Orientation towards democracy and human rights as tasks of university and higher education

For around a decade, we have observed a particularly strong increase in right-wing populist orientations and a high mobilisation capacity of right-wing groups (see Zick/Küpper/Mokros 2023; Foroutan 2022). It is not only people of colour, queer people and political opponents who are affected by these 'shifts to the right' and the associated normalisation of anti-democratic and anti-human rights positions and demands. The attacks are also aimed at academic freedom and the delegitimisation of academic findings and the expertise of academics - including personal attacks and death threats at individual universities (cf. Blümel 2023). The social disruptions and authoritarian tendencies were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (cf. Decker et al. 2022). Right-wing populist actors used the pandemic as a stage for science-sceptical statements and anti-democratic narratives (cf. Süddeutsche 2021). These were often linked to conspiracy ideology, anti-Semitic and racist positions that were spread via (social) media and aimed to shake trust in democratic institutions and science (cf. Butterwegge 2022). These developments reveal how fragile the anchoring of basic democratic values in society is and how easily large sections of the population can turn to authoritarian orientations and be mobilised for simple answers to complex questions.

These current social changes require alternative solutions and skills in dealing with complex controversies and crises. Individuals must increasingly deal with ambiguity and the various options for forming judgements while at the same time losing traditional structures. This requires special skills, such as tolerance of ambiguity and the ability to deal with conflict, discourse and judgement.

As a result of these developments, the work of teachers, educators and social workers requires additional skills. As professionals, they are increasingly confronted with right-wing populist narratives and the rejection of democratic institutions in their work, which further exacerbates the challenges at schools and in their work with families. Democracy as a way of life, society and governance must be actively established and communicated in educational processes time and time again (cf. Coelen 2010: 37; Himmelmann 2016).

Universities and colleges are not (politically) neutral places! Education and pedagogy are value-bound and represent a genuinely democratic practice. They convey democratic values and are obliged to take a stand against misanthropic statements and defend democratic principles (cf. Cremer 2019; Wrase 2020; Section 33 of the Civil Service Status Act). At the same time, they are important institutions in which experience with social plurality is gained and skills such as tolerance of ambiguity and the ability to deal with conflict are taught and tested. They are also committed to safeguarding the integrity of educational processes and the claim to truth of an independent and free science that cannot be instrumentalised and appropriated (cf. Biesta 2022). Especially in cooperation with other educational and socialisation institutions, universities and higher education institutions can make an important contribution to the critical examination of anti-democratic and discriminatory statements and attitudes. Even if it is important to strive for a pluralism of perspectives in teaching, this does not mean that viewpoints that contradict the fundamental rights enshrined in the German Basic Law may be represented and disseminated in the university environment. It is the responsibility of university lecturers to recognise the inviolable and inalienable human rights and to actively advocate their protection.

The Institute of Educational Sciences is committed to promoting an open, solidary and participatory society. Its members are committed to creating a safe study and work environment, promoting a critical examination of anti-democratic influences and raising awareness of forms of discrimination and inhuman ideologies.

This is achieved by specifically anchoring democratic education and human rights-based content in academic training and by reflecting on one's own social responsibility in dealing with anti-democratic narratives, scientific scepticism and epistemic ignorance. Against this background, the reference to democratic values and human rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) is "by no means seen as a matter of choice, but as a foundation" (Prasad 2018: 10).

Anchoring democracy education and human rights-orientated professionalism in curricula

Anchoring democracy education and human rights orientation as cross-cutting topics in the training of teachers and specialists in education and social work is essentially about imparting the skills and prerequisites for designing democracy education and human rights-oriented programmes and their critical reflection and aligning them with the goals of democracy and human rights education. Professionalisation processes should be oriented towards dialogical and participatory structures in order to reduce experiences of discrimination in a targeted manner. This also addresses important aspects of the need for professionalisation (cf. Agostini/Bube 2024) of educators, which must be ensured at the university.

This includes

- firstly, imparting basic knowledge from research and practical discourses on relevant and current topics in democracy and human rights education, such as anti-Semitism, racism, right-wing extremism, sexism, ableism, lookism, dealing with digital media, participation, empowerment, child welfare and human rights education;

- secondly, the acquisition of methodological knowledge for the acquisition of research-based findings and for the development and implementation of democracy education and human rights-orientated educational and pedagogical work. In addition to planning models for programmes, this also involves critical discussion of (existing) approaches in practice (procedural knowledge);

- thirdly, it is about imparting metacognitive knowledge that enables students to try out democracy education concepts and strategies in their own practical and research projects (under supervision) and thus reflect on their own understanding of democracy and human rights.

