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What Do Adolescents Know about Citizenship? Measuring Student’s Knowledge of the Social and Political Aspects of Citizenship

Author

Listed:
  • Geert Ten Dam

    (Department of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Anne Bert Dijkstra

    (Department of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Ineke Van der Veen

    (Kohnstamm Institute, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Anne Van Goethem

    (GGZ, Noord-Holland-Noord, 1816 BT Alkmaar, The Netherlands
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

This paper analyses how young people’s citizenship knowledge is related to the different domains of citizenship in their daily lives. Based on a representative sample of some 5300 students in the third year of 80 Dutch secondary schools, our study relates citizenship knowledge to student background and school characteristics. The knowledge test developed for this study situates citizenship knowledge in the literature and the societal and political context defining the social structure students live in. The contribution of our study lies in this broad conceptualisation of citizenship, which is reflected in fine-grained, more specific results than the outcomes of earlier research. Gender differences are particularly pronounced in the social aspects of citizenship and are small in the political domain. As far as ethnic background is concerned, we see knowledge differences in the domain of “acting democratically”. This is also the domain where most of the differences in citizenship knowledge between students of the various schools and tracks occur. School size, public/private school, urbanisation and a more heterogeneous student population cannot explain these differences. To mitigate inequalities in citizenship knowledge between and within schools, which are relatively large in the Netherlands, further research is necessary to investigate micro-level mechanisms within schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Geert Ten Dam & Anne Bert Dijkstra & Ineke Van der Veen & Anne Van Goethem, 2020. "What Do Adolescents Know about Citizenship? Measuring Student’s Knowledge of the Social and Political Aspects of Citizenship," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:12:p:234-:d:464095
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Manja Coopmans & Geert Ten Dam & Anne Bert Dijkstra & Ineke Van der Veen, 2020. "Towards a Comprehensive School Effectiveness Model of Citizenship Education: An Empirical Analysis of Secondary Schools in The Netherlands," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-32, September.
    2. Erika Elsas, 2015. "Political Trust as a Rational Attitude: A Comparison of the Nature of Political Trust across Different Levels of Education," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 63(5), pages 1158-1178, December.
    3. Frederic Lord, 1952. "The relation of the reliability of multiple-choice tests to the distribution of item difficulties," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 17(2), pages 181-194, June.
    4. Robert Andersen, 2012. "GINI DP 47: Support for Democracy in Cross-National Perspective: The Detrimental Effect of Economic Inequality," GINI Discussion Papers 47, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
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