Inclusive political education

Please note that these research dossiers were originally written in german.

The concept of inclusion has developed an astonishing dynamic in recent years. Both in the public sphere and in academia, inclusion is being discussed, thought about and increasingly put into practice. No newspaper edition currently seems to be without an article on issues of inclusion. There is no talk show that has not already invited guests on this topic. In political education, however, little of the excitement of this debate can be felt so far. In fact, the term "inclusion" seems to have little meaning here. In fact, the debate on the topic of "inclusion in civic education" only slowly got underway in 2014 and found its first public expression in the book of the same name. But why is that? Why is civic education so reticent about the concept of inclusion? If we understand inclusion as a process of change that is interconnected in all areas of society and aims to enable access, participation and self-determination for everyone in all areas of society based on their individual needs (see Besand/ Jugel 2015a), then inclusion has a lot to do with civic education in particular. After all, enabling political participation for all has always been the starting point for civic education. Civic education inside and outside of school is not about educating elites. It is not about training political decision-makers, but about enabling all people to participate in shaping politics.

Recommended reading:

Transferstelle politische Bildung (2016): Little-reached target groups of political education - research on access opportunities. Annual theme 2016 of the Transferstelle politische Bildung, Essen. available online

The Transferstelle politische Bildung (Civic Education Transfer Office) has already dealt extensively with the question of which paths or access options we have in civic education in order to reach as many people as possible in its annual brochure, which we can highly recommend. She recommends three texts to get you started:

• Prof. Dr. Anja Besand: "Of red and blue circles. Or: How can we achieve a more inclusive political education?" (S. 29-34)
• Prof. Dr. Achim Schröder: "We need a differentiated approach to target groups in order to create access to civic education. Empirical studies confirm the accessibility of young people with a low educational status." (S. 35-40)
• Prof. Dr. Veronika Fischer: "How do you reach migrants and people with a migration background? On access opportunities in family education and the transferability of research results to political education." (S. 41-48)

Dönges, Christoph/ Hilpert, Wolfram/ Zurstrassen, Bettina (2015): Didactics of inclusive civic education, Bonn available online

Dorothee Meyer/ Hilpert, Wolfram/ Lindmeier, Bettina (2020): Basics and practice of inclusive civic education, Bonn available online

Two introductory publications have been published by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, which offer a good introduction and are also directly accessible online.

Literature for further reading:

• Ackermann, Karl-Ernst (2014): Political education for an inclusive society. available online

• Besand, Anja (2017): Individual support - it's not that difficult. In: Wochenschau special edition July/ August 2017, p. 10-15.
• Besand, Anja (2017): Of red and blue circles Or: How can we achieve more inclusive civic education? In: Transferstelle politische Bildung (ed.): Little-reached target groups of political education - research on access opportunities. Annual theme 2016 of the Transferstelle politische Bildung, Essen, pp. 29-34.

• Besand, Anja/ Hölzel Tina (2015): Enabling an inclusive future in civic education! In: Heinrich Böll Foundation (ed.): Inclusion. Wege in die Teilhabegesellschaft, Frankfurt/ New York, pp. 435-440.

• Besand, Anja/ Hölzel, Tina/ Jugel, David (2018): Inklusives politisches Lernen im Stadion - Politische Bildung mit unbekannten Spieler*innen und offenem Spielverlauf - Abschlussbericht der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Projekts Lernort Stadion, Dresden. available online

• Besand, Anja/ Jugel, David (2015a): Inclusion and civic education - thinking together! In: Dönges, Christoph/ Hilpert, Wolfram/ Zurstrassen, Bettina (ed.): Didactics of inclusive civic education. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn, pp. 45-59.

• Besand, Anja/ Jugel, David (2015b): Target group-specific civic education beyond traditional lines of difference. In: Dönges, Christoph/ Hilpert, Wolfram/ Zurstrassen, Bettina (eds.): Didactics of inclusive civic education. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn, pp. 99-109.

• Bremer, Helmut (2008): The "political game" between self-exclusion and external exclusion. In: Extracurricular Education, 3-2008, pp. 266-272. available online

• Bremer, Helmut (2007): Soziale Milieus, Habitus und Lernen: Zur sozialen Selektivität des Bildungswesens am Beispiel der Weiterbildung, Weinheim/ München.

• Bremer, Helmut (2010): Target groups in practice. Adult education in the structure of social milieus. In: MAGAZIN erwachsenenbildung.at. The specialist medium for research, practice and discourse. Issue 10, Vienna, pp. 2-11. available online

• Bremer, Helmut/ Kleemann-Göhring, Mark/ Wagner, Farina (2015): Continuing education and continuing education guidance for "Bildungsferne". Results, experiences and theoretical classifications from the scientific monitoring of practical projects in NRW, Bielefeld.

• Henning, Eike et al. (2016): Political education in old age, Schwalbach/Ts.

• Kohl, Wiebke/ Seibring, Anne (2012): "Invisible" political program? Thematic worlds and political interest of "educationally disadvantaged" young people, Bonn. available online

• Schiele, Siegfried (2009): Elementarization of political education. In: Kursiv. Journal for political education, pp. 38-43.

• Schiele, Siegfried (2011): Political education with a difference. In: Frech, Siegfried/ Juchler, Ingo (ed.): Bürger auf Abwegen? Politikdistanz und politische Bildung, Schwalbach/Ts., pp. 149-163.