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Paper short abstract:

An overview of EDC in German context is given. The role of Japanese language teachers derived from the principle of "Beutelsbach Consensus" of EDC will be discussed. I will present an ideal way of Japanese language education that contributes to democracy in Europe and to enrich learners' plurilingualism.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation, after confirming the close relationship between language education and Education for Democratic Citizenship (hereinafter, EDC), an overview is given, of "Politische Bildung" and "Demokratiepädagogik" in Germany, which correspond to EDC. The role of Japanese language teachers - derived from the principle of "Beutelsbach Consensus" - will be discussed. In this way, I will present an ideal way of language education that contributes to democracy in Europe and Japanese language education that enriches learners' plurilingualism.

The Council of Europe's language education policy makes EDC an important principle. In Germany, reflecting on the lessons of the war, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (it was called another way that time) was established to promote values such as democracy, pluralism and tolerance among citizens. Even now, the Agency has had a great influence on "Politische Bildung" at school. In 1976 a standard of "Politische Bildung" called the “Beutelsbach Consensus” was established. Furthermore, "Demokratiepädagogik" was born from the field of pedagogy in early 2000 to confront the real social problems in Germany, including right-wing extremism. "Demokratiepädagogik" is also based on the “Beutelsbach Consensus”.

It consists of 3 principles: "principle of prohibition of overwhelming", "emphasis on controversial issues" and "student-oriented principle" (Kondo 2016). Byram (2008) also sees foreign language education as a way to develop intercultural skills through EDC and requires a certain criticality and political character from teachers themselves and their teaching.

In our practices we remove political taboos, suggest problems when they exist at all, and try to help learners form their own arguments. The dialogue between learners is generated from the democratic soil in the class, and the Japanese language ability is also promoted by activating it. Such Japanese language education can be considered as an ideal form to contribute to democracy in Europe and to enrich learners' plurilingualism.