International Centre for Education for
Democratic Citizenship

A joint international centre between Birkbeck and the Institute of Education.

With increased globalisation, migration and social pluralism, there is currently worldwide interest in citizenship and citizenship education. Within UK policy, citizenship is clearly on the agenda, with citizenship education made statutory in secondary schools in England in 2002. Citizenship has become a focus of concern not only in the domain of education, but indeed, right across government. Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) has been a priority of European institutions since 1999 and indeed internationally in a number of different nation-state contexts, including the United States, Canada, Denmark, France and Germany.

This joint international research centre builds on the existing strengths both within Birkbeck and the Institute of Education, University of London. Birkbeck is strategically expanding the scope of its work on citizenship and citizenship education, developing new courses and programmes and building on the internationally renowned work on active citizenship and service learning. In September 2006 Birkbeck appointed a new lecturer in citizenship education and another post in politics and citizenship. A new MSc Citizenship Studies will be launched in September 2008. The Institute of Education has many active researchers in citizenship across several schools and units, including the Director. It has a well-established PGCE in secondary citizenship education, a flourishing MA in Citizenship Education, and also an MA in Citizenship Education by distance learning has been launched. A number of PhD students are already linked to the work of the Centre, and we welcome applications from prospective students. Both Birkbeck and the Institute were accepted by the government’s Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to deliver the new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Certificate in Citizenship Teaching in 2006/7.