Call for Papers: The Beutelsbach Consensus Revisited

Call for Papers: The Beutelsbach Consensus Revisited – 50 Years of Guiding Principles for Political Education


Fifty years on, democratic education is once again under intense pressure. Polarisation, populism, democratic backsliding, the spread of disinformation, and increasing conflicts over curricula and teachers’ professional autonomy pose fundamental challenges to schools and to social education worldwide. In many contexts, classrooms have become contested spaces where questions of neutrality, freedom of expression, and democratic values are politically charged and publicly scrutinised. Against this backdrop, the Beutelsbach Consensus invites renewed reflection: How can its principles be understood, adapted, or critically reassessed in today’s educational landscapes?


This special issue of the Journal of Social Science Education invites contributions that revisit the Beutelsbach Consensus in light of contemporary challenges to democracy and political education. We particularly welcome international and comparative perspectives that move beyond the German context and explore how ideas akin to Beutelsbach resonate with, inform, or clash with other traditions of civic, citizenship, and democracy education.


We welcome theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented contributions (significant and meaningful case studies) that address, among others, the following themes:

  • Interpretations of the Beutelsbach Consensus and its core principles in educational contexts in and beyond Germany
  • The relevance of Beutelsbach-type principles for dealing with polarisation, populism, and contested political issues in classrooms
  • Comparative perspectives on controversial issues, indoctrination, neutrality, and democratic values in social science education and related school subjects such as economics, religion, history, geography, etc.
  • Critical perspectives on the Beutelsbach Consensus, including debates on its use or misuse in contemporary political discussions
  • Implications of the Beutelsbach Consensus for teacher professionalism, curriculum design, and educational policy
  • Connections between Beutelsbach and other international frameworks for teaching controversial issues and democratic citizenship


By revisiting the Beutelsbach Consensus fifty years after its emergence, this special issue aims to contribute to ongoing debates on how political education can remain both democratic and critical in times of profound societal transformation.


Editors for the special issue are Anders Stig Christensen (UCL, Odense, Denmark), Tilman Grammes (Hamburg University, Germany) and Johan Sandahl (Stockholm University).


For further information and questions regarding this special issue, please contact Tilman Grammes, tilman.grammes@uni-hamburg.de

For submissions and further information regarding JSSE: https://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/index