E.04. Civic Education Between Formal And Substantive Democracy

Democracy, understood not merely as an institutional structure but as a socio-cultural practice and an ethical-political horizon (Dewey; Habermas), requires citizens capable of critical reflectivity, informed participation, and an inclusive perspective. Within this framework, learning is not merely a transfer of knowledge, but it is a dynamic process of building active citizenship and developing skills for democratic co-existence.

From this perspective, school is not merely a place of preparation for life; rather, it becomes “life” itself for teachers and students who inhabit and shape it (Dewey; Laporta).

The panel will focus on analyzing the practices employed within the teaching of Civic Education as defined in Law 92/2019 and according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) dated September 7, 2024. The teaching of Civic Education, from its initial definition to the present day, and through various revisions, has consistently constituted a moment within the scholastic context for the reconstruction of knowledge about citizen education.

The purpose of the panel is to discuss and explore potential approaches that are complementary to traditional teaching methodologies in Civic Education, methods which focus on civic participation, the centrality of the group and the community, also considering the perspective of onlife meeting environments (Floridi).