PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA
HAČEK, Miro & Marjan BREZOVŠEK*
Modern democratic societies are encountering many demanding challenges such as
decreasing political participation in the democratic societal sphere. In most European
countries one can detect an almost annual drop in citizens’ political participation at local,
national and European levels. Due to the dramatic changes in political, security and
societal conditions in Europe in the last twenty years, today’s youth is being brought up
in a fundamentally different spirit. In the pursuit of ‘creating’ more participative citizens
for the future in Slovenia, for quite some time there has been an ongoing debate regarding
civic and patriotic education. Differing opinions may be found on how to realise this
education, and what forms and methods should be involved. In general, two different
concepts are at odds. The first one is the discipline of patriotic education, while the second
one attempts to cultivate a sense of taking responsibility and of the acceptance of
democratic culture while simultaneously maintaining a critical stance on the very
political system – civic education. A key question related to this article is ‘Is there a real
need for patriotic education?’ The article focuses on the analysis of Slovenian attempts of
introducing various forms of patriotic education into the Slovenian educational system
and tries to find out whether patriotic education is really needed in Slovenian primary
and secondary schools and which patriotic elements are already there.
1 INTRODUCTION
Readers of this article have probably already heard the story about the Inuit people and the
many words they use to describe snow since, in their reasoning, a single word does not
account for the variety of forms that frozen condensed water can take. Similarly, patriotism
is a far more diverse concept than might seem at first glance. Political scientists, sociologists
and pedagogues may find the Inuit concept of snow quite useful as only a group of words
can suitably serve to describe various forms of knowledge, persuasions and actions which
are nowadays described by the word ‘patriotism’. Hence some attention must be paid to the
concept of patriotism prior to proceeding with a study of patriotic education.
Patriotism is described by most authors as a positive emotional attitude to the country to
which an individual belongs. Archard (1999: 158) describes patriotism as a genuine love of
and deep respect for one’s own country and its heritage. Love for the homeland is most
commonly referred to as an incorrupt inclination of an individual to his/her own – often
sacrificing oneself – action for the benefit of his/her own country. Patriotism and nationalism
share the same values – nations exist, the existence of one’s own nation has a special moral
value for an individual, and therefore a nation is worth (our) special affection and action for
the nation’s benefit. Thus every nationalist is surely a patriot as well. A patriot is committed
to the allegiance to his/her own country and nation, yet not every patriot is a nationalist in
the sense of searching for congruence between the nation and state. A patriot does not
necessarily have views on the political status of his/her own nation, although it is probable
they do. Patriotic feelings are thus expressed in the sense of affiliation, connectedness,
fidelity and the feeling of a cause fed by acting in the role of an individual-citizen.
The socio-political conception of citizenship is easier to understand if some other terms, e.g.
civic conscience and patriotism, are explained simultaneously (Janowitz 1983: 8). Janowitz
defined patriotism as the primordial attachment to a territory and society; a deep and
straightforward sense of belonging; a sense of adherence, similar in its foundations to that of
religious, racial or ethnic affiliation. Patriotism is developed unconsciously, almost
*
Miro Haček, PhD, associate professor, and Marjan Brezovšek, PhD, associate professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Contact: [email protected].
automatically and in this sense it resembles ideology, whilst containing no precisely defined
way of behaviour, but a generalised determination for a specific way of action instead.
According to many authors, patriotism currently represents the most incorrectly used term
in the field of education (Levine and Youniss, 2006: 8). Very often teachers confuse the notion
of patriotism and patriotic love of homeland with militaristic chauvinism, applied by some
dictators of the 20th century. In doing so, they fail to recognise it was the very patriotic
resistance against such authoritarian movements that contributed to their demise. Many
writers even explicitly question whether patriotism is already an obsolete concept; a concept
not to be passed on to younger generations. One of the most important debates on the role
and meaning of patriotism in the modern education and cultural system is the one between
Eamonn Callan and William Galston (in Archard, 1999). Both authors emphasise a deep need
for civic education in the modern education system that should build a patriotic adherence of
the young to a uniform national identity. Both recognise the need for or a strategy of citizens’
integration, i.e., that there is a need for a way of ensuring the fidelity and loyalty of citizens
to the democratic political institutions within liberal society. And both perceive civic
education as being intertwined with the elements of patriotism as a means to these ends.
Both expressed worry about the care for disinterested, objective thinking which persistently
reappears whenever there is an attempt to introduce whatever form of patriotic education,
especially within the system of compulsory education. This is a frequent dilemma stressing
the tension between demands for the inclusion of elements of patriotism into the system of
education on the one side, and awareness of the often corrosive effects of care for impartial,
objective thinking for the circumstances of implementing such an education, on the other.
The belief about patriotism as a positive value is often endangered by worry for the
wellbeing of impartial, objective thought.
