Zimmermann, N.-E. (2024). Demokratie als Kompetenz. weiter bilden. DIE Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung 31 (3), 32–36. https://www.die-bonn.de/id/42126
Abstract: Competence frameworks systematically arrange competences as a complex combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes. As an instrument, competence models can serve various purposes and different addressees in the conception, concrete planning and implementation of learning as well as in recognition. The variety of possible uses also makes them interesting for extracurricular education.
For over two decades, work has been carried out at European level on concepts and practices in both civic education and human rights work. The Council of Europe has a special role to play in civic education (especially in youth education). Its most systematic contribution is the Reference Framework of Competences for a Democratic Culture (RFCDC).
It promotes the dissemination of a competence-oriented understanding of civic education that places democracy, pluralism and diversity at the center of subject-oriented and emancipatory learning. In the European Union, various competence models and materials have been developed in line with the idea of promoting education with key competences in the understanding of education as lifelong learning. While the fears expressed in Germany in particular regarding the general approach have largely not been confirmed in the reality of formal and non-formal learning, the question now arises as to what role competence models play in this. The challenge has shifted from understanding the approach to the meaningful integration of complex frameworks along the lines of individual ideas of quality in specific educational contexts.
Because the development of competence models is very much based on European impulses, this article provides an overview of the relevant frameworks from the perspective of civic education and adult education.