Students’ Participation in and Valuing of Civic Engagement at School

• In Event: Civic Participation at School in International Comparison

Abstract

Adolescents are generally not able to participate in civic activities in the same ways that adult citizens can (e.g., through voting or becoming candidates in elections). However, they may experiment to determine what power they have to influence how their schools are run, and in doing so may develop a sense of being able to influence things (Bandura, 1997). There is also some evidence that experience of more democratic forms of school governance may contribute to higher levels of political efficacy and more positive perceptions of democracy at school among students (see, for example, Mosher, Kenny, & Garrod, 1994; Pasek, Feldman, Romer, & Jamieson, 2008; Dürr, 2004).
This paper uses data from ICCS 2009 to describe the level of reported student participation at school across participating countries as well as their perceptions of how valuable it is to become active at school. The paper will also analyze which student and school level factors explain student participation at school and the extent to which they value these activities. In addition, the paper will review how indicators related to student participation at school are related to other outcomes like civic knowledge and expected civic participation in the future.

Data:
The following variables will be used in the analyses:
•Student reports on participation in six different forms of school activities (participation in extra-curricular activities, involvement in school debates, voting, taking part in decision-making, taking part in school assemblies, becoming candidate);
•Students’ perception of the value of student engagement at school;
•Student background variables (e.g. gender, socio-economic background);
•School level indicators (e.g. principal reports on student involvement at school, opportunities for engagement in the community);
•Civic knowledge (test scores based on 79-item test);
•Students’ expected electoral and active political participation.

Analysis:
The first part of the analysis describes the extent to which students report their participation in school activities and to which they their engagement in school governance. The second part will apply multilevel regression models that include student and school level factors to explain variation in student participation at school as well as their perception of its value. The third part will review association between indicators related to student participation at school and civic knowledge as well as students’ intentions to engage in civic participation in the future.

Preliminary results:
Preliminary results show that majorities of students in participating countries reported to have engaged in voluntary participation in extra-curricular activities or elections of class or school representatives and that only few students had not participated in any of the six activities. Data also show that most students in these countries tended to agree with positive statements about the value of student participation at school. Student participation at school was also found to be positively related to civic knowledge and expected electoral and active political participation in the future.

Authors

• Wolfram H. Schulz, Australian Council for Educational Research

• Julian M.S. Fraillon, Australian Council for Educational Research