Newsletter Spring 2009 - Earli

Newsletter from EARLI SIG 13 Moral and Democratic Education – Issue # 3EARLI 2009 CONFERENCETitle of Symposium:Title of Paper:Author:Affiliation:Two Heads on One Body: On the Difficult Relationshipbetween the Political and the MoralTeachers between the Moral and the PoliticalWiel VeugelersUniversity for Humanistics Utrecht, NetherlandsABSTRACTNowadays in practice, educational politics and research is connection is made betweenthe moral and political. Citizenship education is extended beyond the level of thepolitical and includes the social and the interpersonal level (Oser & Veugelers, 2008).Socio- political development is combined with moral and personal identity development.In several studies we research the relationship between the moral and political. In threestudies among teachers and students in secondary education we found that teachers aremore reluctant in paying attention to the political then students want to be case (Leenders,Veugelers, De Kat, 2008a; 2008b; 2008c). In a fourth study we explore the relationshipbetween the moral and the political further in the literature and by interviews withteachers. In particular we focused on the concept of cosmopolitical citizenship. This studyshowed that teachers are aware of the political, but in their pedagogical goals they focuson the moral. In educational practice they however can avoid the political.EXTENDED SUMMARYTheoretical conceptsThe current debate on young people’s social development is imbued with the conceptof ‘citizenship’. Citizenship education may focus on transferring knowledge on democracy,its institutions and the structure of society (Cleaver, Ireland, Kerr & Lopes, 2005).Equally, the approach could be more on promoting particular social norms, or on anactive construction of moral signification (Haste, 2004). We endorse the latter approach, inwhich both the individual’s social performance and participation in society are of interest(Veugelers, 2003). Among the moral values to be developed are ‘justice’, ‘respect’, ‘autonomy’,and ‘social and moral commitment’. Citizenship is not restricted to the politicalaspect, but also relates to society as a whole, to the everyday relations between people andindividuals’ identity development (Banks, 2004). Citizenship education may also becomemore reflective, and therefore susceptible to change, by improving moral reasoning andaction (Veugelers, Derriks, De Kat, & Leenders, 2006). This paper focuses on the relationshipbetween the moral and the political.First study: National survey among teachers in secondary educationThe first study was a survey with a-select sample of Dutch schools. In each of the 150schools we selected 4 teachers. There was a response of 43% (Leenders, Veugelers, DeKat, 2008a). We focus here on the scales relates to the socio and political domain. The49