Citizenship education in discussions concerning political issues

The purpose of this article is to analyse the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) use of discussions on social and political issues and then problematize the meaning of “discussions” – in particular, the topic of discussion – through a qualitative analysis of actual discussions in the classroom. A qualitative study of classroom discussions is used to shed light on everyday preconditions between teacher and students. The topic of discussion,is analysed as a social and discursive construction. Political matters such as institutional issues and (inter)national affairs in the ICCS-study are also mostly the focus for the teachers in the classroom study. However, the interaction between teachers and students would seem to indicate that choice of issues for discussion always is a political choice. If students are imagined througha lens of being citizens, already in school, then choice of issues for discussion could be understood as a process of negotiation between the teacher and the students. The issues for discussion can therefore be connected to a notion of legitimate democratic participation concerning mutually recognized issues.