Tuesdays for Education on January 20 – Political Education

Between grades 7 and 10, young people develop only a limited extent of civic literacy, which is important for democracy. This is shown by a new study by the Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS) at TU Dortmund University, which is based on a newly developed framework model. While political knowledge increased continuously, motivation and willingness to participate remained rather low overall. Political interest and internal sense of effectiveness increased only slightly and remained at a rather low level until 10th grade; and the willingness to participate in politics and society was also rather low on average. In order to systematically record these developments, their determining factors, and differences between groups of students, the researchers advocate regular nationwide education monitoring and targeted school strategies to promote democratic attitudes and political engagement.

Further information can be found in the press release (in German) and summary report (in German).