Abstract

This chapter introduces the Nordic context of civic and citizenship education in schools including reviews of previous results and research on IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). By discussing the issues relevant to democratic citizenship education that are of central significance in the four Nordic countries, this chapter argues for new cross-country comparative analyses of ICCS data based on themes typically engaging Nordic scholars, including students’ understandings of citizenship, school principals’ understandings of the priorities of citizenship education, digital citizenship education, environmental citizenship education, and inequalities and citizenship education. Furthermore, this chapter provides a layout of the volume through positioning the five analytical chapters across contesting the understanding of civic engagement and democratic dispositions in Nordic democracies.

Highlights

  • IEA’s (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is the only regular dedicated comparative international study of civic and citizenship education

  • The themes presented in this book are not exhaustive of the interest for civic and citizenship education in the Nordic countries

  • Only a limited number of academic works are published based on ICCS beyond the national reports, e.g., comparing national data of ICCS 2009 and 2016 (Hegna 2018a, b; Stray and Huang 2018) or comparing ICCS 2016 results across countries on student attitudes (Huang et al 2018) and on school and teacher variables (Cheah and Huang 2019; Eriksen and Huang 2019; Hu and Huang 2019)

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Summary

Introduction

IEA’s (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is the only regular dedicated comparative international study of civic and citizenship education. The ICCS studies investigate the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a world where contexts of democracy and civic participation continue to change. It reports on students’ knowledge and understanding of concepts and issues related to civics and citizenship, as well as their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours concerning this domain. This book will shed light on citizenship learning and identify the extent that there is a common Nordic model on civic education and young people’s citizenship competences and how they are changing over recent years

The Nordic Context
Nordic Results in ICCS
Social Background and Education Processes Associated with Strong Learning Outcomes
Country Specific Findings from Previous Analyses
Complacency in Wealthy and Established Democracies?
The Positioning of This Book
Contesting the Understanding of Civic Engagement
Democratic Dispositions in Nordic Democracies
Conclusion
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