2 CITIZENSHIP, PATRIOTISM
QUESTIONS AND DILEMMAS
AND
EDUCATION:
CHALLENGES,
Since antique times, the notion of citizenship1 has simultaneously characterised the
allegiance of an individual to a specific political community and the normative ideal of an
individual within the political community. The problematic nature of debates about
citizenship is thus represented by the fact that it needs ‘to be understood and studied as a
mosaic of identities, obligations and rights, and not as an uniform concept’ (Heather 1999:
114), as every political and social theory presupposes a certain aspect of citizenship as well as
the different dimensions thereof, e.g. legal, socio-economic or cultural. Nevertheless, it must
be stressed that, even in modern plural and democratic societies, part of the answer to this
problem has a contextual character as, in the introductory paragraph of the 8th book of
Politics, Aristotle already reminded us of the fundamental interconnection between the
notion of citizenship and the form of political community in which one lives:
‘A citizen ought to be formed in a manner consistent with the form of government he is
subject to. Since a specific form of personality is formed and preserved by every authority.
The character of democracy creates democracy, a character of oligarchy creates oligarchy;
[…].’ (Aristotle 1996: 195)
As evidently put forward by William Galston, since ‘Plato and Aristotle first debated about
this topic it has remained clear that civic education is always connected to the form of
political system’ (Galston 2002: 217). Every form of political community hence needs an
institutional framework and a corresponding understanding of civic virtues, enabling its
security and stability.2 The issue of civic virtues, including love for the homeland [‘amore di
1
2
A considerable part of modern thinking about citizenship relates to the ideas of T. H. Marshall, namely his
fundamental essay on this topic Citizenship and Social Class (1992 [1950]), where he discussed the historical
development of the modern notion of citizenship and the related conceptions of civil, political and social rights.
In the context of the issue about civic virtue cultivation and education, John Rawls (2000) stresses that, in terms
of the education of ‘its’ children, society must pay special attention to their ‘role as future citizens, and thereby
2
patria’] or patriotism, is especially pertinent at times of conflict.3 The security and stability of
modern democratic societies can be negatively influenced by other social phenomena like the
‘democratic deficit’, the ever more frequent appearance of various forms of racism,
xenophobia and other forms of discrimination and intolerance and the ever greater pluralism
and variety within modern democratic societies.
Modern democratic societies face problems unparalleled in history which are connected with
increasing cultural, linguistic and religious diversity and pluralism (Galston, 2002; Macedo,
2000; Reich, 2002 and Spinner-Halev, 2000). In the context of this debate, the harmonisation
of unity and variety, representing one of the most important questions of the contemporary
citizenship and civic virtues theory, has special priority. This harmonisation within plural
modern societies represents one of the fundamental challenges that democratic institutions
face. As emphasised by Bhikhu Parekh, plural modern societies must ensure a balance of the
unifying and diversifying forces and, at the same time, find ways for
‘... the settlement of legitimate demands for unity and diversity, attainment of political
unity without cultural uniformity, the achievement of inclusiveness without violent
assimilation. A sense of affiliation must be cultivated among the citizens, their legitimate
cultural divergence has to be simultaneously respected and plurality of cultural identities
has to be developed without the weakening of the accepted and important identity of the
common citizenship’ (Parekh, 2000: 343).
The reconciliation of unity and variety in modern democratic societies and the determination of
the level of a moral consensus necessary for ensuring the safety and stability of the democratic
political system which is built on the universally accepted basis of human rights and freedoms
also concerns implementation of the long-term goals of the public education system. Among
them the development of a conscience about appurtenance to the state and national identity can
be found, which invigorate knowledge of the history of one’s own country and its culture, as
well as encouraging tolerance as one of the common cultural and civilisation values. One of the
basic tasks of the public education system as a common public good is hence the provision of a
common space for the formation of citizens, since public schools rejoin future citizens through
their joint experience and the inclusion of values that ought to be common to all children of a
certain democratic community. Public schooling thus remains one of the most important
modern social institutions as it significantly contributes to the formation of a common civic
identity.
A modern democratic political system must therefore first answer two basic questions: (1)
‘How to justify and maintain a stable political structure of the system and its institutional
framework?’; and (2) ‘What legitimises and justifies an individual political structure?’ The
first question refers to the motivation of citizens’ political action, and the second to the
justification of these actions. Based on the answers to these two questions, two different
approaches to the theory of citizenship and civic education can be discerned. The first one
bases its two answers to a great extent on tradition, symbols, rituals and myths. The second
one, like the former, offers a single answer to both questions but, unlike the first one which
emphasises motivation, it concentrates itself on the aspect of rational justification and includes
‘universally’ accepted values such as freedom, equality, democracy etc.
Despite the fact that, in most modern democratic societies, there is wide acceptance of the
legitimacy of the public education system serving fundamental civic intentions, including the
development and teaching of literacy and mathematical skills, tolerance and mutual respect,
there remains a fundamental discord about what the scale of the civic and homeland
objectives of the public education system provided by the state should be. Each of the
abovementioned approaches has a unique way of dealing with these interconnected issues.
to things as important as their gaining of capabilities to comprehend the public culture and to participate in its
institutions […], and to their development of political virtues […].’
