Education for civil protection: policies and practices in Portugal

Abstract

We live in a society in constant change and uncertainty, which has become more complex and, inevitably, more exposed to risks that reinforce the sense of vulnerability and exacerbate citizens' feelings of insecurity. Security, understood as a fundamental right of citizenship, should be a priority debate, namely in the definition of sustained and participatory civil protection policies, given the fundamental importance it assumes in the country's economic and social development. Thus, it is essential to promote a culture of safety and well-being and of individual and collective responsibility, where education, curriculum and research must assume fundamental roles in the construction of a participatory citizenship. In this article, using the hermeneutic method to interpret and the dialogic method to reflect, we will analyze, in the light of the ideological vision of education and the curriculum, the education policies for civil protection and the role that the school should assume in this context.