Didactics of civic and citizenship education

The research group of didactics of civic and citizenship education was established in March 2017 at the Centre for Teacher Education in order to strengthen civic and citizenship education within the education of teachers at the University of Vienna.

Civic and citizenship education is relevant both as a teaching subject and as an interdisciplinary teaching principle in formal, non-formal and informal contexts within society, the school, vocational training and adult education. At the heart of civic and citizenship education are the citizens, who should be able to lead a self-determined life in an increasingly complex society by promoting political analytical competences and skills. Civic and citizenship education wants to empower learners to recognise, judge and influence the socio-political reality. The citizens' political analytical competences and skills are a prerequisite for functioning and stable democratic systems. However, civic and citizenship education does not aim at adapting systems, but rather sees itself in the context of a historic process of democratisation, which assumes that there is potential for adaptability and further improvements in our real-life reality.

Research in this area focuses on didactics of democracy, citizen awareness research, global citizenship education, inclusive civic education and human rights education.