Perceptions of teachers about the teaching of civic-citizen education in Colombia and the relationships with school coexistence

Abstract

Civic and citizen education has been a relevant aspect in educational policy in Colombia. For this reason, the country has participated in studies by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) on Civic and Citizenship Education (ICCS). In 2016, the ICCS collected the perceptions of civic and citizenship education from 1,580 teachers. As the IEA databases are open access, the information was analyzed with the objective of describing the perceptions of teachers about the teaching of civic and citizenship education in Colombia, as well as the relationships with school coexistence in the educational institutions. It is concluded that the main coexistence problems reported by teachers in school institutions are: i) student absenteeism, ii) bullying, and iii) drug abuse. Likewise, it was established that students’ behavioral problems are related to poor care of school facilities and equipment, negative attitudes towards school, poor sense of belonging to school communities and conflicts during rest, entry and exit of the institution.