3
A typical example are the 9/11 events (11 September 2001) in the USA and the related national security strategy
based on the Patriotic Act.
3
At first glance, it seems that the second approach, based on ‘universally’ accepted democratic
values such as human rights and freedoms, is not only a political necessity but a theoretically
justified one. It is based on the presumption that the interconnection between political
identity and basic democratic principles assures the binding foundation or the necessary
condition for the existence of democratic societies, as well as for the unity and solidarity
within it. The basic task of the public education system should therefore be the equal
opportunity of education, the cultivation of tolerance and individual freedom, thus enabling
the preservation and security of democratic societies and the development of a feeling of
mutual adherence to both the community and its members. However, loyalty to the basic
democratic principles can also be as controversial as loyalty to an ethnic group. This is
illustrated by the case of the hijab prohibition for Muslim girls in French primary schools,
justified by the proponents of secularisation on the principle of laicism or the separation of
the Church and state.
Hence, there remains the fundamental question of whether common adherence to the
institutions and procedures of modern democratic societies makes for a sufficient condition
for the preservation of the latter and of their institutional framework, or why democracy
requires patriotism, as the basic paradox of the second approach or ‘universal’ values lies in
the fact that, despite its inclusiveness and emphasis on tolerance and non-discrimination, it
lacks the fundamental element of motivation or social unity required by individual social
situations.
The most important problem faced by different modern theories of citizenship and civic
education is thus how then to proceed? How to articulate a theory of civic education that
recognises and respects individual cultural differences and is at the same time attentive to
the demand for cultivating the common political values of future adult citizens? How must
public schools respond to the ever increasing multicultural character of modern societies?
Should patriotic education and civic education cultivate cosmopolitan or patriotic
worldviews among pupils? How then to modify patriotic education within the public
education system so that it would be based on the fundamental democratic principles of nondiscrimination and non-exclusion and simultaneously develop fundamental civic virtues
such as love for the homeland, bravery and tolerance that are important for the unity of a
certain political community?4
The model of patriotism or civic education which successfully surpasses the abovementioned
approaches and also rejoins the question of unity and legitimacy is the best tradition
patriotism, reducing democratic discord among citizens regarding the fundamental aims of
the public education system. This form of patriotism, unlike organic patriotism – the intimate
connection of people – and constitutional patriotism based on common democratic values,
puts forward the compatibility of patriotic education with civic education (Taylor 2000,
Gutmann 1999), enables teachers to develop adolescents’ moral obligation to be patriotic,
without rendering themselves to support the existing political regime and at the same time
encourage critical thought and other educational aims. Differing from the approaches
mentioned above, the proposed model of patriotic education acknowledges the differences in
our moral ideals of education and therefore does not view democratic debates solely as a
means for overcoming these differences but as an important part of civic education. The
basic intention of the democratic theory of education is not to offer a panacea for all the
troubles our education institutions are plagued with but to reflect on the various ways of
resolving these problems which are compatible with a devotion to democratic values.
2.1 Inclusion of the elements of patriotic and civic education in the Slovenian school
curriculum
4
It is the status of patriotic education or of the cultivation of patriotism within the public education system and
patriotic education’s nature and the teaching of it within the school curriculum which comprise one of the most
important debates being paid special attention by political theory and pedagogy among the proponents of
democratic education (Gutmann 1999; 2001), liberal political theory (Callan 1997, Tomasi 2001),
multiculturalism (Kymlicka 1999, Feinberg 1998), cosmopolitanism (Nussbaum 1996) and ‘patriotic’ or
‘homeland’ education (Galston 1991; 2002).
4
Within the (‘state prescribed’) obligatory curriculum for primary education and for
secondary education in the public education system of Slovenia, educational topics referring
to patriotic education and civic education can be incorporated in various subjects:
a) Primary education:
- Civic Education and Ethics (7th and 8th grades of primary school5);
- Facultative subject Civic Culture (9th grade of primary school);
- History (6th-9th grades);
- Geography (6th-9th grades);
- Slovenian (1st-9th grades);
- Society (4th-5th grades);
and other compulsory and facultative subjects at primary school.
b) Secondary education:
- Slovenian (years 1-4);
- History (years 1-4);
- Geography (years 1-4);
- Civic Culture (years 1-4 );
- Sociology (years 1-4 );
and other compulsory and facultative subjects in secondary education.
The incorporation of educational elements of patriotic education into the school curricula of
primary and secondary education brings important novelties of both a contextual and
didactic character. At this point, the formation of a framework of topics within the school
curriculum deserves special attention; in this context, pupils are to learn about the role and
meaning of national identity in a modern democratic society, about community life and
about the basic principles of democratic political order, human rights, tolerance etc. This
aspect is particularly important as the faulty co-ordination of educational policies, curricular
level and the level of schools’ organisational culture, plus the inappropriate transfer of
educational policies into the practice of pedagogy represent one of the fundamental
problems of the wider setting of patriotic and civic education – as is corroborated by the PanEuropean Study of the Council of Europe about Educational Policies concerning Education
for Democratic Citizenship, the study of the Eurydice network entitled Citizenship Education
at School in Europe and by the analysis of strategic documents undertaken in the field of
education.
