A Profile of Non-formal Youth Civic Education in Germany
Inspiration for a Reimagined Civic Learning Infrastructure
As the very fundamentals of democratic society are challenged in nations across the globe due to increasing political polarization, populism and mistrust of democratic institutions and the media, greater attention has turned to civic education as a tool for combatting these challenges. There is increasing agreement among academics, policy-makers, practitioners and the public that civic education must be prioritized. Contention arises, however, when it comes to vital follow-up questions like: what is the goal of civic education?; what methodologies are most effective?; who is responsible for its provision?; what legal and institutional conditions best support civics?; and what steps need to be taken to move the issue forward?
This discussion paper explores the German infrastructure for außerschulische politische Jugendbildung (non-formal youth civic education) as an alternative model that may serve as a source of inspiration in rethinking our ideas about civic education and the infrastructure needed to support it. Implications of this infrastructure are discussed, and I propose recommendations based on these findings — using the German case both as a positive example, and in some cases, as an example of what to avoid. I specifically look at non-formal youth civic education, because Germany exhibits strong legal, institutional, conceptual and funding frameworks for its provision, considered part of youth work, and it is well worth exploring this unique model. Here, a note on terminology is useful.
“Education is what is left over when you have forgotten what you’ve learned.” — B.F. Skinner
Identifying an accurate translation for the field and practice of außerschulische politische Jugendbildung in English-language context is difficult due to language specificities as well as differing approaches to the work. As opposed to formal education, which takes place in schools and universities, and informal education, which constitutes unintentional learning, non-formal education consists of “institutionalized, intentional and planned” learning events and “mostly leads to qualifications that are not recognized as formal qualifications by the relevant national educational authorities, or to no qualifications at all1 — learning for the sake of learning. A more extensive description of non-formal education follows in sections 2.3 and 3.3.
The German concept of Bildung, which does not have a suitable direct translation in English 2 that fully encapsulates its meaning, can be interpreted as an aim and process of nonformal education; In contrast to Erziehung and Ausbildung which insinuate specifically training and gaining of knowledge and skills, Bildung is an ongoing process of personal growth which encompasses knowledge, values and social responsibility. Likewise, the term used for the profession of a non-formal educator is Bildner, which translates directly as “creator”, not a term used in English, but one that better captures the essence of this unique German vocabulary.
Although the German term, politische Bildung, translates directly to “political education”, this carries certain negative connotations in some spaces, so a better translation is “civic education”. Often perceived in the U.S. as a domain of formal education, civic education refers to “content (knowledge about political institutions, principles, and processes of governance), mastering specific democratic skills (e.g., public speaking, critical thinking, etc.), and the attaining of particular dispositions (e.g., social responsibility, tolerance, compassion, etc.)”, whereas civic engagement emphasizes “learning through doing”2 and is associated with working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community. Per Philanthropy for Civic Engagement’s (PACE) Civic Learning Primer, civic learning more broadly describes “a range of educational experiences that prepare young people for informed and engaged participation in civic and the democratic process…through learning and practice”3 to include non-formal and informal learning, but it connotes a greater passivity than what is described here. Some similarities can also be identified with the concept of civic youth work, which refers to its task as “the ongoing co-creation with young people of democratic living-citizen”.4 However, this term is not widely used in praxis, and the concept developed by Roholt and Baizermann may refer too specifically to a certain model that does not fully reflect all that außerschulische politische Jugendbildung encompasses. As a result, in this paper, I use non-formal youth civic education as the translation for außerschulische politische Jugendbildung, as it describes a pedagogically intentional learning process aimed at fostering civic knowledge, skill and attitude development that takes place outside of formal education.
In addition to a literature review, the material presented here is based on 12 months of ethnographic research conducted between November 2019 and October 2020. Specifically, the material presented in this report is derived from semi-structured interviews with 15 non-formal civic educators and civic youth workers in Germany and four youth participants, and participant observation as a research fellow working with the Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten (Association of German Educational Organizations [AdB]), a non-profit umbrella organization for over 100 non-formal civic education centers throughout the country. The limited number of interviews does not aim to be representative, but rather to provide a summary of common themes. Eight interviews were conducted in-person and eleven by video or voice call between January and September 2020. Eight women and eleven men were 3 interviewed, and the level of experience in the field ranged from under five years to more than thirty. Fourteen interviews were conducted fully in German, three fully in English and a mix of the two languages was used in two interviews. All quotes originally in German have been translated into English for the purpose of this paper.
Section 2 begins with an exploration of the German case, providing a detailed description of the legal, theoretical, institutional and funding frameworks for non -formal youth civic education. Section 3 is divided into eleve n subsections that discuss the major themes that arose as infrastructural implications during the research process. Finally in section 4, I present recommendations for a reimagined civic learning infrastructure based on the German case that is intended specifically for a U.S. — American audience, but may also be of use for other democratic countries looking to explore a different model of civic education.
Read the full paper here: https://www.adb.de/download/publikationen/2021_AvH-Projekt_A%20Profile%20of%20Non-Formal%20Youth%20Civic%20Education%20in%20Germany.pdf
