Ethical and civic education and the social commitment of university students
- Concepción Naval Durán
- Rafaela García López
- José Puig
- Miguel Anxo Santos Rego
ISSN: 1494-4936
Ano de publicación: 2011
Número: 12
Páxinas: 77-91
Tipo: Artigo
Outras publicacións en: Encounters on education = Encuentros sobre educación = Recontres sur l'éducation
Resumo
Recent decades have seen growing international concern about the lack of social commitment among young people, shown in their failure to participate in social affairs, their scant interest in formal politics, and their low turnout at elections. We first outline the international framework which forms the background to our paper. This leads to a discussion of the ethical and civic education which university students receive in the context of the social mission of the university and the European Higher Education Area. The article then moves on to examine one of the most promising initiatives in this field: service-learning. We conclude with a proposal containing some suggestions of relevance to higher education. The need for education in ethics and civics underpins the whole article, since this is the key to promoting social commitment among young people.