Discourses of citizenship [Elektronische Ressource] : civic awareness among young people / von Johan Nordensvärd

Discourses of Citizenship: Civic Awareness among Young People Von der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg – Fakultät I Bildungs- und Sozialwissenschaften– Zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktor der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften (Dr. rer. pol.) genehmigte Dissertation von Herrn Johan Nordensvärd. geboren am 22.06. 1979 in Falsterbo, Schweden. Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange Zweiter Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Paul Stenner. Tag der Disputation: 4. November 2009 1 ABSTRACT Introducing standards and an output-oriented educational system have been in fashion since the PISA Test conquered the educational debate. This study suggests that such testing of outputs presented in the PISA and IEA Civic Education Study can be contested. The problem is that this kind of testing never goes beyond what the experts set as interesting, consequently there is no real interest how pupils really think. The interesting aspect is that knowledge and theory have to be agreed by experts. These aspects of knowledge construction tend to become centralized in the hands of international organizations. This study intends to assess whether experts could or should have the same role in constructing and reconstructing knowledge that people should learn. This study will go into the opposite direction of the here described trends and will begin with the life worlds of the pupils.