Network Objectives
Citizenship education plays a key role in fostering democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is strongly intertwined with lifelong learning and with the development of the ability to act for social justice and fully participate in civic and social life. In formal education, citizenship education aims to equip young people with civic-related knowledge, skills, attitudes and values and to encourage their participation in culturally diverse societies and constantly changing contexts. It is an educational area characterised by a wide variety of curriculum provisions across Europe, often as a consequence of socio-historical and political developments. Non-formal and informal learning environments (with their wide range of organisations and movements) also play a relevant role in fostering citizenship education for different groups, from young people to adults.
The ‘Research on Citizenship Education’ network aims to pool and bring into focus the theories, research, and debates in this field. It seeks to foster dialogue among different viewpoints, research methodologies, and educational systems, bringing new perspectives into the academic discourse and broadening the scope of research in citizenship education.
Main Research Focus
Network 34 is interested in various subfields, e.g., democratic, digital, or global citizenship education, as well as theories, research methodologies, and disciplines (e.g. educational sciences, developmental psychology, sociology, political science, and related fields). It is scoped to feature single country and comparative studies on all levels of education (from pre-primary to higher education), adult learning and children education, non-formal and informal education. The network is open to research using qualitative and participatory as well as quantitative methods including policy and case studies, surveys and assessment (such as the IEA ICCS series of studies), action research, narrative research, and randomised control trials, along with their respective critiques and contestations.
Sub-themes include, but are not limited to:
- Educational policies and curriculum
- Professional development for teachers and school principals
- Formal, non-formal and informal learning environments and opportunities
- Teaching, learning and assessment
Relations to other Networks
Network 34 will establish complementary relationships with several existing EERA networks, particularly:
- Network 9 (Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement), in relation to assessment and secondary analyses of (large-scale) assessment studies.
- Network 23 (Policy Studies and Politics of Education), in terms of studies on education policy, including recommendations on citizenship education at the national level and/or in different educational systems.
- Network 30 (Environmental and Sustainability Education Research, ESER), with regard to research on education for sustainable development and global citizenship education.
Networks to liaise with outside of EERA include: Networking European Citizenship Education (NECE), the Global Education Network Europe (GENE), the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL), and Children’s Identity and Citizenship European Association (CiCea).