Session Information
34 SES 02 A, Education for Democracy Under Global Conditions of Uncertainty. Empirical Foundations for Teaching and Learning Democracy in the Age of Digitalization
Symposium
Contribution
With empirical data from Madagascar, Cameroun and further Sub-Saharan countries we ask for opportunities that arise from digitalisation for democracy-promoting education in the global horizon. Our question overarches four sub-questions, namely 1. What are the experiences of school leaders and those responsible for partnerships with school partnerschips and how do they relate them to the democracy-promoting education? 2. What ideas can be identified for the localisation in a digital global society? 3. What digital opportunities and resources are used in the context of South-North partnerships? 4. What supporting and adverse factors can be identified for the practice of South-North partnerships? In this project, we theoretically presuppose the fact of digitality (Stalder, 2017) in the global society (Luhmann, 1982) for all contexts. At the same time, we assume that digitality is realised locally, in different traditions, with different resources and under different political conditions. We are therefore dealing with a glocal phenomenon (Robertson, 1995). From a pedagogical perspective, we draw on research on learning democracy, which increasingly emphasises democratic experiences and emotions beyond the mere transfer of knowledge about democratic rules and values. There are also claims for reflection democracy-promoting education on a transnational level (Culp, 2019). Other scholars ask for relating digital education to democracy and citizenship (Choi & Cristol, 2021; Knowles et al., 2023). We also draw on research on South-North partnerships, in which their embedding in processes of reflection can be identified as a condition for sustainability (Krogull & Scheunpflug, 2013; Jääskeläinen, 2015; Bourn & Cara, 2012). Based on the qualitative content analysis of group discussions (n=7) and interviews (n=10), we can show the following results. Material resources and, in some cases, political constellations make it difficult to sustain South-North partnerships that can stimulate educational processes that promote democracy. In addition, there are different attitudes to the opportunities offered by digitality, a spectrum of understandings of democracy and the need for curricular harmonisation. On the other hand, we can formulate the following chances deriving from South-North-partnerships: By engaging with an external perspective, the understanding of democracy in its complexity is enhanced for all participants. Participants acquire skills to articulate and reflect on their own involvement in an educational and political culture. The practical use of digitality becomes more complex and accessible for reflection.
References
Bourn, D., & Cara, O. (2012). Evaluating partners in development: Contribution of international school partnerships to education and development. In Research Paper (Vol. 5). London: Development Education Research Centre. Choi, M., & Cristol, D. (2021). Digital citizenship with intersectionality lens: Towards participatory democracy driven digital citizenship education. Theory into Practice, 60(4), 361-370. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2021.1987094 Culp, J. (2019). Democratic Education in a Globalized World: A Normative Theory. Taylor & Francis. Jääskeläinen, L. (2015). Learning in, about and for development partnerships. What Competences Does a Global Citizen Need for Building a Development Partnership? In. Knowles, R. T., Camicia, S., & Nelson, L. (2023). Education for Democracy in the Social Media Century [Academic Journal Report]. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 8(2), 21-36. Krogull, S., & Scheunpflug, A. (2013). Citizenship-Education durch internationale Begegnungen im Nord-Süd-Kontext? Empirische Befunde aus einem DFG-Projekt zu Begegnungsreisen in Deutschland, Ruanda und Bolivien. ZSE Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation(3), 231-248. https://doi.org/10.3262/ZSE1303231 Luhmann, N. (1982). The Differentiation of Society. Columbia University Press. Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity. In M. Featherstone, S. Lash, & R. Robertson (Hrsg.), Global Modernities (S. 25-44). Sage Publications. Stalder, F. (2017). The Digital Condition. John Wiley & Sons.
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