How can schools and the school curriculum contribute to building democratic citizens? This is a major question posed by governments, educational systems, schools, teachers and researchers around the world. One important way is to identify the competences needed for preparing democratic citizens and incorporate these within both the formal and informal school curriculum. Another question must then be posed- what competences do young citizens need to be considered as active and engaged in modern democracies?In 2011 an invited research symposium of leading civic and political educators, and social scientists from across Europe met in Hannover, Germany to consider this key concern facing Europe today. In examining the above questions the symposium addressed two significant issues:1. Identify key competencies required for active citizenship of young people in Europe of the future.2. Translate those competencies to school-based activities in the form of curricular and pedagogical strategies.The publication Civic Education and Competences for Engaging Citizens in Democraciesaddressed the first issue and this volume addresses the second issue. Through discussion in the invited symposium, previously prepared papers, and participation in a modified Delphi Technique the participants have prepared chapters for this book. The chapters of this book represent the contribution of the participants before, during and after the symposium with opportunities for review and reflection about competences for democratic citizenship and the role of schools and the curriculum.Murray Print and Dirk Lange are professors from the University of Sydney and Leibniz University of Hannover respectively and are national leaders in civics and citizenship education in their respective countries. They have brought together a group of leading European civic and citizenship educators from different academic fields to explore the key issue and to identify the competences for young people to become active and engaged European citizens.

The All-European Study gives a systematic description of Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) policies in the Council of Europe member states. Research was conducted in 2002 at national level, involving national EDC co-ordinators, practitioners and other stakeholders. In 2003 a group of experts produced five regional studies that were submitted for consultation to national authorities in member states with a final feedback given at the EDC Policy Seminar held in Strasbourg in September of the same year. The study contains recommendations and examples of good practice in EDC policy implem.

Citizenship education is a current concern of policymakers in various parts of the world. Debates focus on modern notions of citizenship, and the need for citizenship education in a rapidly changing world. This need for citizenship education and corresponding definitions have changed over time, but a persistent characteristic would seem to be a fear of indoctrination and a lack of a coherent vision due in part to the notion of citizenship being a contested concept. Different notions of citizenship in turn underpin different theories of citizenship education, and a number of commentators have examined its role and rationale at various points in time and identified ideal forms of pedagogy, values, skills, curricular content, and assessment. Contributors address the following concerns: universality and equal opportunity, social literacy and citizenship, citizenship education and curriculum, race, different citizenship patterns in civic education, assessment, cultivating respect in human relations, and global citizenship education. Adopting a comparative approach discussing citizenship education in New Zealand, England, Iceland, Israel, Ireland, and Europe, the book presents various debates and develops new frameworks for understanding the issues.

In this insightful text, the editors reflect on contributions from scholars representing Bangladesh, Greece, India, Israel, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK and USA, by showing how the majority of educational and social institutions in both developed and developing countries have failed to overcome the many barriers to an effective integrated system of education, suggesting ways as to how these barriers might be challenged. By looking closely at the overt and covert injuries of educational and social exclusion, a variety of approaches to overcoming the consequences of those challenges is proposed, drawing together strands of social theory, research data and conceptualisations for social action.

This volume, emerging from a cross-national study of teachers' perception of good citizenship, addresses two fundamental questions: What do teachers see as important in citizenship education? How do these perceptions facilitate or hinder the preparation of good citizens? While providing rich and useful data on the latest developments of citizenship education in various contexts, this book also offers an all-round review of concepts and arguments on the subject, as well as insightful comparative analyses of the findings emerged from the case studies. One encouraging conclusion drawn from these studies is that teachers across nations share similar goals and objectives that seem to have transcended cultural and political boundaries.