CIVIC EDUCATION IN LATVIA? NO, THANKS, WE WILL JUST STICK TO PATRIOTIC UPBRINGING

• Authors: Curika L.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In Europe great attention is devoted to civic education; in order to ensure the development of democratic countries, the majority of society must understand how the political system functions. A comparison of national standards for primary education and general secondary education reveals that primary school students acquire more comprehensive civic knowledge, and that education planning documents are oriented towards patriotic, not civic, education. Results of quantitative and qualitative studies confirm that students have poor knowledge about civic participation and insufficient skills for living in a democratic country. Problems existing in civic education are caused by educational standards and the process of political planning; they are also caused by covert education content (teachers' understanding of democratic participation, opinions about controversial historical aspects), the environment (democracy at school, participation of parents and students in decision making at school), passive learning and the political situation in the country. At the same time, the desire of politicians to foster patriotism can be achieved also through facilitating understanding of civic values and participation in democratic processes.

Keywords

EN

CIVIC EDUCATION; CIVIC PARTICIPATION; EDUCATION STANDARDS; PATRIOTISM

Discipline

• POLITICAL_SCIENCES: POLITICAL SCIENCES

• Publisher: EPC Ltd (Economic Prognosis Centre), Riga, Latvia (till March 2009 - Institute of Economics, Latvian Academy of Sciences, Ltd)
• Journal: Humanities and Social Sciences: Latvia
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 3(56)
• Pages: 106-123
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Curika L.

• L. Curika, Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS, 13 Alberta iela, Riga LV-1010, Latvia

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08LVAAAA054615