Professional paper
Citizenship Education Through the Lens of the Education Policy of the European Union: The Case of Croatia
Matej Sever
Mateja Horvat
Abstract
Together with the initial questions posed in this paper, namely: Can we talk about a European education policy and how important are the different European institutions in shaping and implementing educational policies - we open a discussion on the importance of citizenship education and education on both the European and national level. After showing the importance of educational policies in general, the salient role of citizenship education and education is also presented, foremost from a European perspective. Before starting the discussion on the place of citizenship education and education in Croatia, basic concepts of citizenship and advanced citizenship are defined and analyzed. After bringing forward basic theoretical hypotheses of citizenship education and education, that is, those theoretical hypotheses institutions on a European level recognized as instrumental, we focus on the situation in Croatia. Firstly, this paper provides reasons why citizenship education and education should be recognized as a key mechanism for democracy and for learning about democracy. Particularities of Croatian citizenship education and education in a European circle are then stressed, namely those particularities that are a product of years of neglecting this concept in the educational system. Afterwards, instead of a conclusion, the disputes surrounding citizenship education and education in Croatia are clearly expounded. Problems can be encountered in many spheres, and are mainly focused on the implementation and the topic of citizenship education and education in the curriculum. Three basic ideological criticisms of citizenship education and education in Croatia are also presented in this paper. They can be divided into right-wing clerical criticism, right-wing criticism and libertarian criticism.
Keywords
citizenship education; education policy; European Union; citizenship
Hrčak ID:
224108
URI
Publication date:
31.7.2019.
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