By anchoring democracy and human rights education as cross-cutting topics in the degree programmes of the Institute of Educational Sciences, students and future professionals can be enabled to integrate relevant topics of democracy education and human rights-oriented social education/social work into their educational work in a science-based and critically reflective manner and to design independent offers. The aim is to impart confidence in pedagogical work on the basis of educational and social science research findings and a "code of ethics that the profession adopts independently of external influences and also monitors and should monitor compliance with" (Staub-Bernasconi 2007: 12f.).

Further education and training and prevention in dealing with hostility towards democracy

In addition to the curricular anchoring of democracy and human rights education, the self-critical reflection of one's own involvement in discriminatory or anti-democratic structures is also a central field of action to which the members of the Institute of Educational Sciences are committed. Universities themselves can reflect social positions that are discriminatory and (right-wing) populist. The conscious thematisation of experiences of power and powerlessness - for example in teacher-student interactions or in the context of structural discrimination - is a central prerequisite for educational work that is critical of discrimination. With a perspective that is critical of discrimination, teachers can act as role models and show prospective professionals perspectives on attitudes and actions that are open and receptive to heterogeneous identities and diversity. In addition to their own examination of current manifestations of hostility towards democracy and humanity, this includes the development and implementation of secondary prevention measures in the event of incidents, clear principles for the implementation of house rules in the event of extremism and further training programmes for staff on extremism, hostility towards democracy and humanity.

Literature

- Agostini, E. & Bube, A. (2024). Pedagogical Action - Pedagogical Professionalism - Pedagogical Ethos: A Plea for a Phenomenological Professional Theory. In: Quarterly Journal for Scientific Pedagogy, 100 (2024), pp. 208-224.

- Biesta, G. (2022). School-as-Institution or School-as-Instrument? How to Overcome Instrumentalism without Giving Up on Democracy. Educational Theory 72, (2022) 3, pp. 319-331

- Butterwegge, C. (2022). The polarising pandemic. Germany after Corona. Beltz Juventa.

- Blümel, C. (2024). Hostility towards researchers. A representative study of the KAPAZ project. Policy brief for reporting. Accessed on 20.08.2025.

- Coelen, T. W. (2010). Participation and democracy education in educational institutions. In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 56 (2010) 1, pp. 37-52. - Cremer, H. (2019). Analysis "The neutrality requirement in education. Neutral towards racist and right-wing extremist positions of political parties?". Online: (https://www.institut-fuermenschenrechte.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/ANALYSE/Analyse_Das_N eutralitaetsgebot_in_der_Bildung.pdf).

- Decker, O., Kiess, J., Heller, A., & Brähler, E. (2022). Authoritarian dynamics in uncertain times. New challenges - old reactions? Leipzig Authoritarianism Study 2022, published by Psychosozial-Verlag. Available at www.boell.de/sites/default/files/2022-11/decker-kiess-heller-braehler-2022- leipziger-autoritarismus-studie-autoritaere-dynamiken-in-unsicheren-zeiten_0.pdf

- Foroutan, N. (2022). Racism and anti-Semitism in the post-migrant society. In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, 5/2022, pp. 68-75.

- Himmelmann, Gerhard ([2001] 2016): Learning democracy as a form of life, society and rule. A textbook and workbook. Schwalbach/Ts.

- Staub-Bernasconi, S. (2007). From the academic double mandate to the professional triple mandate - science and human rights as the basis of the social work profession. In: Social Work in Austria (SIO), H. 2, pp. 8-17.

- Süddeutsche-Online 2021. "AfD man accuses Saxon government of 'vaccine apartheid'. 30.09.2021. Available at: www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/dresden-afd-mann-wirft-saechsischer- 5 regierung-impf-apartheid-vor-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-210930-99- 430013

- Prasad, N. (ed.) (2018). Social work with refugees. Racism-critical, professional, human rights-orientated, utb, 9 - 33.

- Wrase, M. (2020). How political can teachers be? Legal framework and perspectives. In: From Politics and Contemporary History No. 14-15 (bpb).

- Zick, A./Küpper, B./Mokros, N. (eds.) (2023). The distanced centre. Right-wing extremist and anti-democratic attitudes in Germany 2022/23. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Eds); Bonn: Dietz.