Rethinking Democratic Citizenship Education: Ambiguity Tolerance as a Neglected Future Competence

In times of increasing social and political complexity, the ability to endure and productively engage with ambiguity is gaining relevance.However, ambiguity tolerance remains a marginal concept in democratic citizenship education up until now.This paper addresses this gap and argues that ambiguity tolerance should be given greater consideration as a foundational competence in confronting societal challenges and shaping democratic citizenship education.Given that the competencies of teachers precede and influence the development of competencies of students, this paper presents empirical data collected on ambiguity tolerance among pre-service teachers, both with and without a specialized focus on democratic citizenship education.The findings provide insight into the current levels of ambiguity tolerance among future educators and suggest possible implications for improvement in educational learning processes.Against the backdrop of pressing societal challenges, ranging from overlapping crisis phenomena and the spread of disinformation to public debates on resilience and future viability, the paper explores the conceptual implications for democratic citizenship education.