Citizenship education in Croatia and Italy: what place and role for human rights? A multi-level actor-centred approach to human rights education

The research focuses on citizenship and human rights education, particularly looking at two case studies, namely Croatia and Italy. The main objective is to understand whether citizenship education in lower secondary school (specifically grade 8) includes a human rights component and is aligned with the concept of Human Rights Education (HRE) as enshrined in international and regional standards. The research is based on a quantitative part, coming from a secondary analysis of the results of an internationally renowned study developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and entitled ICCS 2016 (International Civic and Citizenship Education Study). More specifically, data relevant to the research were analysed for both Croatia and Italy (e.g. students’ endorsement of gender and racial equality, learning objectives, school contexts, etc.) and used to frame some of the questions that have been asked during a series of 25 one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders identified in both countries (Ministry of Education, National Agencies, Local Authorities, Civil Society, Academia). Refusing the assumption of linearity and uniformity in the structure and development of citizenship education (CE), and rather conceptualising it as a tension political field of diverse and conflicting demands to which a multitude of actors have to respond simultaneously, the research adopts an actor-centred perspective using the methodological steps of the talk-and-action approach (Zimenkova & Hedtke, 2008) to: - identify the differentiated picture of CE actors as seen by the actors themselves, including their beliefs, conceptions and perceptions; - better understand the complex systems and environments of citizenship education focusing on multiple key actors at stake; - discover (inconsistent) demands and central tensions of citizenship education related to human rights and how these are perceived by the selected actor; - analyse the reactions of each respective actor to the demands previously assessed, pushing for a thorough differentiation between talk, decision and action; - investigate the relationship between citizenship education and human rights education in the two focus countries (Croatia and Italy).