Evropská unie v učebnicích občanského vzdělávání: limity, inovace a výzvy

Abstract

This article deals with one of the important but neglected aspects of civic education, namely the portrayal of the European Union in textbooks. It aims to comprehensively describe the content and form of the chapter on the European Union in 22 didactic materials (textbooks, workbooks, and teacher’s guides) for civic education and national history in Czech primary and lower secondary schools. The text answers the following questions: 1) How much space is devoted to the European Union? 2) In what context is the European Union mentioned? What actors and themes are emphasized? Do textbooks evaluate the EU and its relevance for the target groups? 3) What didactic approaches and tasks do the textbooks suggest for pupils in teaching about the EU, and how is the material presented visually? Quantitative and qualitative content analysis will be used to answer the research questions. This study has shown that the EU is approached from the pupil’s perspective and is portrayed mainly positively. Over the years, us vs. them framing has evolved, and the textbooks present the Czech Republic as an active part of the European Union. The tasks for pupils in the texts are heterogeneous and do not lead pupils to work critically with sources of information. The article also aims to offer recommendations for textbook authors and teachers. The outcomes of this study are put in an international context.