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Objectives and tasks of political education During the Main Subject Group on Democracy we reached the important conclusion that democracy is not like a machine that can be left to work on its own without maintenance once it has been built. Democracy is a process that has to be continually filled with life. To this end, then, democracy is dependent on active citizens. And it is against this background that the most important long-term goal of democratic political education is the responsible citizen. The aim of political education is to get people interested in politics and to lay down the foundations which will allow pupils and students to become responsible citizens by attempting to teach them how to analyze and assess a given political situation independently. Basic knowledge is, of course, also necessary to do this. Which means that learning the fundamentals is also an important part of political education. If words are essential to language teaching, fundamental terms such as democracy, separation of powers, elections, parties, peace and power are a crucial part of political education. "One of the fundamental objectives of political education is to develop an understanding of politics among pupils and to give them an insight into how politics works and how it is connected" (Politikdidaktik Kurzgefasst, published by the Federal Centre for Political Education, Bonn 1994, S. 17). Of course, education in democratic politics does not end once the basics have been taught. The fundamentals are only there to provide a basis on which more far-reaching political education goals can be reached. After all, those who don't know how the political system works and who are unable to see the big picture will be unable to take advantage of their ability to participate; they will not have the necessary democratic skills (see following text passage) and they will remain politically immature. Political education involves a succession of objectives that build on each other. The following illustration attempts to highlight these:
"Cognitive skills means the necessity to reach a certain level of knowledge and learning ability (here knowledge means an awareness of the political system's institutional structure, an understanding of functions within the system and a grasp of its dependencies on the international political and economic situation). Citizens should also be able to draw on fact-based knowledge when assessing issues at the heart of a given political decision. Procedural skills means having the necessary knowledge and skills to participate actively in the opportunities available for influencing political decisions. To this end, citizens have to have knowledge of administrative and legal procedures. They have to be able to think strategically in order to realize personal or common objectives that they hold dear. Habitual skills means attitudes - or virtues - that citizens have to contribute to society in order to secure its survival. Affectively, these attitudes have to be so firmly anchored in people that they provide the motivation for action. As far as their habitual expectations are concerned, modern democracies are particularly demanding. Of course, communities at a national level have to be law abiding and willing to make sacrifices in order to defend the community against external threats. As liberal societies, they also have to demonstrate fairness and tolerance in ideological matters. As democratic communities they depend on participation which, ideally, should be rational, responsible and regular. And as welfare states they depend on a sense of social fairness and solidarity." [Joachim Detjen, The Democratic Skills of Citizens. The challenges associated with political education: Taken from Politik und Zeitgeschichte B 25/2000, published by the Federal Centre for Political Education, p. 12-13] [Author: Ragnar Müller] |
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Subjects:
Human Rights I
Examples
I
Democracy I
Parties I Europe
I Globalisation
I United Nations
I
Sustainability
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