Projects
Carl Bertelsmann Prize 2007 'Civic Engagement as an Educational Goal'
About this year's winners
Results of our global search
To find the winner of the 2007 Carl Bertelsmann Prize, our search committee identified outstanding programs from around the globe that address this year's theme of "Educating role models -- Civic engagement as an educational goal." The exceptional quality and diversity of the nominees resulted in the jury's decision to recognize two initiatives. The 2007 Carl Bertelsmann Prize therefore goes to the Citizenship Foundation in the UK for its G-Nation, Go-Givers and Youth Act programs. In addition, the TOP SE (Topic-Oriented Project: Social Engagement) initiative from the German state of Baden-Württemberg is being honored with a special award.
Winner of the 2007 Carl Bertelsmann Prize
Citizenship Foundation, United Kingdom
The Citizenship Foundation is dedicated to helping children and adolescents take a proactive role in society. For more than 20 years it has been part of the vanguard in terms of political education in the UK. Through its programs designed to support civil society, the nonprofit organization has begun working with more than 1.2 million school students at 20 percent of the country's secondary schools in the past 3 years.
The Citizenship Foundation's target-group-specific programs are particularly impressive: Go-Givers motivates elementary schoolchildren to take responsibility at an early age. G(iving)-Nation offers secondary schools a structure for partnering with local and national nonprofit organizations. And with Youth Act, the foundation also introduces young people to out-of-school activities geared toward civic engagement and political participation.
It is, however, not just the programs themselves that make the Citizenship Foundation a worthy recipient of this year's prize. The organization also serves as a liaison between nonprofit organizations and the country's schools. The Citizenship Foundation has also helped schools view civil society and its actors as key collaborative partners. Another noteworthy aspect is the Citizenship Foundation's critical role in introducing "Citizenship Education" as an obligatory subject in secondary schools and as an interdisciplinary topic in elementary schools. Today, the Citizenship Foundation is an important partner for the UK's policymakers when it comes to promoting an active nonprofit sector and higher-quality education for young people.
The Citizenship Foundation's work is exemplary in that it combines activities geared toward social and political education. It allows students to commence a biography of civic engagement in the earliest years of their lives. Its use of the country's schools as a distribution channel for two of its programs is both innovative and forward-looking, since only through such efforts can all children and adolescents -- regardless of their social or ethnic background or their level of education -- be encouraged to become socially engaged now and to remain so in the future.
Link to Citizenship Foundation
Special Award -- 2007 Carl Bertelsmann Prize
TOP SE, Baden-Württemberg
The TOP SE (Topic-Oriented Project: Social Engagement) educational program for secondary schools in the German state of Baden-Württemberg shows that promoting civic engagement in schools in Germany is already a reality. In the 2004/2005 school year, Baden-Württemberg passed a new curriculum with the express purpose of making civic engagement an educational goal.
As part of the curriculum, the state's 480 "Realschulen" -- those schools that generally prepare students for a vocation or trade as opposed to university studies -- have opened their doors to nonprofit organizations. Their seventh- and eighth-year students donate their time and energy in retirement communities and environmental organizations or serve as in-school medical assistants and mentors. Their learning experiences in these roles are also examined as part of classroom instruction. TOP SE shows what motivated teachers and parents, along with civil society actors, can achieve when social engagement is promoted within schools. TOP SE is a program with considerable potential for Realschulen and other educational institutions throughout Germany.
Link to TOP SE
Project Team
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Citizenship Foundation
The Citizenship Foundation is dedicated to helping children and adolescents take a proactive role in society. For more than 20 years it has been part of the vanguard in terms of political education in the UK.
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