Determinants of Student Civic Knowledge Across and Within 35 Countries: Quality of Instruction and Opportunities to Learn Citizenship

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: School Effectiveness and School Improvement Roundtable 2

Abstract

In this study, we explore educational school factors that affect the learning of citizenship (students’ citizenship knowledge) across and within countries. This is a secondary-analysis of the IEA-ICCS study, using the population of lower secondary-school students (14-year-olds) from 35 countries. Results of the multilevel analysis employed showed that the most relevant educational school factors across countries are the quality of the learning environment and the presence of a democratic classroom climate (especially teachers’ ability in creating an open climate for expressing opinions and open discussion). Moreover, preliminary findings show that that the effect of an open classroom climate for discussion tends to be smaller in countries in which students in general have a higher level of citizenship knowledge.

Authors

• Maria Magdalena Isac, European Comission, Joint Research Center

• Ralf Maslowski, University of Groningen

• Margaretha P.C. Van Der Werf, Groningen Institute for Educational Research