Examining the association between feeling excluded at school and political trust in four Nordic countries

Abstract

Students’ positive experiences in schools positively predicts students’ political trust. However, little research has examined how individual students’ feelings of exclusion at their schools may relate to students’ political trust. Moreover, how does an overall sense of exclusion from the school relate to political trust apart from individual students’ feelings of exclusion? Lastly, do immigrant students have a different level of political trust, on average, than non-immigrant students? Using data from the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, this study employed multilevel modeling to investigate these questions in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The results revealed that students feeling like an outsider at school was a statistically significant predictor of lower feelings of political trust in the four Nordic countries. In three countries the school’s overall sense of exclusion was also a statistically significant predictor. The discussion explores the implication of the findings for students’ political trust.