Chairs: Jesper Larsen (University of Inland Norway, Norway) & Miri Yemini (Israel Institute of Technology, Israel)
Working Group 6 invites scholars to engage with the theme Learning for political engagement exploring the diverse, complex, and interconnected dimensions of civic and citizenship education and learning beyond conventional boundaries. Whereas much learning until recently has been dominated by neoliberal policies emphasizing individual skills and measurable outcomes, and thus to a certain extent has been depoliticised, there now seems to be a renewed awareness in many contexts of education’s broader social, cultural, and political potentials. Indicators recently show a global decrease in democracy at the political level – in some contexts also followed by directly anti-education ideologies. Over a longer period, however, an increase in awareness of human rights as expressed in school curricular can be observed. How these contradictory tendencies play out in diverse educational settings, and across generations and societies, is part of this working groups interest. The working group will seek to foster critical dialogue on education policy, practices, and innovative pedagogies that contribute to shape the future of political engagement across the globe.
Key Questions to explore include:
- How can the role of education and learning as tools for fostering active citizenship and participation in democratic processes be reconsidered in the 21st century?
- In what ways can learning contribute to empowerment and social activism across diverse contexts?
- In what ways can it be defended or criticised to include political activism on the educational agenda?
- What roles are teachers and educators playing in times of increasingly politically polarised classrooms?
- How can awareness of marginalised and overlooked knowledge traditions in education and learning inform political engagement?
- In what ways do digital and virtual learning environments shape political participation and activism?
- How do policy frameworks and institutional practices support or hinder education for democratic purposes?
- How can comparative perspectives reveal different models and challenges in using education as a space for political engagement?