As far as the incorporation of elements of patriotic and civic education, and the related
teaching and learning into the school curriculum, are concerned both policy-makers of
educational policies as well as teachers face two questions, to which existing comparative
analyses of educational policies and curricular solutions as well as the many examples of
good practice do not offer a straightforward answer:
1) what should the range, level and conditions of the inclusion of educational elements from
the area of patriotic and civic education in the school curriculum (at both the curricular
planning and implementation levels) be; and
2) how to improve the quality of implementation of educational policies in this issue area in
the practice of pedagogy?
Each question demands the argumentation of fundamental principles enabling both the
implementation of minimum and basic standards of this issue area as well as the provision of
quality whilst maintaining the possibility of evaluation and assessment of the incorporation
of elements of patriotic and civic education in the school curriculum. The approach to
include elements from the wider domain of patriotic education in the school curriculum (e.g.,
as a compulsory or facultative subject or as an interdisciplinary topic integrated into several
school subjects) calls for the formation of a comprehensive programme of patriotic education
at various levels of the education system:
5
Slovenian primary school education lasts nine years.
5
1) the establishment of individual goals and standards for these contents within individual
educational programmes;
2) the distribution of the planned topics across the school curriculum; and
3) the identification of the fundamental competencies in this educational area.
2.2 The establishment of fundamental aims and standards of this content within
individual educational programmes
The establishment of basic goals and standards (both basic and minimum) for patriotic and
civic education must take into account four fundamental aspects of patriotic and civic
education theory: the political dimension (participation in the processes of democratic
decision-making and active inclusion in the civil community); the legal dimension (the
knowledge and implementation of fundamental civil rights and responsibilities); the sociocultural dimension (respect for the basic democratic values, national history, language and
cultural heritage) and the socio-economic dimension (the development of solidarity). Among the
fundamental goals of patriotic and civic education, which take account of all four
fundamental aspects of this subject matter, one can find:
- the development of political literacy (gaining knowledge about the theory of democracy,
about the performance of political and social institutions, understanding of cultural and
historical diversity etc.);
- the development of attitudes and values needed for a responsible citizen (respect for
oneself and others, listening and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, a contribution to the
harmonious co-habitation of people, the development of values of a plural society, of
fundamental allegiance to the Slovenian state etc.);
- the development of goals referring to the encouragement of the active participation of
pupils in the school community and society at large which enable them to be included in
the life of the school and local communities, as well as to gain the skills necessary for a
responsible contribution to public life in a democratic society.
As the field of patriotic and civic education plays an important part in realisation of the longterm goals of the public education system in the Republic of Slovenia (i.e., the enforcement of
the school’s socio-integrative role and the development of an awareness of allegiance to the
state, national identity and knowledge of Slovenia’s history and culture), the basic tasks
involved in implementing these elements within the public education curriculum include the
formation of common directives, delimiting a comprehensive and integrated approach to
policies and practice in the wider issue area of patriotic education, the formation of efficient
strategies for including these contents in the different levels of education and the coordination of various forms of education (formal, informal and occasional).6
3 EMPIRICAL DATA ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT ‘CIVIC AND
PATRIOTIC EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA’
In the context of the Target Research Project ‘Civic and Patriotic Education in the Republic of
Slovenia’7, one of the largest empirical research projects undertaken so far in Slovenia,
dealing with the importance of patriotism for democracy and analysing the significance of
patriotic education within the school subject Civic Education and Ethics taught in the
Slovenian 9th year of primary school, the empirical research analyses the possibilities and the
necessity of a special subject within the primary or secondary school curriculum, that would
concentrate solely on patriotic education. Researchers carried out the project in three
separate stages, namely by virtue of separate questionnaires for each of the three target
(young) populations. Research among students of the University of Ljubljana (in their senior
6
7
Article 2 of the Primary School Act states that the aims of primary school education in Slovenia are the
development of an awareness of adherence to the state and national identity and of knowledge about Slovenia’s
history and culture; cultivating common cultural and civilisation values deriving from the European tradition;
and education for mutual tolerance, respect of differences and co-operation with others, respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms and thereby the development of capabilities for living in a democratic society
(Primary School Act, Art. 2).
This project took place within the research programme ‘Knowledge for Security and Peace 2006-2010’ (‘Znanje
za varnost in mir 2006-2010’), led by Miro Haček, PhD, during the 2006-2007 period.
6
year) was undertaken in November 2006 on a representative sample of 200 students8. In
November and December 2006, two far more extensive empirical research surveys were
performed on two representative samples: one of Slovenian secondary school students in
year 4 (701 students) and one of Slovenian primary school pupils in the concluding grade
(598 students). In the following sections, we intend to analyse and present the most
important and interesting findings emerging from the abovementioned research.
School culture, social integration and human rights
This part of the research focused on the attitudes of pupils/students (hereinafter:
‘respondents’) towards individual elements of school culture, social integration and human
rights. All three groups of the survey respondents answered the given statements using a
five-level scale reflecting the level of agreement with individual statements. The total
average for all three categories of respondents shows that agreement with the statements is
more positive than negative in all three cases, with the most positive attitudes being for
feelings concerning the school atmosphere, tolerance of others and regarding the recognition
of national symbols.
Table 2: School Culture, Social Integration and Human Rights
PRIMARY
SCHOOLS
SECONDARY UNIVERSITY
SCHOOLS
STUDENTS
Our school is a place where we pupils/students feel safe.
3.47
3.51
4.04
If disputes arise either in our school or class we try to resolve
3.47
3.66
4.14
them without violence and with participation.
Pupils and other members of the school community are not
3.43
discriminated against because of their lifestyle, outfit or
3.38
3.64
socialising with other peers.
Teachers pay great attention to an emphasis on the facts when
3.71
presenting history or political events.
3.50
3.46
The best way to get a good mark in social science subjects is to
3.39
remember as much information, dates etc as possible.
3.33
3.40
At school, I have learnt the Slovenian national anthem and to
4.03
3.63
3.56
recognise all national symbols of the Republic of Slovenia.
At school I have learnt to co-operate with other students from
3.64
3.44
3.31
various social settings and cultures.
At school I have learnt to contribute to the resolution of problems
3.39
3.15
3.03
within the school community and society at large.
At school I have learnt to become a patriotic and loyal citizen of
3.53
3.01
2.49
the Republic of Slovenia.
At school I have learnt how to preserve the natural and cultural
3.66
3.13
2.78
heritage of my homeland.
At school I have learnt to understand people who think differently
3.70
3.43
3.20
or are different from me.
At school I have gained knowledge about the process of the
3.66
3.24
3.21
Slovenian state gaining its independence.
At our school the feeling of adherence to our school community is
3.35
3.00
2.82
being developed.
At our school the feeling of adherence to Slovenia is being
3.08
2.66
3.56
developed.
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Survey
respondents estimated their agreement with the statements on a scale from 1 to 5, whereby 1 means ‘not at all’, 2 ‘a little’, 3
‘in part’, 4 ‘quite’ and 5 ‘completely’.
As the table above shows, the average values for the answers increase with growing age only
for the first three statements describing the safety and non-discrimination of pupils/students
within the school environment. However, as for statements six and onwards, which
represent the set of statements regarding tolerance of others, allegiance to the state and the
role of the school in developing patriotism, the higher the age, the lower the level of
agreement. The greatest differences between the average values of the answers can be seen in
Statement 9, Statement 10 and Statement 14, showing that the socio-integrative role of
8
The sample realisation reached 67.5 per cent.
7
education institutions diminishes with the growing age of young people. A comparison of
the averages for the answers reveals that the socio-integrative role of the school is most
important for primary school pupils since their answer averages tend to be the highest. As a
rule, the greatest discrepancies between answer averages are to be found between the
primary school pupils and the students, showing a considerable difference between the two
young generations as far as the school’s socio-integrative role is concerned. Answer averages
tend to reveal the smallest differences in statements referring to the pedagogical aspect of the
educational process (statements 4 and 5).
Trust in institutions
This part of the research focused on an analysis of youth’s trust in the political and
administrative institutions of the Slovenian state (the Government of the Republic of
Slovenia, municipal authorities, courts, the police, the military, political parties, the
Parliament, the Ombudsman, schools), civil society institutions (the Church), information
sources (TV, radio, press) and trust in people living in Slovenia and trust in Slovenians. We
were interested in which institutions young people trust the most, as well as what are the
differences between the different youth categories.
Diagram 1: Trust in Institutions
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Survey
respondents estimated their trust in the stated institutions on a scale from 1 to 5, whereby 1 means ‘never’, 2 ‘sometimes’, 3
‘often’, 4 ‘always’ and 5 ‘do not know’ (the latter is excluded from the analysis). The greater the value in the far-right
column, the greater is the respondents’ trust in an institution.
When analysing the differing levels of trust in institutions between the different groups of
young people one can establish that the differences are smallest with trust in the media,
people living in Slovenia and all Slovenians. The analysis of trust in politico-administrative
institutions reveals that trust in these institutions is relatively low, especially among
secondary school pupils, who express even less trust in some political institutions (the
Government, the Parliament and political parties) than primary school pupils and students.
The least trusted are political parties, followed by the Government and the Parliament.
