Citizenship Education and Teacher Training. Research and Practice in Italy

Since 2008-2009, the discipline "Citizenship and Constitution" was introduced by the Law 169/2008, in all Italian schools. From pre-primary to upper secondary school, the intention has been to promote the formation of social awareness and critical consciousness to educate good citizens. The culture of Citizenship and Constitution has assumed then a permanent, structural character in schools. The concept of citizenship has gone through various definitions, it is prevailing the idea of uniting citizenship with the content of the Constitution, thereby reinvigorating the map of common values. More recent is the concept of active citizenship, interpreted in terms of participation and social and civil action in the local, national and European community. The university curriculum of teacher education contemplates the discipline ‘Intercultural Pedagogy and Citizenship Education’ in order to prepare students to become responsible teachers towards social critical themes such as the question of human rights. This article presents results on the cultural relevance of learning Citizenship values as part of curricula both in school and at University and gives the essential reasons to prepare students to become teachers for a school able to orienting children towards democratic citizenship.