What does society want adolescents to know about civics?

Abstract

Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper investigates current views within society about what civic knowledge is important for students leaving secondary education. We combined questionnaire data from a representative national sample with data from a multiple-case study among several focus groups of stakeholders with various roles in society. The results show that there is broad consensus in society about the civic knowledge that is important for students, consistent with civic knowledge conceptualisations as used in common standardised measurement instruments. The data also show a different appreciation of the different aspects of civics. In particular, themes related to solidarity, democracy and civic empowerment and their relevance were seen as a prerequisite for successful participation in society. Themes that are less prominent in the lives of adolescents or less important for understanding other civic topics were seen as relatively less important. Moreover, although equal civic knowledge for all students was considered desirable in principle, the stakeholder groups differentiated between groups of students in terms of interests, educational track and their expected future role in society. Social inequality between students was not problematised. This calls for further research into desired levels of civic knowledge for different educational groups.