A.B. Dijkstra

Effects of school quality, school citizenship policy, and student body composition on the acquisition of citizenship competences in the final year of primary education

This study examines the effects of general educational quality of schools, school citizenship policy, and ethnic homogeneity of the student body on the acquisition of citizenship competences in the final year of primary education. The theoretical framework is based on developmental, psychological, and sociological studies into effects of social context on educational outcomes and research into effective schools. The effects of school quality, school policy, and student population were analysed using 2-level (students, school) multilevel models. The results show that differences in citizenship competences between students and schools are mainly explained by factors at student level. Although the school also appeared to play a role, the school variables used in the analysis did not offer sufficient explanation for these differences. In order to further investigate the relationship between school factors and students’ citizenship, more insight is needed into characteristics of citizenship practices of schools.

Eenheid of verdeeldheid? Burgerschap in een gedifferentieerd voortgezet onderwijssysteem

This paper examines whether there are differences in civic competences between secondary school children on the basis of school type, gender, ethnicity and parents’ education, and whether such differences are smaller in schools that devote greater attention to civic education. Using survey data form students and school principals in fifteen secondary schools in the Netherlands, we examine civic competences relating to ‘democratic behaviour’, ‘socially responsible behaviour’, and ‘dealing with social differences’. Our analyses show that students differ significantly in how they judge their own competences in these domains. Furthermore, differences in socially responsible behaviour between students of different levels of parental education are smaller in schools that pay much attention to civic education. No evidence for mitigating effects of a school’s attention to civic education emerged for either democratic behaviour or responsible behaviour.

Youth citizenship at the end of primary school : The role of language ability

Abstract Schools are expected to fulfil different types of goals, including citizenship development. An important question is to what extent schools can simultaneously promote different learning outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between language ability and youth citizenship. Using a representative sample of 2429 grade 6 pupils (age 11–13) in 138 primary schools in the Netherlands, our findings confirm that language ability is strongly associated with pupils’ youth citizenship outcomes, in particular with citizenship attitudes and knowledge. Contrary to popular belief, we conclude that stimulating pupils’ language development need not compete with investing in pupils’ citizenship development. Rather than a trade-off, our findings suggest a positive relationship between language ability and citizenship development.

Consensus and contested citizenship education goals in Western Europe

As schools are increasingly expected to develop their students’ political and social engagement in order to promote good citizenship, they are struggling to define what good citizenship is. In this article, we put forward a way of formulating perspectives on citizenship that specifies the normative aspects of good citizenship in a systematic manner. In doing so, we distinguish between citizenship education goals which are generally shared and citizenship education goals that are often disputed. Subsequently, an exploratory data analysis is conducted to investigate to which degree educational level in current Western European educational systems is associated with outcomes regarding these consensus and contested citizenship education goals. The findings provide support for our hypothesis that educational level is predominantly associated with general democratic citizenship outcomes, rather than with outcomes that are emphasized by more specific, but contested citizenship perspectives.