Controversies are no excuse: Citizenship Education in Spain

Abstract

Here we discuss the current situation of citizenship education in Spain, briefly reviewing its legal and political context, and taking into account a questionnaire administered to an international sample of key informants. We argue that even though the compulsory subject 'education for citizenship and human rights' was ruled out from our classrooms, due to the numerous controversies that it raised, there still remain multiple individuals and institutional initiatives that aim to form responsible, active and critical citizens. In general terms, however, it is clear there has been a backward step in respect, especially because as an essential ingredient of democracy, controversial issues should be seen as opportunities or stimuli for learning, not as topics to be avoid and censored. Finally, we recommend, among other things, to reinstate a citizenship education as a compulsory subject (not as an alternative to religious education); to amend the current scientism and other flaws, of our current legislation; to improve teacher's preparation for citizenship and values education, especially for a constructive handling of controversial issues (this requires clarification of the meaning of 'curricular free speech' among us); and to foster systematic research and dissemination efforts to optimize the civic qualities of our school cultures.