Non-cognitive civic outcomes: How can education contribute? European evidence from the ICCS 2016 study

Abstract

This article explores the diverse associations between different educational approaches in civic and citizenship education and a number of civic attitudes and behaviours, including citizenship, expected participation and attitudes towards equal rights, among teenage students in 13 European countries. The results obtained using the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Survey (ICCS) show that all three educational approaches identified (formal civic learning, school democracy and active community involvement) are related to what students think and how they feel about civic and citizenship issues, although the role of each approach varies considerably across the different civic attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, students’ civic and citizenship knowledge shows somewhat controversial associations with the various attitudes and behaviours discussed here, while civic self-efficacy is consistently positively related to them.