The Burden of History? Civic Education at German Schools

Abstract

The following essay gives an overview of the development of civic education at German schools in the 20th century. This is based on the study of German contributions to the international comparative project "Civic Education" within the scheme of the International Association for Evaluation of Educational achievement (IEA), which were published internationally and by the German project group. Essential empirical findings are taken into account to describe civic education in Germany in an international comparison. This article helps for a better understanding of civic education in Germany under both a historical and comparative perspective.