Knowledge and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Political Participation and Civic Attitudes: With Relevance for Educational Practice

Abstract

The results reported in this article are part of a larger study of the political competencies of students in Norwegian upper secondary school. The main focus of this study is how to teach civics in secondary school as a preparation for democratic citizenship. In this study, it is argued that self-efficacy and motivation, in addition to knowledge, are key competence variables that should be studied simultaneously. Five similar causal models are constructed to explore the relationship between the competence variables and various forms of political participation, tolerance and involvement. Five structural equation models (SEMs) are then estimated using LISREL. The main results for the three mediation variables are as follows: self-efficacy is a stronger predictor of motivation and three aspects of political participation than knowledge. Knowledge, on the other hand, is moderately related to motivation, but is a stronger predictor of civic attitudes than self-efficacy, while motivation is a strong predictor of both future participation and civic attitudes. The results thus confirm that competence other than knowledge is vital to civic participation. Finally, the relevance of these results for civic education in upper secondary schools is discussed. It is emphasized that enhancing students’ self-efficacy in the political field (often referred to as ‘internal political efficacy’) may be of equal, if not greater, importance for school education as promoting civic competence.