Civic and citizenship education and school leadership: a qualitative study in Italy and Portugal

Abstract

The construction of a school environment, which takes the form of a community of practice where students can actively experience citizenship, is of fundamental importance for the promotion of civic learning as a product of knowledge and experiences in the contexts where they live. The Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (2018) identifies the Whole-School Approach (WSA) as the organizational orientation that can build a democratic learning environment through the integration of democratic values and human rights principles into teaching and learning, school-community cooperation, and governance. An embedded-multiple case study is carried out in Italy and Portugal with the aim of describing the different profiles of school Principals and their behaviors related to school governance and analyzing the realization of organizational and teaching practices for Civic and Citizenship Education (CCE) which could possibly be categorized as WSA. Initial results from two of the eight lower secondary schools participating in the research are presented, describing the organizational features, projects on CCE of the 8th grade, and leadership styles of the Principals. The research supports the relationship between schools, universities and territories, promoting the dissemination of practices that can foster the creation of a learning environment for citizenship.

Keywords

• Civic and citizenship education
• Whole-school approach
• Leadership
• Governance