What the f*** is self-responsibility ("Mündigkeit")

What is this episode about?
This episode is about the concept of self-responsibility ("Mündigkeit"). As a legal term, majority refers to the capacity to conduct business and commit offenses or crimes and is associated with reaching a certain age - the age of majority. Citizens are usually only allowed to vote from this point onwards. Philosophically, since the Enlightenment, maturity has been associated with an inner and outer capacity for self-determination and personal responsibility. Maturity or self-responsibility is a state of independence and the ability to speak for oneself. So far so good. But what does this have to do with political education?

Before we get started:
Since the episode really only focuses on this one term, at 20 minutes it is a rather short and manageable episode.

The central question is this:
In this episode, we take a closer look at the term Mündigkeit, because it's very clear that civic education is about Mündigkeit, even in a specialist discussion that tends to be contentious. But what on earth is maturity and how can it be promoted? This is where things start to get complicated. After all, the consensus formula of self-responsibility ("Mündigkeit") ultimately conceals quite different ideas of what self-determination means and how to achieve it. It is possible that the concept of self-responsibility ("Mündigkeit") has only managed to become a broad consensus formula in civic education because it is so vague at the same time. Let's try to shed some light on the context.

Who am I listening to?
The author and speaker in this episode is Prof. Dr. Anja Besand, Director of the John Dewey Research Center and Chair of Didactics of Civic Education at the TUD Dresden University of Technology. You can find out more about her here.

We hope you enjoy it and look forward to your feedback.

Literature for further reading:

Autorengruppe Fachdidaktik (2016): Was ist gute politische Bildung, Schwalbach

Besand, Anja/Overwien, Bernd/Zorn, Peter (Hrsg.) (2019): Politische Bildung mit Gefühl, Bonn

Besand, Anja (2020): Was Ambiguitätstoleranz (möglicherweise) nicht ist, in: Schnurr, Ansgar u.A. (Hrsg.): Mehrdeutigkeit gestalten. Ambiguität und die Bildung demokratischer Haltungen in Kunst und Pädagogik, Bielefeld

Besand, Anja (2020): Über den Unterschied zwischen politischer Urteilsfähigkeit, Gehorsam und staatsbürgerlicher Souveränität , in: Drerup, Johannes/Schweiger, Gottfried (Hrsg.): Bildung und Erziehung im Ausnahmezustand. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG), 2020 S. 42-54

Besand, Anja (2020): Kollaterales Lernen oder warum formale Bildungsprozesse immer auch informell sind, in: Bade, Gesine et al. (Hrsg.): Politische Bildung - vielfältig und kontrovers, Frankfurt, S. 53-67

Oelkers, Jürgern (2000): John Dewey - Demokratie und Erziehung, Weinheim

Sander, Wolfgang (2007): Politik entdecken - Freiheit leben, Schwalbach/ Ts.

Self-assessment tasks

For users of the evening school, we provide self-assessment tasks for each lecture. These tasks can be used to rethink the contribution, to deepen your thoughts or - if you want to obtain a certificate of further education - to prepare for the course exam.

Question 1: The GPJE competence model is proposed here as an operationalizable basis with regard to the promotion of maturity in civic education. Does it convince you? If yes, why - if no, why not? What alternative models would be conceivable and possibly more appropriate?

Question 2: Which concept of maturity do you think is most helpful for your work (or future work) and how should educational programs be structured to promote this form of maturity?

Question 3: At the end of the lecture, we address two conflicting notions of "Mündigkeit". We called one emancipatory and the other functionalist. Do you agree with these terms and do you also see a contradiction between the models presented? How would you describe this debate?

Question 4: Take a look at working materials and educational media on civic education that also contain learning tasks (if necessary, your children's school books will do). What are they and why? Rephrase them in such a way that they can best promote the "Mündigkeit" of the learners under real teaching conditions. In doing so, go at least one step beyond the level of self-responsibility ("Mündigkeit") that you think the target group you have in mind is capable of.

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

You can find a manuscript for this piece here.