In this contribution, I argue that building on the diversity and combined strengths of different approaches and perspectives to citizenship education (CE) is essential to creating a sense of shared, public responsibility for both the new generations and our common world, which appears to be lacking in the current, crisis-driven approaches to CE. I will argue that looking for a common ground between sociological and pedagogical accounts of the reality of schooling in citizenship education, might provide a fertile starting point.

In democratic societies, questions about democracy have always been closely intertwined with questions about education: asking what kind of education would best prepare the people (demos) for their participation in the ruling (kratos) of their society (Biesta, 2006). Today, however, a myriad of ‘crises’ and issues is raising questions about how we can continue to (co)exist and govern our (co)existence democratically, and young people or new generations find themselves confronted most directly by the extraordinary challenges and questions these crises present (Riddle & Apple, 2019). One such crisis, the Covid pandemic, has reinvigorated calls on both the European and global level to rethink or renew citizenship education (CE), as a crucial contribution to a better world and global recovery after the pandemic (Unesco Institute for Lifelong learning, 2021). In this regard, Matjaž Gruden, Director of Democratic Participation for the Council of Europe (n.d) stated for instance that developing democratic competences through CE can “help learners adapt to the current crisis in a positive and constructive manner, avoiding the pitfalls of social fragmentation and extremism.” I will argue that such a common focus of CE as adapting young people while leaving out the responsibilities of other actors and contexts in CE, rather deepens than avoids such pitfalls. My argumentation will be based on three main theoretical underpinnings. First, a reflection on the notion of crisis and its educational implications. A crisis does not necessarily refer to a negative event, but rather to a decisive moment or a point that provides the opportunity “to explore and inquire into whatever has been laid bare of the essence of the matter” (Arendt, 2006/1961, p.171, emphasis added). In the specific case of responding to the Covid crisis through citizenship education in schools, this essence can be said to be equally political and pedagogical of nature. Whereas sociological and political approaches to CE stress its political character, pedagogical perspectives can contribute to the recognition that it is also, and foremost, a pedagogical undertaking.

Second, I explore this dual nature of CE through the lens of both critical and post-critical theoretical perspectives on education, citizenship education and their role in a ‘better future’ and pursuing social justice (Hodgson,Vlieghe & Zamojski, 2018). In short, I will explore how (citizenship) education can find its starting point, not in deploring what not-yet is or what we fear and condemn about the present state of the world and education, but rather in the good that is already there, and the things that we cherish and value (Hodgson et al., 2018). However, we also need to acknowledge that schools do have a responsibility and a role to play in striving for a more equal and just democratic society, by educating young people to take part in that society, for instance through CE. Thirdly, I separate political ends from pedagogical processes of CE, and political from pedagogical responsibilities, based on Simons and Masschelein’s (2010) distinction between political and pedagogical subjectivation and Biesta’s (2010, 2020) triad of the aims and functions of education as qualification, socialization and subjectification.

This presentation follows the methodology of my dissertation research. It will first lay out findings from a critical policy study of European policy texts and statements on citizenship education, both from before and after the Covid pandemic (Council of Europe, 2018; Council of Europe, n.d; European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2017). This analysis presents a re-reading and de-familiarisation of the current ways in which key policy texts set CE agendas for schools, the problems they aim to tackle, and the solutions they present (Simons, 2009). It illustrates how the goals accorded to CE today tend to take the form of core competences for democratic citizenship that young people throughout Europe are expected to acquire, in order to function as good, active citizens. These findings are then confronted with and further elaborated on by introducing an empirical, ethnographic exploration of actual classroom practices of citizenship education in two secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. This empirical section discusses how actual pedagogical practices and interactions in the classroom relate to the official targets set out by the European Reference Framework of Competences for a Democratic Culture (Council of Europe, 2018) and its translation into the Flemish attainment targets for citizenship education. I draw on and further operationalize the theoretical distinction between pedagogical and political aims and processes (Simons & Masschelein, 2010; Biesta, 2010 and 2020) and discuss how these can be seen as always and essentially developing and unfolding in the relations between pupils, school material and the teacher in classroom practices. I will therefore build on the analysis of classroom fragments to discuss the Flemish attainment target of citizenship education: ‘dealing with diversity’. Finally, I conclude with a theoretical reflection on how these pedagogical reflections relate to sociological accounts of schooling, the nature and effects of citizenship education (Merry, 2020a and 2020b)

Citizenship education in schools should be treated for what it is: a subject area that introduces pupils to the world of citizenship and democracy and opens this up to be studied, discussed and related to; but that does, can and should not aim to deliver ‘ready and able’ citizens, just like other school subjects do not aim to deliver athletes, mathematicians, linguists, historians, and so on. Both in- and outside of the classroom, all political and pedagogical contexts and actors involved in CE should provide in opportunities for all pupils and young people to experience that they can participate and give form to their own lives and future as citizens. “Ensuring that young people acquire the knowledge, values and capacity to be responsible citizens in modern, diverse, democratic societies” (Council of Europe, 2018, p.5) should therefore be paired with a reflection on the conditions that are (or should be) present in these contexts. Future research and policymaking on CE should pay more attention (and reflection) to how they themselves are part of the relational arrangements in which young people develop and/or enact their citizenship (competences), and how they contribute to the conditions and opportunities young people are offered for doing so. Seeing CE like this can contribute to it being considered a democratically shared concern, responsibility and a conscious effort of all educational and political ‘players’ or actors involved. Bundling the strengths of pedagogical versus political or sociological approaches to the topic of CE in educational research, can provide a good example, and identify possibilities for positive change and improvement through CE.

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