Political education in action/movements

Is it permissible to "seduce" recipients of political education into real political action as part of educational processes? This question has been debated in the discipline for many years. School-based civic education in particular has difficulties in this context, as there is a clear risk of being overwhelmed. Nevertheless, the 16th German Children and Youth Report once again emphatically points out the potential that arises for the democratic education of young people in the context of social and political movements. For example, it states: "Self-initiated and self-organized spaces for action in youth cultures and social movements open up sustainable educational processes through self-determined, informal learning, i.e, the learning processes are demanded and initiated autonomously by the subjects in order to understand and work on their own questions and social problems, as well as to search for collective political possibilities for action or to test and develop these further. Learners organize themselves according to their concerns and educational spaces, contribute their own expertise as those affected and organize cooperative, subject-oriented learning formats (e.g. in workshops, seminars, summer schools, camps and conferences through to the founding of their own educational institutions and democratic schools). On the one hand, these educational processes lead to changes in individuals and, on the other hand, the constitutive momentum of collective practices generates new norms, ways of thinking and acting - either situationally or on the basis of experience and in confrontation with new contexts" (16. KJB: 271). However: "Political education opportunities in this space are by no means a foregone conclusion. Political engagement and political action do not necessarily lead to reflection on one's own actions, a critical examination of one's own positioning and a constructive confrontation with opposing actors. It is inherent to the dynamics of political action to exaggerate positions, to mobilize solidarity through one's own concern and passions. Judgements and positions can be formed on a personal level through the desire to belong to a collective in motion and are not necessarily based on a thorough analysis and rational consideration of arguments. Especially from the perspective that social movements and protest formations are places of knowledge production, which in turn are not only linked to power relations and hierarchies within the movement, but can also coagulate into ideological elements, the indications of how social movements can prevent political education processes must also be taken into account". (ibid.: 272)

Our colleague Dirk Lange from our partner Institute for the Didactics of Democracy in Hanover has developed a short introductory lecture on the paradoxes and challenges that arise in the context of political education in action or in social movements, which we would like to share with you.

Recommended reading and project references:

Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (Hrsg.) (2020): 16. Kinder- und Jugendbericht. Förderung demokratischer Bildung im Kindes- und Jugendalter, Berlin. online verfügbar

The 16th German Children and Youth Report provides a separate chapter on this topic in Chapter 8 on protests, social movements and youth cultures, which summarizes this topic well in relation to children and young people.

Kenner, Steve (i.E.): Politische Bildung in Aktion, Univ.-Diss., Hannover.

We are expecting an exciting publication by Steve Kenner entitled: "Politische Bildung in Aktion" (Political Education in Action), in which he deals with the educational experiences of pupils in the context of self-determined political participation and which has been submitted as a dissertation to the Institute for the Didactics of Democracy at the University of Hanover.

Pohl, Kerstin (2019): Mit der Klasse zur Demo? Chancen und Gefahren realen politischen Handelns im Kontext politischer Bildung. online verfügbar

Under the title "Mit der Klasse zur Demo?", our colleague Kerstin Pohl from the University of Mainz has presented an essay in which she deals with the ambivalences of action-oriented political education and which is available online on the website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Widmaier, Benedikt/ Nonnenmacher, Frank (Hrsg.) (2011): Partizipation als Bildungsziel. Politische Aktion in der politischen Bildung, Schwalbach/ Ts.

Benedikt Widmaier and Frank Nonnenmacher published a fine book back in 2011 entitled "Partizipation als Bildungsziel" (Participation as an educational goal), in which they address the question of what opportunities, but also paradoxes, arise in participation-oriented political education. Today, participation is ascribed a significance that goes far beyond the justification and legitimization of democracy. Opportunities for participation are considered a fundamental prerequisite for successful education and development processes. This raises a number of questions for political education, which, in addition to imparting political knowledge and sharpening political judgment as a third educational goal, has also made political participation its flagship. The political-pedagogical connection between education and action, which has already been controversially discussed in the history of political education, is once again gaining importance.

Literature for further reading:

Bunk, Benjamin (2016a): Pädagogik(en) der Bewegungen. Oder: Die (Re-)Produktion subalternen Wissens? In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen (Sammelbesprechung), 29. Jg., H. 4, S. 145–150.

Bunk, Benjamin (2016b): Bildungstheorie und Bewegungsforschung. Überlegungen zu Bildungsprozessen in sozialen Bewegungen. In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 29. Jg., H. 4, S. 30–37.

Deutsche Vereinigung für politische Bildung (2016): Handlungsorientierung – Politische Bildung durch politische Aktion?, POLIS 02/2015.

Düx, Wiebken/ Prein, Gerald/ Sass, Erich/ Tully, Claus J. (2009): Kompetenzerwerb im freiwilligen Engagement. Eine empirische Studie zum informellen Lernen im Jugendalter. Wiesbaden, 2. Auflage.

Gloe, Marcus/ Oeftering, Tonio (2015): Widerstand als Aufgabe und Ziel politischer Bildung? Ein Bericht der Tagung „Kompetenz zum Widerstand – eine vernachlässigte Bildungsaufgabe“ vom 24.-26. März 2015 an der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg. In: Politisches Lernen, H. 3-4/ 2015, S. 19-21.

Kenner, Steve / Wohnig, Alexander (2020): Zwischen Anerkennung und Frustration. Erfahrungen junger Menschen mit politischer Partizipation und politischem Protest. In: Szukala, Andrea/ Oeftering, Tonio (Hrsg.): Protest und Partizipation. Fachwissenschaftliche und fachdidaktische Perspektiven. Baden-Baden, S. 109-130.

Szukala, Andrea/ Oeftering, Tonio (2020): Protest und Partizipation: Eine neue Agenda für die politische Bildung? In: Dies. (Hrsg.): Protest und Partizipation. Fachwissenschaftliche und fachdidaktische Perspektiven. Baden-Baden, S. 7-25.