Schooling the new generation of German citizens: a comparison of citizenship curricula in Berlin and Baden-Württemberg

Author(s):

Daniel Faas (presenting / submitting) Daniel Faas (presenting / submitting) Alex Street

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

3. Curriculum Innovation by Schools and Teachers

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 08 B, Students and Curriculum Change

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-15

08:30-10:00

Room:

JK 31/228,1 FL., 31

Chair:

Majella V Dempsey

Contribution

In Germany, unlike other European countries, citizenship education has a long history. Since World War Two, its role has evolved from promoting de-Nazification in the West and state socialism in the East to emphasising common citizenship in a multicultural society. Today, the federal states (Bundesländer) are largely autonomous in matters of education. Drawing on citizenship curricula from two states with historically opposite political constellations – Berlin and Baden-Württemberg – we argue that they share an emphasis on the fragility of democracy and the challenges arising from migration. While Baden-Württemberg favours the concept of tolerance, Berlin privileges the idea of interculturalism. There are important within-state differences: the Baden-Württemberg curriculum for the vocational-track Hauptschule being more similar to the curricula in Berlin, perhaps as a result of the larger concentration of migrants. This raises questions for educators and policymakers around the need for a single coherent model of citizenship education and the importance of citizenship in multicultural Germany for all.

Method

In this paper, we discuss general trends (the shock over poor results in an international comparison of educational systems; the scandal over violent and unruly children in a predominantly immigrant school in Berlin; and the publication of a book on integration by the country’s first integration Minister Armin Laschet) with an analysis of current citizenship education curricula. Because we were unable to capture the full diversity of approaches to citizenship in the 16 federal states due to its diversity, we selected two states with very different political backgrounds in order to set bounds on the likely range of approaches - Berlin and Baden-Wuerttemberg. We compare the curricula laid down by the state governments of these two regions for children in the later stage of compulsory education, between the ages of 10 and 16.

Expected Outcomes

Citizenship curricula in Baden-Württemberg overlap with those in Berlin in certain respects, but there are also important differences. They share an emphasis on the fragility of democracy and the need for citizens to be vigilant and active in protecting it. They pay considerable attention to the ideals of the German constitution. And all of the curricula studied make at least some reference to diversity within the citizenry, and the challenges (and occasionally the opportunities) that this brings. The differences appear not only between the states but also between different kinds of schools in Baden-Württemberg. In general, the citizenship curricula in Baden-Württemberg pay less attention than those in Berlin to ‘intercultural’ perspectives and questions of collective welfare in diverse populations. In Baden-Württemberg the concept of ‘tolerance’ is preferred. Critics of this concept argue that it implies and reinforces a sense of superiority among the people who tolerate over the objects of their tolerance. The evidence presented in this paper suggests, among other things, that Germany lacks a single coherent model of citizenship education and that politicians play down the need for large-scale reforms.

References

Auernheimer, Georg. 2003. Einführung in die interkulturelle Erziehung. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration. 2006. Gutes Zusammenleben, klare Regeln. Berlin: Presse und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. 2007. Deutschland braucht mehr und bessere schulische Angebote. http://www.ganztagsschulen.org/108.php Bundesregierung Deutschland. 2007. Nationaler Integrationsplan: Neue Wege, neue Chancen. Berlin: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. Eckinger, Ludwig. 2006. Migranten für den Lehrerberuf gewinnen! Statement zum Weltlehrertag 2006. http://vbe.de/807.html European Commission. 2008. Migration and mobility: challenges and opportunities for EU education systems. Brussels: European Commission. Heckman, Friedrich. 2008. Education and migration: strategies for integrating migrant children in European schools and societies. Brussels: European Commission. Keating, A., D. Hinderliter Ortloff and S. Philippou. 2009. Citizenship education curricula: the changes and challenges presented by global and European integration. Journal of Curriculum Studies 41, no. 2: 145-158. Kultusministerkonferenz. 1996. Interkulturelle Bildung und Erziehung in der Schule: Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 25.10.1996. Bonn: Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Laschet, Armin. 2009. Die Aufsteigerrepublik: Zuwander als Chance. Berlin: Kiepenheuer and Witsch. Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg. 2010a. Bildungsplan Hauptschule und Werkrealschule: Fächerverbund Welt, Zeit, Gesellschaft. http://www.schule-bw.de/entwicklung/bistand/ Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg. 2010b. Bildungsplan Realschule: Soziales Engagement. http://www.schule-bw.de/entwicklung/bistand/ Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg. 2010c. Bildungsplan Gymnasium: Gemeinschaftskunde. http://www.schule-bw.de/entwicklung/bistand/ Paritätische Gesamtverbund. 2010. Bildungschancen von Migrantinnen und Migranten: Fakten, Interpretationen, Schlussfolgerungen. Berlin: Paritätische Gesamtverband. Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Sport Berlin. 2007a. Rahmenlehrplan Grundschule: Politische Bildung. Berlin: Wissenschaft und Technik Verlag. Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Sport Berlin. 2007b. Rahmenlehrplan für die Sekundarstufe 1: Sozialkunde. Berlin: Wissenschaft und Technik Verlag. Statistisches Bundesamt. 2009. Statistisches Jahrbuch. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.

Author Information

Daniel Faas (presenting / submitting)

Trinity College Dublin

Sociology

Dublin

Daniel Faas (presenting / submitting)

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Republic of

Alex Street

University of California at Berkeley, USA

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