The School as a Political Arena in a Context of Change

Abstract

European democracies as well as European integration face political challenges from current crises. Particularly the countries are struggling with immigration, integration and ethnic, social, economic and political tension. The current financial turmoil offer powerful civic learning experiences particularly to the many unemployed and marginalized young people. As pointed out in the section introduction, this is a challenging context for the political socialization of adolescents in Europe. Traditionally, family, peers, media, and schools are regarded as the principle sources of political information and agents of socialization. The school is in the current context particularly interesting since it is a very important public arena for civic and political learning as well as for ethnic and social integration. Particularly states are able to influence the socialization process through the curricular public policy as well as the teaching of civics subjects. Throughout Europe and particularly the European Council and European Union, the preparation of students for democracy, participation and identity has been increasingly focused over the last decades. It is of great interest to explore how these efforts are implemented as well as how the students and teachers experience the efforts of Civic education in times of change. The International IEA, Civic and ICCS studies has also brought insights in student’s competencies as well as school as a political arena. However, in the increasing social and political tension the means and goals of Civic education as well as the role of school in relation to young people’s various civic and democratic experiences has been increasingly discussed. In this panel, we would like to welcome all papers which attempt to explore and discuss the role of school in political socialization in a context of changes.

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