The challenges for schools in a complex society. Educating for digital citizenship to build a democratic culture

Abstract

Law 92/2019 reintroduces civic education into the Italian curriculum as a cross-curricular and multidimensional subject covering three elements: the Italian constitution, sustainable development and digital citizenship. The aim is to encourage schools to update their curricula and teaching programmes to develop “knowledge and un-derstanding of the social, economic, legal, civic and environmental structures and profiles of society” (Art. 2, point 1). Starting with an overview of the meaning of citizenship and democracy, this contribution sets out an analysis of the most important European initiatives related to digital citizenship education by UNESCO, the European Union and the Council of Europe. The authors will highlight similarities and divergences in compar-ison to the context and priorities of the Italian school system.