Political literacy, populism, and the Covid19 pandemic

The Covid-19 began infecting the population of Wuhan, China in December 2019, and it has now become a global pandemic posing not only enormous challenges for the medical and scientific community, but also bringing with it severe economic and social consequences. Covid-19 has had a major impact to society and economy, and it is seen as a major driver for the transformations of education in Europe, including the potential impact on education equity, the implications of the online conversion of classroom teaching, and an overall increased responsibility of education systems in the pandemic and post-pandemic world. In this respect, the Covid-19 pandemic also portends a troubling scenario in terms of an economic, social, and geopolitical crisis, which ultimately could potentially endanger democratic societies. In short, Covid-19 might also represent a risk in relation to the erosion of democracies with populists potentially taking advantage of the social panic and insecurity felt by the general public. Within this context, the teaching of political literacy, namely political knowledge which helps citizens to make sense of their political world and make them effective in public life through knowledge, skills and values, has been only marginally covered in civic education curricula. By conceptualizing political literacy as a common European public good, this paper examines the state of the art of political literacy in European schools. Specifically, the paper first looks at how political literacy is embedded into curricula, how is taught and what kind of training and support teachers receive in the secondary schools of Italy and the UK when it comes to political literacy. Then, the paper examines to what extent political literacy is incorporated within European education strategies and policy initiatives regarding citizenship education. If it is to be effective, the promotion of political literacy will ultimately draw on strengthening and deepening coordinated actions at European and national level.