BAMBERG. The recent developments that have threatened democracy have reached their preliminary peak in the election results in Thuringia and Saxony. 32.8 percent and 30.6 percent of voters, respectively, gave their vote to the AfD, whose state associations are each classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist. And again the call for more political education is getting louder – a reflex that can also be found in the past. This is indicated by a current study by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi)The analysis also shows that there is a connection between the composition of the state government and the amount of time spent on political education.
Democracy in the rain: The results of the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia raise the question of how much political education children and young people are given. Photo: Shutterstock
A key result of the study can also be observed today: in the past, political education always gained in importance when democracy was under pressure. After the Second World War, for example, the “re-education” by the Americans played an important role in democratizing the German population, which had been shaped by National Socialism. The swastika graffiti in the late 1950s and the left-wing protest and reform movements in the 1960s were further reasons that strengthened political education in political debate and in everyday school life.
The authors of the LIfBi study came to this conclusion based on the timetables of the German federal states, which they analyzed with the help of educational history and subject didactic works and contemporary documents. They focused on the period from 1949 to 2019 and included the data from the East German federal states from reunification onwards.
“Depending on the country’s political affiliation, students received different amounts of political education”
In addition to this clear “firefighting function” of political education for democracy, the data set also reveals a political influence of the state government on political education, especially until the end of the 1990s: “The party-political composition of the state government of a federal state during school times can significantly influence the political actions and attitudes of adults,” the authors state succinctly.
“Depending on the political affiliation of the country, students received different amounts of political education,” says LIfBi researcher Norbert Sendzik. “If the SPD was part of a government, more political education was taught. If the CDU was in power, less political education was provided.” This can also be observed in the case of changes in government: political education tended to increase when the SPD was involved, while it tended to decrease after a change to a CDU-led government constellation without SPD involvement.
The quantitative difference is particularly evident in the eastern German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, which were dominated by Christian Democrats after reunification. “In comparison, very little political education was provided there,” says Sendzik.
The analysis shows that after reunification, East German states with CDU-led governments set aside fewer hours for political education than SPD-led Brandenburg. “This shows how strongly political education is influenced by the party-political orientation of the respective state government,” says the study report. This trend only weakened from the 2000s onwards; since then, the number of hours of political education lessons has been less influenced by the composition of the state government.
Limited effect
However, more political education does not necessarily lead to a greater awareness of democracy, warns the LIfBi research team. The researchers came to this conclusion based on an analysis of scientific work from Germany and abroad on the effects of political education.
They write: “The current state of research, especially from abroad, indicates that political education in schools does not lead to a general improvement in democratic attitudes and actions – that is, one that applies equally to all population groups.” In this context, however, schools do have the potential to compensate for origin-related inequalities in political education.
The how is important: According to the researchers, targeted educational offerings can improve the political participation of disadvantaged students. The concrete design is crucial. A positive classroom climate and practice-oriented approaches, such as simulated elections or discussions with local politicians, can significantly increase the success of political education. News4teachers
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