This topic area discusses ways that civic and voter education programmes can be conducted in different contexts. It is written to assist those who are tasked with designing, implementing, and evaluating education programmes. While the scope of this topic area has been greatly expanded by providing information about civic education, not all election administrators have such a wide mandate. Election administrators who require only an overview of the voter education enterprise should view the introductory sections.
The topic area covers seven steps that educators can use to develop relevant, cost-effective and educationally appropriate programmes.
These seven steps include:
- understanding the educational enterprise
- establishing the educational mandate
- assessing the context in which the programme will take place
- developing an appropriate strategy
- designing and implementing the programme
- monitoring and evaluating the programme and;
- ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are retained for future programmes
Close attention is given to a variety of methods and aspects that have been used in other civic and voter education programmes. These may form part of the programme currently envisioned by the user. Examples are given along with suggestions for complementary activities. Comments on their effectiveness in different situations are also provided.
The methods discussed include the following:
Terminology
Very often, there is a tendency to use the terms voter information, voter education and civic education interchangeably. There are, however, important distinctions. These deal with the timing, duration, and scope of the programme as well as the entities typically involved in their implementation. This topic area is primarily concerned with practical ideas about planning and implementing civic and voter education programmes. However, early sections discuss some of the perspectives and issues relating to these concepts and ways in which they might be employed to promote democracy.
