Conference Agenda

The purpose of this symposium is to discuss the implications of results from the latest implementation of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), a comparative survey that was conducted in 2022 collecting data from students, teachers, and schools from 24 education systems (see Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Losito, Agrusti, Damiani, & Friedman, 2024). The purpose of ICCS is to investigate how young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries. ICCS 2022 is the fifth international IEA study in this area and the third cycle of ICCS. It is explicitly linked through common questions to the previous ICCS cycles undertaken in 2009 (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito, 2010) and 2016 (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Losito, Agrusti, & Friedman, 2018). 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.

The symposium will primarily focus on the following aspects related to civic and citizenship education:

• Student perceptions of political system and institutions
• Student engagement with digital technologies
• School and teacher perceptions of diversity at schools
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on civic and citizenship education

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 third cycle of the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, ICCS 2022, provides an opportunity to study both the extent and variation of civic knowledge, attitudes, and engagement based on recent data, and it allows to review changes in civic learning outcomes compared to previous cycles. It also provides a basis for a systematic analysis of contextual factors, at different levels of educational systems that influence civic-related learning outcomes.

The symposium includes four papers. The first paper is concerned with an analysis of ICCS 2022 data reflecting lower-secondary students views of their political systems and institutions. The second paper focuses on data about how young people use or expected to use digital technologies for civic engagement. The third paper focuses on how schools and teachers deal with aspects of diversity as part of education. The fourth paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on civic and citizenship education outcomes.

Over the past decade there have been growing concerns regarding a worldwide “democratic recession” (Diamond, 2015, 2021). These have arisen in response to an increases in authoritarian government practices in some countries as well as new political movements that have undermined support for traditional political parties, and, in some cases have challenged the stability of democratic systems (Boogards, 2017; Mair, 2002). These recent developments raise the question to what extent tendencies toward alienation and an understanding of and preference for populist solutions to government are shared by young people (Gidron & Hall, 2019; Henn & Weinstein, 2006), and whether education has the potential of promoting democratic principles to counteract prospects of growing alienation (Estellés & Catellví, 2020; Sant, 2019). ICCS results from 2009 and 2016 showed considerable support among lower-secondary students for democratic government and equal opportunities across countries (Schulz et al., 2010, 2018). ICCS 2022 addressed additional aspects related to attitudes toward government and the political system as well as perceptions of potential threats to democracy. ICCS data have also shown that students with higher levels of knowledge have lower levels of trust in institutions in countries where systems are generally perceived as more corrupt and less transparent, while in others there is a positive association (Lauglo, 2012; Schulz et al., 2018, 2024). Based on data from 19 European countries that participated in ICCS 2022, this paper focuses on how students perceive their political systems. The analyses consist of a descriptive review of student perceptions across different countries and include comparisons with results from adult surveys (Eurobarometer, 2023) and considering information about perceived corruption (Transparency International, 2022) as an important context to explain cross-national variation, as well as of multivariate models explaining variation in student perceptions of the political system with student background variables, trust in civic institutions, as well as school-related variables (such as civic knowledge, civic engagement at school). ICCS 2022 results show that while majorities of students across countries considered democracy as the best form of government, satisfaction with and critical views of the political system varied considerably. While trust in institutions had consistently positive associations with positive appraisals of the political system, positive associations with civic knowledge tended were only observed in some Northern European countries. More knowledgeable students were also more critical of democratic representation than those with lower levels of civic knowledge in countries, where the democratic systems are generally seen less functional.

Boogards, M. (2017). Lessons from Brexit and Trump: populism is what happens when political parties lose control. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 11(4), 513–518. Diamond, L. (2015). Facing up to democratic recession. Journal of Democracy, 26(1), 141–155. Diamond, L. (2021) Democratic regression in comparative perspective: scope, methods, and causes. Democratization, 28(1), 22-42. Estellés, M., & Castellví, J. (2020). The educational implications of populism, emotions and digital hate speech: A dialogue with scholars from Canada, Chile, Spain, the UK, and the US. Sustainability, 12(15), 6034. European Commission (2023). Democracy. Report – Eurobarometer 522. Retrieved at: file:///C:/Users/acerschulzw/Downloads/Democracy_fl_522_report_en.pdf Gidron N., & Hall, P. A. (2020). Populism as a Problem of Social Integration. Comparative Political Studies, 53(7), 1027-1059. Henn, M., & Weinstein, M. (2006). Young people and political (in)activism: Why don’t young people vote?. Policy & Politics, 34(3), 517-534. Lauglo, J. (2013). Do more knowledgeable adolescents have more rationally based civic attitudes? Analysis of 38 countries. Educational Psychology, 33(3), 262–282. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer. Transparency International (2023). Corruption Perceptions Index 2022. Retrieved at: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022

