Executive Summary
| Author | European Union Publications Office, 2006 |
| Pages | 1-12 |
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It is widely believed that globalisation calls for new, and more devolved kinds of political and social structure, in which individual citizens will play a more active part. However, across Europe, there is clear evidence of declining engagement in traditional democratic processes, and governments, firms and other organisations are felt to be remote, and insufficiently accountable to their stakeholders.
This suggests that people need to be re-engaged as 'active citizens', and enabled to take informed decisions about their lives, communities and workplaces. However, many people lack the skills, knowledge or understanding to do this, and this is particularly true of those with least formal education, and most at risk of social exclusion on other grounds.
Governments have sought to address the issue through programmes in formal schooling, but this can only have an impact in the long term, and the benefits have yet to be demonstrated. Firms are seeking to address the issue through new processes of employee engagement and the notion of the 'learning organisation'. In the domain of civil society we see the rise of alternative social movements and changes in the nature of the voluntary sector.
Perceptions of learning, its importance, and how it is supported have also been shifting in recent years. For a decade policymakers have extolled the importance of lifelong learning, recognising that a developed economy and society require individuals to continue to learn throughout life. Associated with this has been a more slowly growing recognition that developing lifelong learning will involve a greater emphasis on learning embedded in the contexts of adult life - the workplace, the home and the community - rather than in formal education and training institutions. It would therefore seem natural to consider lifelong learning as an instrument for remedying perceived 'democratic deficits', and that such approaches would wish to pay attention to how individuals learn to be responsible and effective citizens through informal and embedded processes, as well as through formal teaching in initial schooling. This naturally raises complex questions about how the state can intervene to encourage such learning, which is outside the direct control of governments.
However, relatively little is known systematically about how individuals have learned to become active citizens, the role of formal schooling in this, and the potential role of lifelong learning, including its less formal modes. The principal aim of this project was to investigate this.
The ETGACE project's aim was to explore the nature of citizenship in six European countries,1 to investigate how people have learned to be active citizens, and what kinds of education and training exist to support this. It sought to clarify:
* how today's active citizens learned to be active citizens;
* whether and how this process differs by gender;
* whether and how it varies between generations;
* what current support (formal, informal and non-formal) exists to assist people to learn to be active citizens;
* what interventions might improve this.
This was a comparative study conducted in six countries, selected because of their contrasting experience of democracy and participation in recent decades. The fieldwork was carried out in parallel in all six (UK, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain). The same sampling strategies, interview protocols and focus group processes were used in each country, and researchers came together periodically to reflect on and compare findings.
The project's initial literature review identified three distinct definitions of 'citizen':
* a status - describing who is, and is not, a member of a nation or other community;
* a set of rights and obligations - describing what a citizen can and should do;
* a set of practices - those activities which define and demonstrate membership.
The first of these is a passive notion, requiring minimal activity. The second and third, on the other hand, imply active engagement. While different commentators vary in the emphasis which they place on responsibilities and rights, there is a general view that 'activity' is desirable, and should be encouraged and supported.
It was also evident that individuals are members of multiple communities, with people increasingly drawing their sense of identity and membership from communities of gender, lifestyle, or consumption patterns, as well as from nations, work organisations, religious groups or political parties.
The review also suggested that citizenship is practised in many domains, not merely the formal political one. Individuals play a part as citizens in their local communities, their homes and workplaces, and through a very wide range of kinds of structure,Page 3 from formal political parties to informal social and family groups. To provide a useful picture of the range and nature of citizenship activity, and of the learning associated with it, it was necessary to examine citizenship in a range of such domains. A definition of 'active citizenship' was therefore adopted which recognised active engagement in any one or more of four 'domains', and each national project examined individuals with experience in each of these:
* the state/formal politics,
* the workplace,
* civil society,
* the private domain.
Governance was taken to mean those networks, processes and practices through which "citizens" exercise control over the organisations to which they belong. Informants agreed that patterns of governance are changing, with new mechanisms for accountability and participation being called for by policymakers, and demonstrated in practice.
