The Future of Education

Edition 14

Accepted Abstracts

Empowering Youth through Civic and Citizenship Education: the Case of Italy

Angelyn Balodimas Bartolomei, North Park University (United States)

Abstract

Within the past decade, international organizations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, IEA, and the EU Council have been the driving force in promoting citizenship and human rights education throughout the world. Aimed at promoting the core values of democracy, human rights, and equality among students, the theme also serves as a prevention of human rights violations.
Since 2010, member countries of the Council of Europe and European Union have agreed to integrate citizenship education within their primary and secondary school curricula. Gaining prominence within national curricula across Europe, the theme is usually taught in one of the following three approaches: as a stand-along subject; imbedded into the curriculum of other subjects; or as a cross-curricular dimension of the curriculum. While European and international dimensions constitute a part of the instructional content in European curricula, most EU countries also emphasize a wide range of “national” topics that include teaching about the socio-political system of their country, human rights, democratic values, as well as equity and justice.
Within the last few years, the Italian Ministry of Education has begun focusing on themes that were not explicitly envisaged by the curricula, such as environment, peace, and intercultural education. In collaboration with several organizations and associations, numerous legalità’ and anti-mafia youth oriented projects have been initiated against corruption and organized crime especially within Southern Italy. Among those is Libera - an umbrella organization founded in 1995 that aims at involving and supporting people interested in fighting the Mafia and organized crime. Libera was the catalyst behind the 1996 law (n109) that grants the use of confiscated Mafia land to social cooperatives and agriturismi (agricultural tourism). With a network of more than 1,200 associations, groups, and schools, its educational programs, ranging from elementary school to university level, focus on the values of citizenship, civic responsibility, and the fight against the Mafia.
The purpose of this project is to analyze and summarize citizenship programs and initiatives in Italy, while bringing forth new information and approaches that demonstrate how Italian schools are addressing Italy’s national issues, such as the mafia, through civic and citizenship education.

Keywords: anti-mafia education; civic and citizenship education; Italian schools; Italian curriculum;

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