Digital technologies have redefined the ways in which young people can engage in society. Social media and virtual communities are instrumental in connecting individuals and amplifying arguments. This has led to a new era of civic engagement with digital participation as a form of engagement for students, demonstrated by activities such as organizing of climate protests and raising awareness of the plight of a minority group (de Moor et al., 2020; Cho, Byrne, & Pelter, 2020). There is a perception that developments with technology should usher in an era of greater civic engagement (Dubow, Devaux, & Manville, 2017). The release of the IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2022 (Schulz et al., 2024) provides new data on students’ knowledge of and engagement in civic and citizenship-related topics from 24, predominantly European based, educational systems. Students completed a test of civic knowledge, followed by a questionnaire that included questions about their current and anticipated future level of engagement with technologies for civic engagement. Previous cycles of the ICCS study reported increased use of digital technologies that did not necessarily lead to an increase in civic engagement (Schulz et al., 2018; Schulz et al., 2010). Preliminary analyses with ICCS 2022 data revealed only a small proportion of students who frequently engage in more active forms of participation. These students were most likely to be interested in civic issues, but also demonstrated lower levels of civic knowledge (see Schulz et al., 2024). Building on these earlier results, this paper will use data from ICCS 2022 and earlier cycles to explore changes over time in how students use social media to engage in civic activities, their intentions for doing so in the future, their level of trust in social media and their exposure to learning about the reliability of online information. The paper will also examine the characteristics of students who are currently and more likely to participate in future civic engagement activities using digital technologies. Our preliminary analysis reveals that while digital technologies open new avenues for civic engagement for young people, there is a notable gap in how they effectively harness these tools. This gap underscores the need for integrating digital literacy with civic education to nurture future citizens to become engaged and knowledgeable as technologies become increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives.

Cho, A., Byrne, J., & Pelter, Z. (2020). Digital civic engagement by young people. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/706/file/UNICEF-Global-Insight-digital-civic-engagement-2020.pdf de Moor, J., Uba, K., Wahlström, M., Wennerhag, M., & De Vydt, M. (Eds.). (2020). Protest for a future II: Composition, mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 20-27 September, 2019, in 19 cities around the world. Södertörn University. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-40271 Dubow, T., Devaux, A., & Manville, C. (2017). Civic Engagement: How Can Digital Technology Encourage Greater Engagement in Civil Society? RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep17637 Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Kerr, D., & Losito, B. (2010). ICCS 2009 International Report. Civic knowledge, attitudes and engagement among lower secondary school students in thirty-eight countries. Amsterdam: IEA. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., & Friedman, T. (2018). Becoming citizens in a changing world. IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 International Report. Cham: Springer. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer.

The growing diversity of student populations at the global level has increasingly prompted schools to develop institutional and instructional practices for building multicultural and inclusive learning contexts (Griffith et al., 2016; Banks, 2020), allowing students and school communities to foster positive attitudes toward diversity (Solhaug, 2018). The concept of diversity embraces a wide range of socially ascribed or perceived differences, such as by sex, age, ethnic/social origin, language, religion, nationality, economic condition, or special learning needs (Daniels & Garner, 1999; Council of Europe, 2008). In this scenario, civic and citizenship education plays a key role for the promotion of knowledge and respect for other cultures and the inclusion of diverse groups into society (Schachner et al., 2019). ICCS 2022 included diversity as one of its focus areas. The study assessed a wide range of issues related to diversity, that concern the affective-behavioural area (e.g. students’ attitudes toward gender equality and equal rights for immigrants) and the contexts of school and classrooms (Schulz et al., 2023). The paper will present ICCS 2022 results related to how learning environments acknowledge and deal with diversity. After a brief overview of the relevance of the topic of diversity and inclusion within learning objectives, it will analyse data from teacher and school questionnaires concerning teachers’ self-reported preparedness to teach diversity and inclusiveness, their participation in training programs, schools and classroom activities dealing with diversity, and teachers’ opinions regarding the influence of cultural and ethnic differences and of socioeconomic differences on teaching activities. Findings showed a positive picture of how schools and teacher deal with diversity, however, there were considerable variations across countries. At the school level, activities to promote teaching to young people from diverse backgrounds, to foster tolerance toward diversity, and to support students with special learning needs were reported widely in most ICCS 2022 countries. Majorities among teachers reported to have conducted activities to address diversity in their classrooms and considered diversity as an important resource for education. More than half of them also reported attendance of pre- or in-service training courses on diversity and inclusiveness (Schulz et al., 2024). Based on these results, the final section of this contribution considers the interplay between democracy and intercultural dialogue (intended in its broader sense, see Council of Europe, 2018) as well as the implications at the school and classroom level for the promoting a democratic and intercultural learning environment for civic and citizenship education.

