The school as a democratic learning environment for civic and citizenship education: Research-based Teacher Professional Development programmes with schools

Abstract

The PRIN project “The school as a democratic learning environment: promoting civic and citizenship education through the whole-school approach in the first cycle of instruction” stems from studies conducted by the Council of Europe on democratic learning environments for civic and citizenship education and on the need to promote the whole-school approach in pre-primary and primary schools. This approach is focused on the participation of everyone involved in the school experience (students, teachers, head-teachers, parents, non-teaching staff, the local community) in three main areas: teaching and learning, school management and relations with the local community.
This contribution focuses on the second phase of the project, which involves supporting schools in Research-based Teacher Professional Development programmes. Starting from the characteristics and aims of the various experiences, the article analyzes some specific elements of civic and citizenship education in schools, such as collegial work, cross-curricular approach and teachers’ teaching and assessment skills.

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