Demokratiska medborgarideal i läroplaner och kursplaner för samhällskunskapsämnen : En jämförelse av Skottland och Sverige

Sammanfattning: In this Bachelor thesis, I conducted a comparative analysis of democratic citizenship seen through the lens of two countries’ academic curricula. The analysis examines how Sweden and Scotland express their ideals of a democratic citizenship, through curricula learning goals, capacities and courses, i.e., Scottish modern studies and Swedish social studies. The purpose of this study is to better understand which democratic ideals are taught in school and how democratic citizenship might differ between two similar, but distinct, free societies. In this study, the notion of democracy is assumed to be similar in both countries. However, they differ in how democratic citizenship is expressed through their curricula. To examine this area thoroughly, this analysis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method employed is an ideal type analysis, with its basis on democratic ideal types as defined in literature. The quantitative method used is a content analysis where the frequency of democratic related words is counted. The analysis shows that in the Scottish curriculum the notion of democratic citizens emphasizes a responsible citizenship. This includes the ideal of society as a collective beyond just the individual citizen. The analysis also shows that democratic citizenship in the Swedish curriculum centers on a concept of justice-oriented citizens with emphasis on development of the student as an individual.