Hungarian
adolescents’ reflections about their societal environment: an analysis of
weblogs
University
of Pécs, Pollack Mihály Faculty of Engineering, Department of Education,
Hungary
Abstract:
When talking about citizenship education, we should
not only focus on policies, curricula or teaching methods, but also the status
quo of the children’s thinking, including, for example, what they think of the
society in general, what their attitudes are towards different societal groups,
what they know about democracy and democratic institutions. Invaluable
information on such questions can be obtained using traditional methods of
research (questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions etc.), however,
electronic communication offers new perspectives for research as well. In the
past few years, weblogs have become extremely popular among young people.
Weblogs (blogs) are internet diaries in which the owner (the blogger) writes
about his or her experiences and opinions, thus providing the researcher with a
wealth of information. In this presentation, such blogs, written by secondary
school students, will be analysed, with a special focus on the above mentioned
citizenship related questions. Limitations and methodological problems, which
need to be considered when formulating conclusions, will also be discussed.
Key words: adolescents, societal environment, weblog analysis