A Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Approach to Citizenship Profiles and Track Membership

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Citizenship Education

Abstract

A potential side effect of educational tracking may be that students’ citizenship is not equally strong across different educational tracks, with vocational students being negatively regarded with respect to their appropriate behavior (e.g., Knigge et al., 2016) or being classified as ‘other citizens’ (AHOVOKS, 2017). The present study combines a variable-centered and a person-centered approach to study good citizenship attitudes among Grade 12 students in Flanders (Belgium). The variable-centered approach showed that on average students in general education scored higher on good citizenship than students in vocational education. However, a person-centered approach found seven distinct citizenship profiles across students, representing students from each educational track and, hence, challenging the stereotypical views of students’ citizenships in vocational education.

Authors

• Margo Vandenbroeck, KU Leuven

• Rianne Janssen, KU Leuven