8
Among political institutions, the Ombudsman enjoys the highest expressed trust, yet this
decreases as respondents become older. The same holds true for trust in the Church, which is
relatively high with primary school pupils, but decreases abruptly and reaches the overall
lowest level with students. The Church is also the institution where the standard deviation
for primary and secondary school attendants is the highest, meaning that the survey
respondents’ answers were the least harmonious; interestingly enough, the standard
deviation is smallest for the estimation of trust in political parties. The highest trust,
however, is enjoyed by both institutions whose importance for patriotic and civic education
is by far the greatest, namely the school9 and the Slovenian Armed Forces. Somewhat higher
trust is noted for the Slovenian Armed Forces, where a sharp decline in trust with growing
age can be seen; here, students also express the highest standard deviation for all the
institutions under scrutiny, which can be interpreted as a difference of estimation within the
group. On the contrary, trust in the school as an education institution increases with age and,
in the group of students, reaches the peak level of all institutions included in the survey. It is
evident that the generation of secondary school pupils is the one that should become the
target group for an increase in a civic and patriotic conscience and that the intermediate
education level is the one paying insufficient attention to patriotism and civic education.
A patriotic citizen
In the following section we attempt to find an answer to one of the main research questions,
i.e. the question of what a patriotic citizen should look like in the eyes of the respondents. We
were interested in those characteristics of an individual that makes them a patriot. According
to the respondents, the characteristics that best define an adult patriotic citizen are their
readiness to respect the Constitution and the laws and a respectful attitude to the Slovenian
language. Regarding these two characteristics, all three groups are as unified as possible (the
lowest standard deviation was found exactly with these two properties). All the remaining
characteristics (works hard, knows the text of the Slovenian national anthem and national
symbols etc.) that should define a patriotic citizen (see Table 3) can be placed in the second
group – one of moderate importance for a patriotic citizen.
Table 3: Attitudes of Different Groups of Youth to Patriotism and Patriotic Deeds
AN ADULT PATRIOTIC
CITIZEN ...
… respects the Constitution
and the law
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… works hard
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… knows the text of
Slovenian national anthem
and other state symbols
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… knows the history of
his/her country
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… votes at most elections
9
AVERAGE
VALUE
3.49
3.36
3.49
2.94
2.82
2.55
3.17
2.97
2.99
2.95
2.88
3.20
AN ADULT
PATRIOTIC CITIZEN
...
… is unconditionally loyal
to his/her homeland
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… does not embarrass
his/her homeland
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… has a respectful attitude
to the Slovenian language
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… takes part in activities
which help all Slovenians
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… takes part in all
activities that help all
citizens of Slovenia,
regardless of their national
AVERAGE
VALUE
2.92
2.65
2.45
-3.02
2.99
3.55
3.43
3.50
2.85
2.75
2.73
We deliberately avoided any clear denotation of a precise form of school; therefore a school as a general
education institution is meant.
9
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… is ready to serve the
military in order to defend
his/her country
-2.85
2.96
origin
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… participates in activities
aimed at preserving
natural and cultural
heritage
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
2.83
2.62
2.74
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.85
2.81
SECONDARY SCHOOL
2.78
2.65
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
2.60
2.68
… hangs out the Slovenian
national flag for all state
holidays
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.58
SECONDARY SCHOOL
2.23
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
2.31
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Survey respondents
estimated the importance of various patriotic deeds of an adult citizen (the importance of each of the described deeds entailing
what is a patriotic citizen and what does a patriotic citizen do, whereby 1 means ‘unimportant’, and 4 means ‘very important’.
No ‘do not know’ answers were included in the analysis and computation of the average value.
The only characteristic considered by the young as relatively unimportant is the hanging out
of the national flag for state holidays; it is of course one of the key patriotic deeds, therefore
such a stance of the young creates some surprise. Maybe this deviation can best be explained
by the relatively short history of Slovenia’s own statehood and national symbols; however,
further research into the topic is needed. It is exactly this characteristic about which the
young are least unified (the highest standard deviation). From the standpoint of patriotic and
civic education research, two properties were naturally especially importance to us: ‘An
adult patriotic citizen ... is unconditionally loyal to his/her homeland,’ and: ‘An adult
patriotic citizen ... does not embarrass his/her homeland.’ Both support so-called
authoritarian patriotism, especially the characteristic of the contemporary socio-political
reality of the USA. It is interesting that both attributes were rated as more important for a
patriotic citizen than e.g. the hanging out of the Slovenian national flag; at the same time, it is
interesting that the attribute of ‘unconditional loyalty to the homeland’ witnesses a
significant decrease in importance as the age of the respondents increases. The same is true
for the attributes ‘works hard’ and (maybe less surprisingly) ‘readiness to serve the military’.
In sum, the patriotism of an adult citizen is explicitly linked to respect for the Constitution
and laws and to a respectful attitude to the Slovenian language, yet hanging out the national
flag for state holidays has, in the view of the respondents, the least to do with patriotism.