Based on the literature, three key dimensions to the learning of 'active citizenship' were distinguished:
* effectivity or capacity: developing a sense of agency, of competence and ability to make change happen;
* responsibility: taking responsibility for some social issue, responding to and coping with a challenge;
* identity: forming one's personal identity, developing convictions, opinions and ideas and connections between oneself and other people.
Within the general field of citizenship learning there were two particular issues which were felt to require special attention. Firstly, it was thought that men and women might have very different experiences, both in terms of the expectations which society places on the roles of women and men, and their different experiences of learning. Special attention was therefore paid to the gender mix of interviewees, and gender issues were discussed explicitly in transnational meetings.
Secondly, it was also thought that the experience of learning citizenship might change over time, and especially that those brought up in immediate post 1945 Europe might have a different view of their roles and responsibilities than those of a later generation, brought up in a more affluent and politically stable world. The interview sample was therefore carefully constructed to include balanced numbers of people aged 55-70 and 25-40.
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The research consisted of four distinct processes, each carried out in parallel in each country, using the same protocols and processes, and then synthesised through transnational seminars:
* A literature review. This made it possible to identify broad trends of thinking about citizenship, and how far this differed between countries. A synthesis report summarised trends and issues identified (ETGACE, Citizenship and Governance Education in Europe: a Critical Review of the Literature, 205pp., 2000).
* A life history study, examining how individual 'active citizens' had learned the skills and knowledge required for the roles which they play. In each country, the researchers identified a sample of individuals who were regarded as 'active citizens'. Each of these was interviewed at length twice during the project. The interviews were conducted around a common protocol, developed through transnational meetings where pilot interview transcripts were discussed. The first interview invited subjects to reflect on their lives as active citizens, seeking particular evidence of incidents and events associated with learning, and their relationship with life transitions. The transcripts were examined and discussed across all countries to formulate hypotheses about the learning processes which were then tested in the second interviews. A synthesis paper was produced (ETGACE, Learning Citizenship and Governance in Europe: Analysis of Life Histories, 268pp., 2001)
* Focus groups of education and training experts in each country to explore what kinds of education and training are available to support learning relevant to citizenship. Unusually, the national focus groups each met for two whole days, working to an agreed set of processes. The results of these were again written up and summarised in an overview report (ETGACE, Focus Groups: Intervention Strategies for Citizenship and Governance Education, 220pp, 2001)
* A dissemination programme, including seminars in each country, three scientific workshops, and an international conference held in Brussels in March 2002 to share preliminary findings with policymakers and researchers involved in other relevant research.
Five major reports were produced for the Commission: on the Literature Review, on the Life Histories, on Intervention Strategies the manuscript of an edited book, which is being revised for publication, and the present Final Report.
The project also produced a project Website, a design manual and a set of practical materials to support those undertaking citizenship education, and an online learning package for citizenship educators.
The researchers have in total published 29 book chapters, journal articles or theses based on the project, and presented aspects of its findings at 34 conferences. The work has also led to the production of two further research proposals.
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The academic observers, educators and active citizens all confirmed the view that decision making is being increasingly devolved in organisations of all kinds. There were two reasons for this: a belief that large centralised systems are difficult to manage and plan; and a concern to secure democratic legitimacy for decisions and action. In several countries there was evidence of government trying to re-engage its citizens in these processes, and of individuals finding themselves disorientated by the decline of traditional ideological structures of politics and religion.
Active citizens have a strong sense of their place and responsibility in the world, and are driven by a sense of commitment to other people, rooted in notions of justice and care. They often articulate their commitment in terms of some form of 'grand narrative', rooted in religious affiliation, political ideology or enhancement of modernisation.
Active citizens engage with the state when they wish to do so and on their own terms. They are driven by personal ethical values, and many are resistant to the competitive cultures of traditional political processes and parties.
There is no simple standard model of what an active citizen is, nor any single process of developing citizenship. Rather, the sense of citizenship is embedded in each individual's unique life history, and formed through relationships with others (individually and in groups). Childhood experience appears to play an important part, and our evidence suggests that the predisposition to become an active citizen is often formed early in life, in the private domain, the family and community, as much as in the school. Many of our subjects had been active in youth movements, and many mentioned the importance of role models in convincing them that they could play an active part in whatever domain they entered.
