Politische Skandale im Klassenzimmer?

Eine Analyse der Darstellung in österreichischen Schulbüchern für Politische Bildung

Abstract

The analysis of Austrian school textbooks shows that, despite their prominent presence in media coverage, political scandals play only a minor role in civic education. While the media regularly report on new scandals, such events are not mentioned in the curricula. Textbooks based on these curricula generally limit themselves to sporadic references to prominent cases, in particular the Waldheim affair and the Ibiza affair. These references, however, often lack contextualization or critical analysis. The focus is placed on those implicated in the scandals, while the actors who generate them are often not even identified. In most cases, the emphasis is on the transmission of factual knowledge rather than on democratic learning. Systemic causes, media logic, and power structures remain largely unexplored, and assignments that could foster political competencies are absent. As a result, the potential of political scandals as a didactic starting point remains unexploited, although they could—if appropriately analyzed—serve to engage students in critical examination of political processes as well as with different forms of media.