University As Site of Citizenship

Author(s):

M.A De La Caba ColladoLopez Atxurra J.A

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Poster

Session Information

MC_Poster, Poster Session; Main Conference

All Poster are presented in the two Poster Sessions of ECER 2008: - 11 September 12.15 - 13.15 and - 12 September 12.15 - 13.15

Time:

2008-09-11

12:15-13:15

Room:

Poster Exhibition Area

Chair:

Contribution

Youth is a key period, not only in the personal maturing process but also in the process of social insertion and intervention. Young people approach the world of active citizenship during a personal stage full of, not only conflicts and uncertainties, but also of expectations of how society should work. Their role and their place in the world, as well as their possibilities for social action depend on the way in which they understand, appreciate and practice a set of core values which underpin the concept of citizenship. In our opinion, understanding the triangle formed by 'rights', 'responsibilities' and participation’ constitutes the main backbone of the concept of citizenship, which is why this triangle was chosen as the conceptual framework to be analyzed. More specifically, our interest focused on evaluating young university students' ideas of citizenship, based around these three concepts. The analysis framework focused on the University, since this is a scenario in which civic concerns often arise. The sample group comprised 200 young university students, who were asked to specify their principal rights and responsibilities in the university, and their potential areas of participation. The aim was to describe implicit concepts of citizenship by analyzing their ideas regarding rights, responsibilities and participation.

Method

Based on the responses received, a series of analysis categories were constructed by means of an inductive process, using the Nudist 5 QSRN5' program. Although the aim of this research project is basically to describe tendencies, a frequency analysis was also carried out in order to see not only what indicators and dimensions appeared, but also to measure the force with which they did so, in percentage terms.

Expected Outcomes

The results indicate a wide range of concepts, although it is clear that both awareness of and interest in the more active participation rights are considerably lower. In short, the evaluation of concepts of citizenship among young university students may, alongside questions and challenges, be a good instrument for identifying areas of intervention and improvement in the field of citizenship in the 21st century.

References

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Author Information

M.A De La Caba Collado

University Of The Basque Country

Education

Donostia

Lopez Atxurra J.A

UBC: UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY, Spain

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