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 political 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 Political 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 pp. 4-9.

Besand, Anja (2020): Collateral learning in civic education. Or why formal educational processes are always informal, in: Bade, Gesine/Henkel, Nicholas/Reef, Bernd (eds.): Politische Bildung: vielfältig - kontrovers - global, Frankfurt p. 53-67.

BMFSFJ (2020): 16th Children and Youth Report, Berlin.

Dewey, John (2011): Democracy and Education. An introduction to philosophical pedagogy, ed. by Jürgen Oelkers, Weinheim.

Heintel, Peter (1977): Politische Bildung als Prinzip aller Bildung, Vienna.

Henkenborg, Peter (2014): Civic education as a school principle. In: Sander, Wolfgang (ed.): Handbuch politische Bildung, 4th, completely revised ed. Schwalbach/Ts., pp. 212-221.

Hilligen, Wolfgang (1957): See - Judge - Act. Reader and workbook on political education and social studies, Frankfurt a. M.

Himmelmann, Gerhard (2004): Learning democracy: What? Why? Available online here.

Himmelmann, Gerhard (2016): Demokratie Lernen als Lebens-, Gesellschafts- und Herrschaftsform. A textbook and workbook (= Politik und Bildung), Schwalbach/Ts.

Lange, Dirk (2007): Politikbewusstsein und Politische Bildung, in: Ders. (ed.): Konzeptionen Politischer Bildung (= Basiswissen Politische Bildung. Handbuch für den sozialwissenschaftlichen Unterricht, 1), Baltmannsweiler, pp. 205-213.

Lange, Dirk (2008): Citizen consciousness. Symbols and images of meaning in civic education, in: GWP 3/2008, pp. 431-439.

May, Michael (2007): Democratic capability and civic competencies. Kompetenztheoretische und normative Grundlagen der politischen Bildung (= Studien zur Schul- und Bildungsforschung, 26), Wiesbaden.

Partetzke, Marc, Klee/ Andreas (2016): Being able, wanting and allowed to participate! Political science aspects of the political participation of children and young people, in: Gürlevik, Aydin/Hurrelmann, Klaus/Palentien, Christian (eds.): Jugend und Politik. Political education and participation of young people, Wiesbaden, pp. 27-43.

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

Schneider, Helmut/Gerold, Markus (2018): Democracy education in schools - analysis of teacher-related influencing factors. 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 political education also always have non-formal and informal perspectives.

You can find a manuscript for this piece here.