Professor Jan Germen Janmaat: The Education for Democracy Index

In response to challenges facing liberal democracy, Western governments have increasingly looked to education as a tool to strengthen democratic values in the younger generation. While research shows that education, especially civic education, can foster democratic knowledge, skills, values, and behaviors, no comprehensive measure has yet been developed to assess how national education systems promote these traits. This presentation introduces the Education for Democracy Index (EfDI), developed for most European countries using national data on system characteristics, policies, and practices. Unlike other indexes, the EfDI also evaluates the implementation of policies in schools. The index will be linked to national political traditions and young people’s democratic dispositions. The project draws from a literature review of factors influencing democratic dispositions and educational inequalities, informing the selection of key aspects and indicators for the index. A preliminary version of the EfDI will be presented, along with its subdimensions and interactive maps.

Host or Publisher Tom Scotto