Civic literacy
The next part of the questionnaire presented here was designed to study knowledge of
national symbols (the flag of the Republic of Slovenia), state holidays, for a definition of a
patriotic citizen and awareness of the role of the Slovenian Armed Forces. As for the question
where the respondents had to discern the flag of the Republic of Slovenia from two others,
only 1.05 % of the answers were wrong, whereby 0.56 % chose the flag of the Republic of
Croatia and 0.49% the flag of Slovakia. We can conclude that knowledge of the flag of the
Republic of Slovenia is very good in all three groups of respondents.
However, the distribution of answers to the question about what a patriotic citizen is like is
somewhat different. Among all three groups of respondents, the prevailing answer is ‘casts a
vote at elections and is faithful to his homeland’, yet a smaller proportion opted for the
response ‘opposes the authorities when they violate the fundamental human rights of their
citizens.’ This answer or its variant have been repeated in the questionnaire and has already
proven to be very important. According to these results, the conception of a patriotic citizen
among primary and secondary school pupils differs to that expressed by the students, as the
element of a critical stance towards the authorities usually figures higher for the latter.
Table 4: Civic Literacy I. (in per cent)
10
What is a patriotic citizen like? A patriotic citizen ...
RESEARCH –
PRIMARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
N=
... casts a vote at elections and is faithful to his
homeland.
… disregards the opinions of those thinking
differently than him.
... helps others in need.
… opposes the authorities when they violate the
fundamental human rights of their citizens.
(532)
66.0
(666)
65.2
(129)
59.7
2.6
2.0
0
17.1
14.3
13.5
19.4
5.4
34.9
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Respondents
answered the question ‘What is a patriotic citizen like? A patriotic citizen ...’
Table 5: Knowledge of Holidays among Different Groups of Youth (in per cent)
Share of Correct Answers
N=
Slovenian Cultural Holiday
Statehood Day
Reformation Day
Christmas
Independence and Unity Day
RESEARCH –
PRIMARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
(598)
92.6
54.6
86.8
93.7
51.9
(694)
96.4
54.4
86.9
98.1
53.3
(135)
97.8
30.6
96.3
99.3
31.3
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Respondents had to
connect five given dates with the names of five different national holidays.
Different from the previous questions referring to so-called ‘civic literacy’, the respondents
had more trouble identifying national holidays as the percentage of wrong answers
compared to other questions from this section turns out to be high. The share of correct
answers is highest in the identification of Christmas and the Slovenian Cultural Holiday,
whereas it is barely 50% for identification of Statehood Day and the Independence and Unity
Day. Based on these answers, we conclude that knowledge of national holidays that are
closely linked to and important for the country and patriotic emotions is low. It is surprising
that students possess the lowest knowledge of these holidays as they usually responded
more correctly to other questions of this section than the primary and secondary school
pupils.
Attitudes to the inclusion of patriotic education in the curriculum
In the last section of the questionnaire dealt with in this article, all three groups were asked
about their attitudes to the incorporation of homeland education in lessons, about this topic’s
inclusion as a compulsory school subject and about the extent of the substance of homeland
education.
Table 6: Attitudes of Various Youth Groups to the Incorporation of Patriotic Education in the
Curriculum
What is your opinion on the inclusion of patriotic
education in the curriculum?
RESEARCH –
PRIMARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
RESEARCH –
UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
N=
(584)
(698)
(135)
POSITIVE
PARTLY POSITIVE
NEITHER POSITIVE, NOR NEGATIVE
PARTLY NEGATIVE
NEGATIVE
N=
32.7
34.6
21.7
3.8
7.2
(587)
29.8
30.1
30.6
4.0
5.5
(698)
42.2
26.7
21.5
4.4
5.2
(135)
YES
21.3
23.1
40.0
11
NO
DO NOT KNOW
48.7
30.0
45.7
31.2
37.8
22.2
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 701; N (students) = 135. Survey
respondents answered two questions ‘What is your opinion on the inclusion of patriotic education in the curriculum?’ AND
‘Do you think Slovenian schools should introduce a compulsory subject called Patriotic Education?’
Table 6 shows the share of positive answers (‘Positive’ and ‘Partly positive’) is similar for all
three groups of survey respondents, since there are no significant differences. The share of
‘neutral responses’ (‘neither positive, nor negative’) is between 20% and 30% for all three
groups. The joint share of negative answers (‘partly negative’ and ‘negative’) is lower than
11% for all three groups. Based on these results we conclude all three groups of young people
have a partly positive stance to the inclusion of patriotic education in the curriculum. Despite
such a finding, support for the possible introduction of patriotic education as a compulsory
subject among the respondents is low.
Table 7: Attitudes to various forms of inclusion of patriotic education in the curriculum
How should patriotic
education be included in the
curriculum?
AVERAGE
VALUE
How should patriotic
education be included in the
curriculum?
