Strategy for Civic Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in ...

awareness on the importance to protect fundamental freedoms and rights
of each individual. Inter-curricular education Programmes aim at understanding
and respecting cultural differences: they set from the principles
of equality, rule of law, pluralism, solidarity, tolerance, interaction and
interdependence, with special attention dedicated to mutual respect,
cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution skills.
We opted for the CE curricula to include the contents and goals of
civic education programmes, human rights education programme and
intercultural education programme. Such an approach ensures interdisciplinary
nature of these curricula in primary and general secondary
schools, illustrated by the fact that they cover contents from four main
areas/dimensions of education: social (understanding relations among
people and their functioning within societal groups and institutions);
economic (understanding living conditions, the world of labour and
forms of economic functioning); cultural (understanding shared values
and traditions within a group and among groups, including their historic
perspective); political and legal dimension (rights and duties of individuals
and citizens in relation to the political system and laws).
Interdisciplinary CE curricula so designed have close inter-curricular
links, correlations with the goals and contents of other subjects in primary
and general secondary education.
Horizontal linkages of CE curricula are stated within the curricula
themselves, but the actual curricular integrity may be ensured only by collaboration
and joint planning of different subject teachers within a school.
Such an approach requires a comprehensive analysis of similar curricula
in order to identify the points which correlate with the CE curriculum
contents. Cross-curricular EDC approach in some European countries
is the basic approach. These countries do not have civic education as a
separate subject, but its themes and goals are carried out in the cross-curricular
fashion, through the contents of other similar school subjects.
Another dimension of cross-curricular EDC coherence is seen in the incorporation
of EDC principles (freedom of choice, freedom of expression,
cooperation, provision of equality for all participants, active participation
of all participants in teaching, etc.) into other subjects and the school life.
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