Citizenship Education in the Postfactual Age in Iceland

Iceland has historically placed strong emphasis on democratic values and civic education. The country has a long tradition of participatory democracy and civic engagement, with a focus on educating citizens about their rights, responsibilities, and the functioning of democratic institutions. In recent years, well reflected in the educational policy vision for year 2030, Iceland has continued to prioritize civic and democracy education as part of its educational curriculum. This paper presents an analysis of Icelandic citizenship education against the backdrop of the challenges inherent in the fundamental transformation of the information environment brought about by changes in information technology and artificial intelligence. In political science, the digital transformation of mass communication has brought about concerns that citizenship education is ill-suited to provide young people with the necessary skills and competences to navigate an increasingly manipulative information environment. Rooted in the Horizon Europe project “Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Postfactual Age”, this paper is part of a comparative effort to analyze the state of citizenship education in Europe. Our analysis shows that recent changes regarding citizenship education in Iceland, taught under the subject areas social science and information and media literacy, can be interpreted as a step toward a greater emphasis on citizenship education under the Icelandic Curriculum Guide for compulsory school levels. It is also clear that these steps taken have the aim of meeting some crucial challenges related to media and information, which most school systems seem to be facing during our postfactual age. However, two critical aspects remain: On the one hand the question of implementation – as we need to assess how this ambitious curriculum is put into practice, including teacher training. Secondly, it is imperative to assess how Icelandic teachers and stake holders access the (intended) learning outcomes – if and how it ensured that students achieve the ambitious learning goals set by the curriculum.