Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter, we explore the factors involved in developing digital citizenship through social media use in schools for 14-year-old students in four Nordic countries. The call for digital citizenship and digital citizenship education stems from the new and multiple ways in which young people are engaging in and communicating about civic issues through the use of social media. Schools could be considered to play a core part in developing students’ digital civic engagement, yet the field of digital citizenship education and the factors that enable engagement in schools are underexplored. To address this issue, in this chapter we have completed a mixed methods study analyzing the national curricula in the four Nordic countries and complementing this with an analysis of data from school leaders, teachers, and 14-year-old students participating in the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016. The findings of the analysis show that digital citizenship and citizenship in general are prevailing ideals in the national curricula and that schools are well-equipped technologically. Yet, both teachers and students are ambivalent in their use of social media for developing digital citizenship. Thus, we argue that digital citizenship in education is a manifold and emerging phenomenon and that students might be important guides for its further development in schools.

Highlights

  • We explore the factors involved in developing digital citizenship education and promoting civic engagement through the use of social media1 among 14-year-old students in four Nordic countries

  • The national curricula provide information on factors that enable digital citizenship and civic engagement via social media in schools through the formal curricula that were operational at the time International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016 was conducted

  • IEA’s ICCS 2016 was the first study to establish a small number of measures for investigating the factors for digital citizenship education

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Summary

Introduction

We explore the factors involved in developing digital citizenship education and promoting civic engagement through the use of social media among 14-year-old students in four Nordic countries. Social media represent several opportunities for learning and enhancing employability as well as a means of managing one’s own social life and developing civic engagement. These digital developments increase the space for interaction and change our ways of connecting and engaging with each other in what could be seen as a new public space and a modern arena of political and civic engagement. Digital tools and social media (e.g., online social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, blogs, forums, and videos) have paved the way for individuals to participate in and engage with local and global issues through innovative means. The digital represents both possibilities and challenges, making digital civic engagement a complex enterprise

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