Schools as Incubators of Democratic Participation: Building Long-Term Political Efficacy with Civic Education (original) (raw)
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Civic Knowledge and School Participation: A Role for Schools in Promoting Civic Learning
Civic participation is a basic requirement of democratic citizenship. Civic experiences can be gained during the school years. We investigated the influences on student participation in Hong Kong schools and the effect of this participation on civic knowledge. Using secondary data, we first examined the mediated effect of students' Citizenship Self-efficacy and Interest in Political and Social Issues on their School Participation through Internal Political Efficacy. We then investigated the effects of School Participation on Civic Knowledge. Multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) was used to analyze models at school and student levels. The results provided some support for the mediated relationship at the student level but less so at the school level. The school level effect of School Participation on Civic Knowledge was an important finding Developing students' interest in political and social issues and their political efficacy will encourage students to participate in school civic activities and will impact positively on their civic knowledge and understanding .
Over the past two decades, various policy initiatives have been proposed to solve the perceived problem of youth disengagement from politics. This article examines the impact of one such policy initiative – namely the introduction of activities that seek to teach ‘education through citizenship’ at school. In short, ‘education through citizenship’ involves formal and informal learning opportunities that enable students to acquire civic skills and knowledge through hands-on experiences. School councils, debate teams and/ or mock elections are some of the most common ‘education through citizenship’ activities in schools in England, and drawing on data from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) in England, this article shows that such activities can indeed have an effect, not just in the short-term (as previous studies in England have shown), but also in the medium-term (by encouraging political engagement once the students have left the confines of the school). This article thus argues that school activities can have a lasting and independent impact on youth political engagement, and provides support for the continuation of education through citizenship, and not just about citizenship.
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suggests that the experience of participation fosters the competencies valued by school systems. These include competencies with implications for young people's wellbeing, such as competencies with implications for young people's ability to successfully navigate the requirements of schooling, such as literacy, analysis, communication, problem-solving and social competency decision making and feel safe and secure in supportive environments report better health and mental health. As a result they are more likely to be engaged in schooling, family life, positive peer relationships, civic activities,
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The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study studied the ways in which young people in lower secondary schools are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a wide range of countries including Europe, Latin America, and the Asian-Pacific region. ICCS was the third IEA study designed to measure contexts and outcomes of civic and citizenship education and was linked to the 1999 IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED). A central aspect of the study was the assessment of student knowledge about a wide range of civic-related issues. ICCS gathered data from more than 140,000 Grade 8 (or equivalent) students in more than 5,300 schools from 38 countries. These student data were augmented by data from more than 62,000 teachers in those schools and by contextual data collected from school principals and the study’s national research centres. This paper uses data from ICCS 2009 to describe the level of reported student participation at school across participating countries as w...
Empirical evidence has consistently shown that political participation is positively related with socioeconomic background. Furthermore, recent research suggests that children who come from low status families are already less willing to get politically involved. The present paper aims to analyze the possible impact that schools can have in mitigating the effect of parents’ socioeconomic status on students’ expected electoral participation, focusing on two variables: civic knowledge and classroom climate. The analyses are based on a series of multilevel models using Chilean data of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2009 (ICCS). The results support the influence of students’ socioeconomic background on expected electoral participation. Furthermore, civic knowledge and classroom climate show a positive and similar influence on students’ expected participation. However, classroom climate appears less affected by students’ background than civic knowledge, opening the discussion about which strategy should be emphasized when aiming to mitigate the participation gap.
Why (and How) Schools Should Engage in Political Education
Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, 2023
To many people, the idea of a state-organized political education evokes indoctrination. Authoritarian states wanting to secure the obedience of their citizens indeed have a strong incentive to shape their political beliefs, and this is often what political education organized by public authorities has looked like in the past and may look like nowadays. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that a form of publicly organized political education is necessary in democratic contexts. Understood as the attempt by a political community to choose its laws while respecting the equal standing of each citizen, democracy can only succeed if citizens understand what is at stake in the decisions they have to make, are sufficiently informed about the options available to them, and show respect and concern for their fellow citizens. These democratic competencies are not innate. Currently, they are acquired mainly through family education and informal interactions in the private and professional spheres of people’s lives. My main claim in this article is that, in contexts of sufficient political pluralism, political education should more firmly be taken in charge by primary and secondary schools because it is an important and demanding collective good, unlikely to be appropriately secured without state intervention.