Despite notable changes in the operation of formal democracy, and in social structures, over the last half century, we did not find significant differences between those who had become active citizens in the 1940s and 1950s, and those who did so a generation later. This may mean that change has been overstated or that the factors which make individuals active citizens remain constant, but apply to different, or fewer, people.
There was some evidence of national differences in individuals' understanding of citizenship, which appear to mirror differing historical experiences. In those countriesPage 6 which have relatively recently established or re-established democratic government, the awareness of the role of citizenship in social transformation appeared stronger, while those with longer established democratic traditions were experiencing an erosion of traditional structures, but some growth in alternative forms of collective activity. However, in view of the size and nature of our sample, these findings should be treated with caution.
In the domain of civil society, active citizens had been active in associations and groups providing public services, in campaigning groups and interest groups.
It was evident that the voluntary sector is changing in many countries, with a decline in participation by housewives and students, and a relative increase in the retired. Nevertheless, this sector remained one of the ways in which individuals found themselves a role and mission in life, and many re-entered formal learning through such routes.
While lifelong learning has become a major focus of policy attention for government and private sector organisations and social movements, and NGOs have succeeded in stimulating significant learning in the civil society domain, the potential of civil society as a site of learning is generally underestimated by governments. Learning of citizenship in the domain of civil society appears to be under resourced by comparison with similar learning in the workplace, and as a result, work to develop citizenship skills in civil society tends to be short term, less systematic and less sustainable. Those who suffer most from this are those who are already most vulnerable to social exclusion and least likely to become active citizens in any context.
Traditional notions of citizenship focus strongly, and often exclusively, on the formal political processes of the state domain. In this domain active citizens had been active in political parties, in pressure and interest groups, in local or national government, or in providing expert support for political causes.
Several interviewees expressed disillusion with conventional politics, and many had chosen to work outside the more formal processes, within alternative groups of various kinds. There was a widespread view that the competitive and hostile processes of conventional politics deterred many people from more active participation in the state domain.
The workplace is a significant location of "citizenship" activity, and increasingly participation in the workforce is seen as a requirement to be a full citizen. Active citizens in the workplace were active as trades unionists, in founding companies, in bringing a personal vision to the workplace, using professional expertise in the widerPage 7 community. Frequently they had chosen their current employment because it offered an opportunity to pursue a sense of personal mission or social obligation.
There was a good deal of evidence of change in the internal processes of workplaces, under pressure to adopt approaches which balance social obligations with economic performance. There was evidence of flatter organisations increasing the need for individuals to engage in decision making, and develop new kinds of skill in communication and negotiation. The notion of the 'learning organisation' was often linked to this. However, there was also widespread concern that those who participated most, and benefited most from such changes were the better educated and more senior, and that those with basic skills needs might suffer greatly from these changes.
The private domain is often not recognised as a location for citizenship activity, and this tends to discriminate against women, and to undervalue an important set of roles. Active citizens in the private domain engaged in caring roles, in discussion and debate, reading, reflection and studying, and receiving exchange students. Many women saw caring as the core of their role as citizens, although it was more common for the private domain to be seen as the place where individuals learn to be citizens before going out into the wider world.
The skills and knowledge which active citizens develop in one "domain" (political, work, civil society and private) can be, and frequently are, transferred into the other domains. Active citizens are notably energetic people, and are typically active in several spheres.
Gender is a significant factor in determining how and where people engage as citizens, conditioned particularly by expectations of gender roles and broader social and political structures (which vary between the countries studied). There was much evidence of women abandoning or deferring their own ambitions in deference to partners or to caring roles. One important dimension is the low value typically placed on citizenship in the private domain, which is unfortunate since the home and early upbringing (still typically dominated by women in most countries) are critical in creating the predisposition to be active citizens in the next generation.
Other important areas of difference, including ethnicity, disability, and sexuality, interact with gender to create complex patterns of inclusion and exclusion. In addressing this it is important to ensure that educational interventions (aimed at citizenship or other objectives) seek to give individuals the ability to analyse critically how institutions and cultures differentially affect individuals. They also need to use group solidarity as a basis for empowering those least inclined to put themselves forward for active roles.
