. In this piece, we not only want to investigate the causes of this dispute and consider how productive the debate is, but also show how we at the John Dewey Research Center relate to these two terms.
Before we get started:
At just under 38 minutes, this episode is of average length. It is - let's say this right away - a little bit school-related. This is because this debate was initially very critical of what happens in the context of civic education in schools. However, the debate goes far beyond the areas of activity in schools, as should quickly become apparent.
The central question is this:
This episode focuses on the question of whether political and democratic education differ substantially and, if so, how. As you will soon see, this question is not so easy to answer. Ultimately, everyone has to position themselves on this issue. This does not mean that we at the John Dewey Research Center do not have an opinion on this question, and this opinion is also visible in the play.
Who am I listening to?
The author and speaker of this episode is Prof. Dr. Marc Partetzke. Marc Partetzke is Professor of Political Didactics and Civic Education at the University of Hildesheim and a proven expert in political didactics. You can find out more about him here.
We hope you enjoy it and look forward to your feedback.
Literature for further reading:
Besand, Anja (2020): Politische Bildung unter Druck - Zum Umgang mit Populismus in der Institution Schule, APuZ 14-15/2020 S. 4-9.
Besand, Anja (2020): Kollateral-Lernen in der politischen Bildung. Oder warum formale Bildungsprozesse immer auch informell sind, in: Bade, Gesine/Henkel, Nicholas/Reef, Bernd (Hrsg.): Politische Bildung: vielfältig - kontrovers - global, Frankfurt S. 53-67.
BMFSFJ (2020): 16. Kinder- und Jugendbericht, Berlin.
Dewey, John (2011): Demokratie und Erziehung. Eine Einleitung in die philosophische Pädagogik, hrsg. von Jürgen Oelkers, Weinheim.
Heintel, Peter (1977): Politische Bildung als Prinzip aller Bildung, Wien.
Henkenborg, Peter (2014): Politische Bildung als Schulprinzip. In: Sander, Wolfgang (Hrsg.): Handbuch politische Bildung, 4., völlig überarb. Aufl. Schwalbach/Ts., S. 212-221.
Hilligen, Wolfgang (1957): Sehen – Beurteilen – Handeln. Lese- und Arbeitsbuch zur politischen Bildung und Sozialkunde, Frankfurt a. M.
Himmelmann, Gerhard (2004): Demokratie-Lernen: Was? Warum? Wozu? Hier online verfügbar.
Himmelmann, Gerhard (2016): Demokratie Lernen als Lebens-, Gesellschafts- und Herrschaftsform. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch (= Politik und Bildung), Schwalbach/Ts.
Lange, Dirk (2007): Politikbewusstsein und Politische Bildung, in: Ders. (Hrsg.): Konzeptionen Politischer Bildung (= Basiswissen Politische Bildung. Handbuch für den sozialwissenschaftlichen Unterricht, 1), Baltmannsweiler, S. 205-213.
Lange, Dirk (2008): Bürgerbewusstsein. Sinnbilder und Sinnbildungen in der Politischen Bildung, in: GWP 3/2008, S. 431-439.
May, Michael (2007): Demokratiefähigkeit und Bürgerkompetenzen. Kompetenztheoretische und normative Grundlagen der politischen Bildung (= Studien zur Schul- und Bildungsforschung, 26), Wiesbaden.
Partetzke, Marc, Klee/ Andreas (2016): Partizipieren können, wollen und dürfen! Politikwissenschaftliche Aspekte der politischen Partizipation von Kindern und Jugendlichen, in: Gürlevik, Aydin/Hurrelmann, Klaus/Palentien, Christian (Hrsg.): Jugend und Politik. Politischen Bildung und Beteiligung von Jugendlichen, Wiesbaden, S. 27-43.
Reinhardt, Sibylle (2009): Ist soziales Lernen auch politisches Lernen? Eine alte Kontroverse scheint entschieden. In: GWP, 1/2009, S. 119-125.
Schneider, Helmut/Gerold, Markus (2018): Demokratiebildung an Schulen – Analyse lehrerbezogener Einflussgrößen. Available online here.
Self-assessment tasks
Question 1: The controversy surrounding the relationship between political and democratic education has been going on for many years and is still not really coming to an end. Why do you think this is and what do you think is the real core of the debate?
Question 2: What are the possible reasons for the renewed focus on democratic education in education policy?
Question 3: In the context of both political and democratic education, it is important not only to talk about politics but also to enable democratic experiences. Or in a nutshell: participation is important. What experiences of participation can participants have in the context of educational processes and what challenges arise in this context?
Question 4: In this piece, you also dealt with the relationship between formal, non-formal and informal civic education. Please comment on the thesis that formal educational processes in the field of civic education also always have non-formal and informal perspectives.
You can find a manuscript for this piece here.