AVERAGE
VALUE
As a special subject
Included in all subjects
taught at school
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.53
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.44
SECONDARY SCHOOL
2.60
SECONDARY SCHOOL
2.20
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.01
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
2.18
In the context of subjects
Included in activities
related to social science
undertaken at school as
and humanistic disciplines
special projects
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.99
PRIMARY SCHOOL
2.86
SECONDARY SCHOOL
3.10
SECONDARY SCHOOL
2.98
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.66
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.25
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 690; N (students) = 135. Survey
respondents estimated their agreement with the various forms of including patriotic education in the curriculum on a scale
ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 meaning ‘not at all’, 2 ‘a little’, 3 ‘in part’, 4 ‘quite’ and 5 ‘completely’.
All three respondent groups support the incorporation of patriotic education within the
wider framework of social science subjects and special projects. No group supports the
inclusion of patriotic education in all subjects taught at school (see Table 7). Support is
equally low for the incorporation of these elements into an independent school subject. We
can conclude that all three groups perceive patriotic education as a special part of the social
science curriculum and less so as a wider topic to be included in all school subjects.
It is evident from Table 8 that, in the respondents’ opinion, most of the listed elements of
patriotic education are important as the average values do not differ much. Knowledge of
what national holidays mean, as well as learning about national symbols, are put forward by
the respondents as the most important part of patriotic education; however, learning about
the rights of the child and human rights and about the foundations of the democratic form of
government are less important in their opinion.
Table 8: Attitudes of Respondents to the Inclusion of Various Elements of Patriotic Education in the
Curriculum
As for lessons, the following
topics regarding patriotic
education should be included
...
AVERAGE VALUE
AVERAGE VALUE
… teaching about the foundations
of the democratic form of
government
… teaching about the rights of
the child and human rights
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
As for lessons, the following
topics regarding patriotic
education should be included
...
3.28
3.67
4.06
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
12
2.71
3.12
3.77
… development of a sense of
affiliation to the state of Slovenia
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.12
3.24
3.49
… teaching about Slovenian
history
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
… teaching about how Slovenia
gained its independence
… knowledge of the meaning
of national holidays
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.41
3.44
3.56
… teaching about national
symbols
3.26
3.51
4.04
PRIMARY SCHOOL
SECONDARY SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.45
3.55
3.59
… teaching about the important
personalities who did much in the
past for our country
PRIMARY SCHOOL
3.17
PRIMARY SCHOOL
3.33
SECONDARY SCHOOL
3.42
SECONDARY SCHOOL
3.44
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
4.05
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
3.61
Source: Research project ‘Civic and Patriotic Research in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of
Management Koper, 2007). N (primary schools) = 598; N (secondary schools) = 695; N (students) = 135. Survey
respondents estimated their agreement with the given elements on a scale from 1 to 5, whereby 1 means ‘not at all’, 2 ‘a
little’, 3 ‘in part’, 4 ‘quite’ and 5 ‘completely’.
4 INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION: THE POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUDING
VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF PATRIOTISM IN SLOVENIA’S PUBLIC
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Fragile post-socialistic systems, like the Slovenian one, undoubtedly carry different burdens
of their recent (non-democratic) past. Offering our youth an example of patriotism in these
circumstances is a hard task; should we implement patriotic elements in the education
system at the early age and groom them (sometimes forcefully) like done in previous, nondemocratic regime or should this path be significantly different from the previous regime
with patriotic elements being left aside? Based on the results of individual expert tasks
within the conducted research10, the inclusion of various elements of patriotism in the public
system of education in Slovenia could be feasible especially through ‘softer’ activities. One
possibility could be the development of multidisciplinary and innovative approaches to the
implementation of patriotic elements in the education system; similarly the development of
in-school, parallel and out-of-school activities offering students the ability to recognise the
importance of active participation in modern democratic society (i.e. within the school
community, contemporaries’ groups or local communities) could be welcomed. Another way
to encourage patriotic emotions is through overall school activities like visiting monuments
of national heritage and public celebrations of national holidays (especially those connected
to the country and nation). Many practitioners (teachers) encourage the formation of an
interdisciplinary model of teaching about elements from the wider area of patriotic
education within the remaining subjects from the social science and humanistic part of the
primary and secondary educational curriculum, via History, Geography and Slovenian
language [the so called ‘civic related subjects’]. Within this, also encouraged is the
development of new connections between the knowledge of pupils and their attitudes since
research from the wider field of patriotic education proves that civic literacy significantly
contributes to the solidarity and coherence of a democratic society. All of these approaches
are feasible and could make a difference in the perceptions of youth regarding patriotism.
10
The research was conducted in several different stages: [1] a comparative analysis of the contents of strategic
documents in the field of education in Slovenia and of the documents and recommendations of international
organisations in the area of education of the young for patriotic and civic education; [2] an analysis of the
available existing research projects undertaken in Slovenia, the EU and the countries of the OSCE, international
comparative studies of educational policies from the wider domain of youth education for patriotic and civic
education; and [3] an identification of the fundamental principles of the inclusion of elements of patriotic
education in the school curriculum, the argumentation of the basic aims and standards of this topic within
individual educational programmes and the proposal for the distribution of the planned contents within the
school curriculum. However, for the purposes of this article we have limited our findings regarding the topic.
13
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