Young people’s perceptions of issues related to global citizenship, environmental sustainability, diversity and civic engagement since 2009. Results from ICCS.

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The purpose of this symposium is to discuss the implications of results on number of emerging areas of interest from the most recent comparative survey of civic and citizenship education in 24 countries, the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) (see Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Losito, Agrusti, & Friedman, 2018; Losito, Agrusti, Damiani, & Schulz, 2018; Schulz, Ainley, Cox, & Friedman, 2018). Broadly, the purpose of the International Civic and Citizenship Assessment Study (ICCS) is to investigate how young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries. ICCS 2016 is the fourth international IEA study in this area and the second cycle of ICCS. It is explicitly linked through common questions to the first ICCS cycle undertaken in 2009 (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito, 2010). In addition to providing an opportunity for an evidence-based discussion of the variation in practices and outcomes of civic and citizenship education the symposium will also provide a forum for discussion of methodological issues related to the cross-cultural study of civic and citizenship education as well as the prospects for developing new aspects for inclusion in the next study cycle of this study with a planned data collection in 2021/2022.
The symposium will address the following topics:
 Exploring IEA ICCS 2016 to Measure Progress towards U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 4.7
 Student perceptions and contexts for civic learning of issues related to environmental sustainability
 Trends in attitudes towards minority groups and diversity at school. An analysis of tolerance using IEA ICCS 2016 and 2009 data.
 Young people’s trust in institutions and their dispositions toward civic engagement since 2009.
Educational systems, school and teachers seek to prepare young people to understand the society they live in, to engage with its political and social issues and become actively involved as citizens in later adult life. There is a consensus that formal education influences the extent of adult engagement in society (Pancer, 2015). The second cycle of the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, ICCS 2016, provides a basis on which to study both the extent and variation of civic knowledge and engagement and to look at changes in civic learning outcomes between 2009 and 2016. It also provides a systematic analysis of contextual factors, at different levels of educational systems that influence civic-related learning outcomes.
ICCS 2016 gathered data from more than 94,000 Grade 8 students in 3800 schools in 24 countries. These student data were augmented by data from more than 37,000 teachers in those schools and information about school contexts provided by school principals, as well as national level data provided by national research centres via an online national contexts survey. With regard to interpretations, our analyses focus on the 21 countries in ICCS 2016 that satisfied the participation requirements established by the IEA to reduce the risk of non-participation bias. Eighteen of these 21 countries had participated in ICCS in both 2016 and the previous cycle in 2009, and data from these countries derived from comparable test and questionnaire item material provide the basis for commenting on changes over time with regard to a wide range of cognitive and affective-behavioural measures.
ICCS employed two-stage cluster sampling procedures within countries. During the first stage, schools were sampled from a sampling frame with a probability proportional to their size. During the second stage, intact classrooms at the target grade were randomly sampled within schools and all students within classes were surveyed (see further details in Schulz, Carstens, Losito, & Fraillon, 2018).
In addition to the international core instruments, students completed regional questionnaires in 14 European countries and five Latin American countries. These questionnaires focused on affective-behavioural aspects of particular region-specific relevance and were administered following the international core instruments.
The symposium includes four papers. The first paper discusses the extent to which ICCS can contribute to measuring progress toward the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 4.7. The second paper is concerned with student perceptions and school-level factors related to environmental sustainability issues in the 24 participating countries. The third paper presents results regarding changes in students’ attitudes toward minority group and diversity at school, based on ICCS data from 2009 and 2016. The fourth paper discusses students’ dispositions toward civic participation and changes in their perceptions of traditional vs. alternative forms of engagement since 2009.
The common thread across the four papers is that they all address areas that were identified as particular relevant for civic and citizenship education at the time of the release of the ICCS 2016 results, and for which analyses of the most recent study cycle can inform subsequent commencement of preparations for the new ICCS cycle with a planned data collection in 2022. Discussions will focus not only on the evidence ICCS 2016 provided for each of the areas (global citizenship education, education for sustainable environment, tolerance and diversity, trust and civic engagement), but also on limitations and possible improvements to be implemented in ICCS 2022.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Citizenship and Democratic Education (CANDE)

Chair

• Gabriella Agrusti, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy

Individual Presentations

• Exploring IEA ICCS 2016 Data to Measure Progress towards UN SDG Target 4.7 - Andres Sandoval-Hernandez, University of Bath; Daniel Andres Miranda-Fuenzalida, Universidad Católica de Chile; Ralph Carstens, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)

• Student perceptions and contexts for civic learning of issues related to environmental sustainability - Julian Fraillon, Australian Council for Educational Research

• Trends in attitudes towards minority groups and diversity at school. An analysis of tolerance using ICCS 2016 and 2009 data. - Falk Brese, IEA; Clara Beyer, The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

• Young people’s trust in institutions and their dispositions toward civic engagement since 2009 - Wolfram Schulz, Australian Council for Educational Research

Discussant

• Paulina Korsnakova, IEA