Student teachers’ initial personal and professional civic competences and how they interact

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Citizenship and the Curriculum: Lessons from Around the World

Proposal

Introduction and research question

Western democratic systems have been under pressure for several years (Ziblatt, 2022). Think about the lack of tolerance toward traditionally disadvantaged groups, and the decreased quality and quantity of political participation, which is one of the cornerstones of any democratic system (Castillo, Miranda, Bonhomme, Cox & Bascope, 2015). Low rates of political participation, particularly in younger cohorts, appear to be a global phenomenon (Blais & Rubenson, 2013). These observations make it necessary to think about how young people can be supported in becoming “active, and responsible citizens, who are willing and able to take responsibility for themselves and for their communities at the local, regional, national and international level” (De Coster & Sigalas, 2017, p. 9). Civic education (CE) is claimed to have the potential to build more just, harmonious, tolerant, and inclusive societies (UNESCO, 2013; Miedema & Bertram-Troost, 2008). As a result, citizenship has become one of the main objectives for education systems throughout Europe (Eurydice, 2012; Pashby, 2011; Cohen, 2020). In this respect, it is expected that teachers are well prepared and equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to act as role models and to engage students in democratic citizenship (Agirdag, Van Avermaet & Van Houtte, 2013; Westheimer and Kahne, 2004). Teachers have to be trained to be able to develop civic competences among their pupils. However, no real data exists regarding the extent to which teacher education programs train future teachers for their role in preparing responsible and active citizens (Peterson, Durrant & Bentley, 2014). Consequently, the following question is raised: To what extend are first year pre-service teachers of all grade levels and across all subjects (in primary and secondary schools) prepared and willing to (1) participate in a democratic society and (2) teach CE?

Theoretical framework

Different groups in society have different and conflicting ideas on what constitutes relevant CE (Van Goethem, Ten Dam & Dijkstra, 2020; Cohen, 2019), due to the different current, historical and political contexts within which citizenship notions are defined (Hedtke & Zimenkova, 2013; Seroto, 2012). In 2016, The Council of Europe (2016) tried to take a clear stance in this debate by developing a guideline for CE curricula at all educational levels in Europe: The Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) (European Commission, 2019). Its task is to promote democratic culture among European citizens. The RFCDC supports member states in developing open, tolerant, and diverse societies through education. Careful expert analysis and audit of over 101 existing models of democratic and intercultural competences and extensive testing within the 47 Council of Europe member states and beyond lie at the foundation of the framework (Council of Europe, 2016). Here, a competence is defined as the “ability to mobilize and deploy relevant values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and/or understanding in order to respond appropriately and effectively to the demands, challenges and opportunities that are presented by a given type of context” (Council of Europe, 2016, p. 32). Teachers should be able to support the development of the competencies described by the RFCDC. This study takes the European guidelines, as put forward by the Council of Europe, as its contours.

Method

To answer the research question, quantitative approach was adopted. A survey was administered among 1907 first-year pre-service teachers across 26 bachelor and masters’ teacher training programs in Flanders. Data was gathered in the period of September 21 until October 20 2022. The focus was placed on two clusters of civic competences: (1) personal competences teachers need to function well as citizens in a democratic society and to act as role models for their students and (2) professional competences that teachers deploy to effectively teach CE. Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling was applied on the dataset.

Preliminary results

Preliminary descriptive results concerning the professional competences indicate that the majority of young pre-service teachers do find it important to cover topics such as the European Union, compliance with the law, structural inequalities, structural discrimination, etc. in their lessons. However, their sense of self-efficacy to develop and implement CE courses appears to be rather low. This is in line with the results concerning the personal competences: students tend to feel unable to participate in a democratic society and their sense of political efficacy is weak.

Discussion and conclusion

Although further analysis is required, these preliminary results suggest that teacher training programs should not only strengthen the professional, technical competences of future teachers; active participation in today’s society should also be fostered. Suggestions for teacher training programs to do so, are provided. An important note here is that this research is the first part of a large-scale longitudinal study in which the development of the civic competences of pre-service and young in-service teachers is explored over a three-year period. The current study gives insights into the civic competences of future teachers who are at the very beginning of their teacher training.

Authors

• Emilie Vandevelde, KU Leuven

• Ellen Claes, KU Leuven