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Although there is no evidence of a direct causal connection, active citizens appear in general to be more highly educated than their peers There is therefore a danger that citizenship becomes yet another area of exclusion for those who have previously been less successful in education, and who are already more prone to exclusion. Many laudable interventions to promote more active citizenship appear to have this effect, and this was stressed as a serious concern in all the national reports. Those who become active despite low levels of initial education often re-engage with formal education as a result.
Active citizens usually learn their citizenship skills through trying to solve a problem or to fulfil a mission, rather than by setting out to 'learn to be good citizens'. Learning, and citizenship itself, emerge as a consequence of this primary motivation. Learning therefore has to be embedded in those processes.
It follows that learning citizenship is unlike many more formal kinds of learning. It is interactive and deeply embedded in specific contexts. In this sense, its processes are unlike those of formal schooling, which, drawing on perspectives from developmental psychology, often present learning as a linear and predictable process.
The outcomes of citizenship learning are unpredictable, and public interventions are most likely to be effective if they provide individuals with opportunities to explore and acquire the skills in context, rather than through formal instruction. This kind of informal learning remains seriously under-researched, and the educators we interviewed were less confident about how to stimulate and support informal learning than formal and non-formal modes.
It was felt important that, where opportunities are provided, they recognise the need for learning to embrace three distinct but interrelated dimensions: learning to solve concrete problems, developing social skills, and acquiring critical thinking skills which enable individuals to continue to be active and to challenge stereotypes. Many of the examples of interesting interventions focused less on group educational processes than on facilitation, moderating and mentoring.
It was also evident that where learning approaches were more formalised, successful models allowed learners to collect and analyse information themselves, used the group as an educational instrument, and integrated learning with action and reflection.
There were a number of interesting examples of uses of the internet not merely to disseminate information but to engage citizens in debate on community issues.
Formal education in citizenship seems to have played little part in the formation of the individuals we studied. Where there was evidence of impact it was on encouraging young people to become good citizens rather than active ones. On the other hand,Page 9 extra-curricular activity during formal education does appear to have been important, as do structures which gave students a voice in the running of their educational institutions. However, once again, such processes are often taken up disproportionately by those who are already advantaged.
Governments and others should create opportunities for individuals to practise and learn citizenship skills
Since citizenship is learned through practice rather than instruction, governments should create opportunities for people to practise citizenship, and should support the development of learning resources for this. This enables individuals to learn to participate in ways which they see as relevant. While formal courses can be useful, they are not the principal means through which individuals learn to be active citizens.
Governments and others should support the development of citizenship skills in a range of contexts
There is strong evidence that individuals who develop citizenship skills in one domain transfer them to other domains.
For example, Nigel had a successful career as an insurance broker in the UK. When, in the 1980s, several of his gay friends died of aids, he felt challenged - as a gay man - to become active, and used his financial and social skills to raise funds for social activities. He helped establish, and has subsequently chaired, a lesbian, gay and bisexual 'helpline'. Sara from Belgium was involved - often at the same time - campaigning against nuclear weapons, caring for rape victims, fighting the extreme right, working for adult literacy, counselling young people. Some of these were linked to her work, others voluntary.
Financial support to agencies in any one domain can have unseen and disproportionate benefits in other fields. It is important that returns on investment in citizenship related activities should not be measured too narrowly in terms of a single domain.
Governments, political parties, employers and trades unions should seek to develop more inclusive approaches to engagement in the political and workplace domains
Many active citizens find the competitive culture of political and workplace organisations difficult to engage with.
For example, Olga became a member of one of the small political parties established in newly-independent Slovenia, and was twice elected to the national parliament. But when she voted against the party line, she was expelled. Political parties, she now felt, are not democratic organisations. In Finland, when Hannu sought to be a member of parliament, he felt that senior politicians betrayed him.
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If government and employers wish to develop more inclusive approaches to citizenship they need to develop processes which are less hostile, and more supportive. The development of mentoring processes may be useful in helping the less confident to develop relevant skills and capability.
For example, in the Netherlands Echte Welwaart links the activities of several hundred projects and associations, bringing together their experts, decision-makers and professionals in workshops and master-classes. Using a variety of methods, people share knowledge, common values and goals, and inspire each other, without threatening their own identities. It is a learning network, which creates and supports a diverse and rich coalition, according to its advocates.
