Democracy, Equality, Learning and Mobilisation for Future Citizens

DEMOCIT is an interdisciplinary collaborative project, combining Teacher Education (LUI) and youth- and school-research (NOVA), both at OsloMet, with users and stakeholders within the practice field and civil society in general. DEMOCIT responds to knowledge needs identified in existing literature and within the practice field, and as revealed in the Norwegian results from the International Citizenship and Civic Education Study 2016, particularly on how youths conceptualize democracy and political participation, and how teaching may stimulate political efficacy among youth. DEMOCIT combines leading theory on education, youth and didactics with the experiences of school leaders, teachers and pupils, but the real novelty lies in the part that users and stakeholders play in the assessment of research findings. The research data collected through DEMOCIT will provide the basis for the development of new didactic theory and practices to be directly implemented in civic teacher education programs at OsloMet. Subsequently, DEMOCIT results will be implemented in new curriculum and syllabus for general teacher education at OsloMet and continued education for teachers in practice field. As the Norwegian national curricular reform Fagfornyelsen, starting in 2020, puts civic and citizenship education one of the three interdisciplinary/cross-curricular themes, teachers and schools need new didactics to incorporate and improve democratic learning in all subjects. DEMOCIT has the potential impact of levelling inequalities in pupils political efficacy due to gender, immigrant- and socioeconomic background. Closing what may be described as a civic empowerment gap in a liberal democracy is important and indeed relevant in the early 21st century. Recent project activities: - Book release, Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council: Northern Lights on Civic and Citizenship Education: A Cross-national Comparison of Nordic Data from ICCS. 3. - Panel Discussion on developing and nurturing political efficacy among youth at the EARLI 2021 conference and presentations at the European Consortium of Political Research. - Reports published on young people's participation during the pandemic and on Save the children's pilot Helt Ærlig about young people's influence and empowerment in school and the community. Webpage: https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/research-projects/democit

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DEMOCIT is an interdisciplinary collaborative project, combining Teacher Education (LUI) and youth- and school-research (NOVA), both at OsloMet, with users and stakeholders within the practice field and civil society in general. DEMOCIT responds to knowledge needs identified in existing literature and within the practice field, and as revealed in the Norwegian results from the International Citizenship and Civic Education Study 2016, particularly on how youths conceptualize democracy and political participation, and how teaching may stimulate political efficacy among youth. DEMOCIT combines leading theory on education, youth and didactics with the experiences of school leaders, teachers and pupils, but the real novelty lies in the part that users and stakeholders play in the assessment of research findings. The research data collected through DEMOCIT will provide the basis for the development of new didactic theory and practices to be directly implemented in civic teacher education programs at OsloMet. Subsequently, DEMOCIT results will be implemented in new curriculum and syllabus for general teacher education at OsloMet and continued education for teachers in practice field. As the Norwegian national curricular reform Fagfornyelsen, starting in 2020, puts civic and citizenship education one of the three interdisciplinary/cross-curricular themes, teachers and schools need new didactics to incorporate and improve democratic learning in all subjects. DEMOCIT has the potential impact of levelling inequalities in pupils’ political efficacy due to gender, immigrant- and socioeconomic background. Closing what may be described as a civic empowerment gap in a liberal democracy is important and indeed relevant in the early 21st century.