IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

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IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

• Janez Krek, Bruno Losito,
• Janez Vogrinc
• Conference at Joint Research Centre
• Ispra, Italy

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We explore the links between

• education and training for active citizenship and
  
• active citizenship

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IEA focusing on education of the youth

• We looked at the existing surveys on citizenship
  education and therefore we concentrated on the
  results of the IEA survey -, to focusing on
  education of the youth.
• This does not negate the importance of lifelong
  and life wide learning.
• In the section on future research, however, we
  look at the possibilities of collecting and using
  data on indicators on adult learning.

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Why do we need indicators?

• priorities in their construction
• relevance to educational policy,
• applicability to different education systems,
• the current availability of the data necessary to
  construct them, or the possibility of accessing
  such data in the short and/or middle run,
• cost-effectiveness and
• empirically established influences between the
  issues which are measured with the indicators.
• Further discussion would need to place within the
  research network to agree such a criteria.

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Conclusions from secondary analyses

• two studies in particular provide information
  that is directly connected with this project

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• David E. Campbell Education's Impact on Civic
  and Social Engagement prepared for the OECD
  Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
  (2006)
• Judith Torney-Purta Carolyn Henry Barber
  Democratic School Participation and Civic
  Attitudes among European Adolescents Analysis of
  Data from the IEA Civic Education Study (2004) -
  for the Council of Europe

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The basic structure of empirically tested
correlations

• domains for indicator development
• educational factors the potential mechanisms
  through which formal education might effect
  levels of engagement
• the empirical analysis (generally speaking)
  covers almost all of the theoretically discussed
  educational factors
• provides relevant information for the
  decision-making process in this project

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Education factors

• differentiate between classroom and school
  predictors of civic and political engagement
• extra-curricular
• home experiences

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Community Outcomes

• Voting (anticipated)
• Political Engagement (anticipated)
• Civic Engagement (anticipated)

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When you become an adult, what do you expect you
will do?

• Voting Index
• Vote in national elections
• Obtain information about candidates before voting
  in an election
• Political Engagement Index
• Join a political party
• Write letters to the newspaper about social or
  political concerns
• Be a candidate for a local or city office

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What do you expect you will do over the next few
years?

• Civic Engagement Index
• Volunteer time to help people in the community
• Collect money for a cause
• Collect signatures for a petition

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The Classroom Climate Index

• When answering these questions think especially
  about classes in history, civics/citizenship, or
  social studies (civic related subjects)
• (The scale For each statement, students could
  select the degree to which that statement applies
  to their classes never, rarely, sometimes, or
  often.)

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• Students feel free to disagree openly with their
  teachers about political and social issues during
  class
• Students are encouraged to make up their own
  minds about issues
• Teachers respect our opinions and encourage us to
  express them during class
• Students feel free to express opinions in class
  even when their opinions are different from those
  of most of the other students
• Teachers encourage us to discuss political or
  social issues about which people have different
  opinions
• Teachers present several sides of an issue when
  explaining it in class

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The Classroom Climate indicator and its necessary
content

• that the Classroom Climate Index does not
  contain items that directly refer to the use of
  teaching methods (although such items were
  included in CivEd 99)
• its relation to home experiences
• Establishing an interest in political and social
  issues
• Classroom climate and plurality of values

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relation to Knowledge Skills

• important that items measure whether instruction
  is organised and conducted in such a way that an
  open classroom climate requires pupils to
  prepare for discussions, that it also requires
  knowledge at the level of theories and facts, and
  that political and social issues are included in
  the curriculum and skills.

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• Classroom climate and teachers authority
• Additional in-service teacher education in
  content - in addition to pedagogical skills
• INDICATOR!

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the composite indicator for education for active
citizenship

• classroom climate (Classroom Climate)
• school experience (Service Learning and Group
  Membership) could be considered as components of
  a composite indicator for education for active
  citizenship.

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empirical evidence confirms the importance of
norms

• (Conventional Citizenship Norms and Social
  Movement Norms)
• in relation to appropriate dimensions of
  engagement however, if they are selected as
  elements of a composite indicator, the
  composition of the measures should be considered
  from the point of view of the impact of school
  curriculum

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Knowledge and Skills

• are significantly associated with certain
  education factors and dimensions of active
  citizenship (with classroom climate, with
  engagement in student parliament, in running
  meetings with confidence in school
  participation)
• political activities non-violent protest
• in a slightly more complex structure

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The impact of school participation

• measured as Confidence in School Participation
  and Student Parliament
• on various measures of engagement, is weaker or
  in a negative direction (with the exception of
  the association with Knowledge and Skills)
• on the basis of this empirical evidence it is
  less recommendable to include such measures in
  the composite indicator for education for active
  citizenship - without finding more appropriate
  measures.

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Home Experiences(In-formal Learning)

• measures such as the Political Conversations
  Index
• the Political News Index
• are strongly connected with almost all of the
  dimensions of engagement
• (it is difficult to isolate the impact one single
  factor).

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To measure the quality of such experiences

• In principle, these data show the importance of
  home and other experiences but for the future
• like quantitiy of the types of TV programmes
  watched,
• quantity of the selected tasks undertaken for
  internet use
• quantity of the types of newspaper read

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A composite indicator for active citizenship

• which population we wish to capture with the
  composite indicator
• the youth (pupils),
• adults (after 15 years?),
• or both.

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• Voting Index
• Political Engagement Index
• Civic Engagement Index
• A need for further research