Employers, trades unions, and governments should support the development of 'learning organisations'
The development of the notion of the 'learning organisation' reflects the same social and economic trends which underlie the present project. There is evidence that they do increase the engagement of workers as 'workplace citizens'.
For example, in Spain Tómas told us that you have more responsibility at work 'if you participate in decision-making or in the group's organisation'. 'Working groups are more dynamic, because there are common things and questions to all of its members. There is a lot of communication. ... [There] are only a few of us and hierarchy is virtually non-existent. That's why I'm doing well here. There is a lot of teamwork.'
However they also sometimes appear to reinforce existing kinds of exclusion, being taken up more by the better educated and more senior staff. Trades unions continue in most countries to play a significant part in assisting less advantaged individuals and groups to play an active part as citizens in the workplace, both through personal development and training, and through the provision of resources. Governments may wish to provide support to the development of workplace based citizenship activities.
Governments and civil society organisations should provide more training for citizens in the civil society domain
In the civil society domain, formal education is less important in determining who becomes active. Indeed, participation in voluntary organisations is a route through which many people find their way back into the formal education system after previous failure. There is evidence of demand for more training in this domain, both to develop skills and technical knowledge, and to develop the personal capacities of individuals. Far fewer resources are available for such activity in the civil society domain than in the work related one Such funding needs, however, to recognise that this kind of informal education needs to be embedded in the working of the organisation, reflecting its values and mission and those of its participants.
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Governments and civil society organisations should provide support for emerging organisations in the civil society domain
We found many examples of individuals and groups who had developed organisations to address particular issues, but with minimal support or expertise. The learning associated with this was important, but could have been more effective with modest amounts of external expertise and support.
For example, the Scarman Trust in the UK is 'dedicated to helping people gain greater power over their lives, especially by formulating new "deals" between community-based organisations and decision makers in government.' Its Can-doers programme aims to empower people and enable local communities to make a difference. About 500 resourceful people - catalysts or 'can-doers' - are 'setting up saving schemes or food clubs, getting young people off the street and into sports or the arts, renovating estates, or setting up not for profit businesses to achieve their aims.' In collaboration with central government, its Community Champions programme aims to increase the range of community activities by supporting 'forward-looking people', good at networking and sharing ideas, and with the 'persistence to see things through'.
We recommend that structures should be put in place to provide such support to enhance the learning of such embryo organisations and their activists.
Governments and education providers (formal, non-formal and informal) should support development of citizenship skills in the private domain
It appears that a disposition to become an active citizen is developed very early in life, and principally in the home.
For example, Mieke in Belgium told us: 'I think home has been a very determining factor: my dad and my mum were both part of a youth movement, they took on leadership [...] And we've sucked it up with our mother's milk. My home context was one where societal commitment was the norm. There was no other possibility than to have some sense of active citizenship.'
Support should be provided to encourage those with the primary caring role for young children to recognise and develop their role in forming citizens. Parent and family education, and education for women (who still play the major role in this in most countries) are particularly relevant. Such investment may produce significant long term benefits.
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The EU and national governments should continue to encourage international exchanges
International exchanges for people of all ages enable individuals and groups to see alternative perspectives, and develop their ability to think laterally and be constructively critical of the status quo.
Schools and governments should encourage extra curricular activities for those in formal schooling
During formal schooling citizenship skills appear to be developed more through extra curricular activities than through the formal curriculum.
For example, Leena from Finland is typical: her best memories of youth were of 4h club activities; as a young adult, away from home, she joined a youth organisation and studied to be a youth leader - the start of a busy life of activities in several domains.
Such activities should be encouraged, and effort should be made to ensure that they are equally accessible to all, since they are often disproportionately taken up by those from upper social classes. Particular initiatives to engage young people in the governance of their own institutions may be particularly helpful in creating a sense of engagement.
EU, governments, and research funders should support further research into the informal development of citizenship skills and knowledge
We found a serious lack of research into the processes of informal learning within the workplace and the civil society domain. Since our evidence suggests that some of the most important learning of citizenship takes place in informal modes research is needed to investigate how this operates, and how it might be facilitated.
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[1] Five European Union countries (Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the Republic of Slovenia.