Banks, J. A. (2020). Diversity, transformative knowledge, and civic education. Routledge. https://www. routledge.com/Diversity-Transformative-Knowledge-and-Civic-Education-Selected-Essays/ Banks/p/book/9780367863197 Council of Europe (2018). Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. Council of Europe. https://www.coe.int/en/web/campaign-free-to-speak-safe-to-learn/referenceframework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture Daniels, H. and Garner, P. (Eds) (1999). Inclusive Education, World Yearbook of Education. Routledge. Griffith, R. L., Wolfeld, L., Armon, B. K., Rios, J. & Liu, O. L. (2016). Assessing intercultural competence in higher education: Existing research and future directions. ETS Research Report Series, 2016(2), 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12112 Schachner, M. K. (2019). From equality and inclusion to cultural pluralism – Evolution and effects of cultural diversity perspectives in schools. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/17405629.2017.1326378 Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer. Schulz, W., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Ainley, J., Damiani, V., & Friedman, T. (2023). IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022 Assessment Framework. Cham: Springer. Solhaug, T. (2018). Democratic Schools – Analytical Perspectives. JSSE, 17 (1), 2-12. DOI 10.4119/UNIBI/jsse-v17-i1-1791

This research examines the effects of COVID-19 containment policies, particularly school closures and lockdowns, on the civic outcomes of eighth-grade students. The effects of school closures on student performance have been studies in an increasing number of studies but to data few studies have studied the effects on the performance in other domains and on socio-economic outcomes (Betthäuser et al., 2023; Di Pietro, 2023). By analysing trend data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS; Schulz et al., 2024) and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), the study investigates how these educational disruptions during the pandemic influenced students' civic knowledge, attitudes, and engagement intentions. The study uses a longitudinal approach, analysing changes in civic outcomes from 2016 to 2022 using data from almost 100.000 students across 15 education systems worldwide. The ICCS data 2016 provides a baseline of students' civic knowledge and engagement intentions prior to the pandemic. In contrast, the OxCGRT data offers a detailed index of governmental responses to COVID-19, including metrics on school closure durations and lockdown strictness. Significant findings emerge from this analysis. There is a clear negative correlation between the length of school closures and students' civic knowledge scores. Extended periods of school closure correlate with notable declines in students' comprehension of civic concepts and trust in civic institutions. Furthermore, increased average lockdown stringency is associated with heightened intentions among students to participate in protest activities. These patterns indicate a shift in the landscape of civic engagement, potentially leading to more active forms of civic participation in the future. The research emphasizes the necessity of considering the wider impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on civic education. It suggests that while prolonged school closures and strict lockdown measures might be essential for public health, they can inadvertently affect the civic development of young people. This situation calls for a reassessment of civic education strategies during crises to ensure the sustainability of high-quality civic learning experiences. Conclusively, the study adds valuable insights to the discourse on the educational consequences of the pandemic. By providing empirical evidence of the direct connection between COVID-19 containment policies and students' civic outcomes, it underlines the importance of sustaining civic education amidst global challenges

Betthäuser, B. A., Bach-Mortensen, A. M., & Engzell, P. (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence on learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(3), 375–385. Di Pietro, G. (2023). The impact of Covid-19 on student achievement: Evidence from a recent meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 39, 100530. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer