The 2011 Educators’ Consultations focus on the findings of the International Citizenship and Civic Education Study (ICCS).

The first two meetings of the series have been held successfully in Vienna on May 2 (in cooperation with the Department for Didactics of History, Social Studies and Civic Education/University of Vienna, the Austrian Centre for Citizenship Education in Schools/polis and the SORA Institute for Social Research and Consulting) and in Innsbruck on May 4 (in cooperation with the Faculty of Education/University of Innsbruck and polis).
 
The whole-day seminar in Vienna started with a presentation of the Austrian ICCS findings given by Martina Zandonella (SORA), followed by a very engaging discussion. Civic Education in Austria seems to be mostly oriented towards a very traditional view on “the political”; focusing on government, political parties and elections. The subject teachers for civic education are by most of their colleagues regarded to be responsible to prepare young people for their future participation as citizens. Democratic participation within school or in the broader community is only by a minority regarded as relevant aspects of civic education. The discussion made clear that syllabuses for civic education and structural frameworks for pupils’ councils would allow for a much broader approach than this but that there are obviously persisting “cultures” in schools and also in teachers’ mentalities that restrict changes in educational practice.

A second study on Civic and History Education (CHE), presented by Prof Alois Ecker (University of Vienna) complemented the findings of the ICCS study. The preliminary findings from Austria point to the fact that many aspects of a “broad” understanding of participation and democratic competence are not to be found in the civics and history curricula of teacher training institutions.

In the afternoon, interactive learning methods were introduced by Claudia Lenz (EWC) and Dorothee Steurer (polis), inviting the participants to experience participatory learning processes.

The half-day seminar in Innsbruck was opened by Prof Lynn Chisholm (University of Innsbruck) who pointed out that the ICCS study was not investigating pupils’ knowledge about civics but young people’s preparedness to become future citizens. A broader scope of democratic learning was envisioned than the one becoming visible in the findings of the study (which were presented by Kathrin Helling and Helmut Fennes).

The intensive and engaging discussion focused mostly on the questions; how steps towards democratic school cultures, in which all members of a school feel responsible for an environment in which young people can gain democratic competences through experiencing democratic structures and practices, can be taken.




Altogether, 40 participants with backgrounds from graduate studies, teaching in schools and universities, research and policy engaged in interesting and highly relevant discussion and working processes.