Does Civic Education in Secondary School have an Impact on Political Interest of Grade 8 Students? Evidence from NEPS

Abstract

Political interest and participation of young people constitute an integral part of the research agendas of multiple fields. The debates center, inter alia, on how youth can be socialized into becoming active citizens. In this study, I focus on the impact of civic education (CE) in secondary schooling in Germany on political interest of Grade 8 students (age 13/14). The study investigates the impact of the mere exposure (0/1), timespan (number of school years of exposure), and intensity (sum of weekly hours in Grades 5–8). Results of OLS regressions using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) show that all CE measures are positively related to political interest. Additionally, heterogeneity analyses indicate differences according to gender, school type, and parental education.