Theory and practice of citizenship education: the case of policy, science and education in the Netherlands

Citizenship education is a concept encountered in many debates and publications. This concept though is often very differently addressed in politics, in conversations in schools, in public opinion and among scholars. Debates on citizenship education can be very lively, as is the case in the Netherlands. The concept of citizenship itself is continuously broadened and deepened. It is broadened in the sense that citizenship is no longer limited to the nation state (the Netherlands), but also relates to European citizenship and even global citizenship. There is a deepening of the concept, because citizenship no longer exclusively relates to the political level, but also extends to the social and the cultural levels and even to the interpersonal level - how people live together. The broadening, and especially the deepening of the concept means that citizenship increasingly relates to a person's identity. Moral development and citizenship development are linked. Citizenship education encroaches upon the development of identity of young people. In this article we will analyze several themes that play a role in these debates and link them with research into citizenship education. Special attention will be given to differences in defining the concepts of citizenship and citizenship education, the introduction of other cultures, and the school as a practice ground. The second part analyses the developing of citizenship education and its possibilities at two policy levels: government, and schools. At the system level, we will consider: the educational policy discourse; curriculum policy; civil society; autonomy of schools; differences between schools, and the pedagogical discourse. At the school level we will analyze the place of citizenship education in the curriculum, ownership of teachers, pedagogical-didactic approach and student views on citizenship education. The article ends with a ply for a more critical-democratic citizenship education.