Digitalization of civic education: risks and challenge

Abstract

. The passionate debate prevails in Lithuanian public discourse about the results of individuals in subjects such as mathematics, the Lithuanian language, etc., but very rarely about pupils' humanity and readiness to become independent members of society. The educational shift to distance learning (during the pandemic) has changed the whole structure of the educational process almost overnight, and such symbolic elements as the authority, status, order and dignity of the teacher, as well as the sense of community, diminished. It is clear that distance learning has its advantages, but it also has its uncertainties, and the long-term consequences still need to be generally known today. The academic intrigue of this paper stems from the question of how the digitalization of education may affect civic education and its outcomes from a political sociology perspective. Drawing on Kavolis' model of psychological modernization, the paper seeks to identify the potential groups that emerge in the digitalization of education and rationalize their worldviews and civic action features. Framing the process of digitizing schooling within the classical political sociology framework will highlight the likely future profiles of civil society groups.