The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 (ICCS 2016) was established by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and investigated the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries in the second decade of the 21st century. It studied lower-secondary students’ knowledge and understanding of civics and citizenship as well as students’ attitudes, perceptions, and activities related to civics and citizenship. Based on nationally representative samples of students, the study also examined differences among countries in relation to these outcomes of civic and citizenship education, and explored how differences among countries relate to student characteristics, school and community contexts, and national characteristics. As the second cycle of this study, ICCS 2016 is a continuation and an extension of ICCS 2009 (Schultz et al., 2016).

In the international report (Schultz et al., 2017) ICCS 2016 data analyses illustrated factors associated with expected student civic engagement. Multiple regression models using student background, experience with civic engagement, disposition toward engagement, and beliefs about citizenship and institutions explained between a quarter and a third of the variation in expected civic participation. Parental and student interest were the strongest student-background predictors of expected civic engagement. Female students were less inclined than male students to anticipate active political involvement in the future. Students’ experience with civic engagement in the community or at school tended to be positively associated with their expected civic engagement as adults. Students’ civic knowledge and self-efficacy as well as student beliefs were consistent predictors of expected electoral and active political participation.

Although more knowledgeable students were more likely than their less knowledgeable peers to expect participation in elections, they were less likely to anticipate active political involvement. Students who believed in the importance of civic engagement through established channels were also more likely to expect future civic participation.

Also prior research using data from ICCS 2009 has shown that students’ expected participation in elections or political activities is associated with gender, interest in civic issues, experience in civic engagement, self-efficacy, civic knowledge, and perceptions of civic institutions (Schulz et al., 2010; Schulz, Fraillon, & Ainley, 2015). Similar findings have also emerged from other research investigating factors associated with students’ civic engagement (Solhaug, 2006; Quintelier, 2008) and with high levels of educational attainment (Janoski & Wilson, 1995; Vollebergh, Iedema, & Raaijmakers, 2001).

In the light of the above, this paper aims at expanding some of the ICCS 2016 findings with a specific focus on immigrant background of European students who took part in the survey. The overall objective is to analyze the associations between civic knowledge, students’ perceptions in relation to different aspects of citizenship (conventional citizenship, social-movement related citizenship and responsible citizenship) and expected civic engagement (students’ expected participation in legal/illegal activities and in electoral/political participation).

In order to reach the above-mentioned aims, descriptive analysis and a structural equation modelling were conducted. For the descriptive analysis by each country, the software IEA IDB Analyzer was used. The structural equation modelling assessed the effects of socio-economic and cultural background, civic knowledge, citizenship perception on civic engagement, by means of MPLUS. Countries were weighted by senate weight (each country weighted the same of the others).

Lower-secondary students from 13 European countries who participated in ICCS 2016 were considered. Cases with missing values in one or more explanatory variables were excluded. The overall sample consisted of 45,887 students. In the model, the following variables were used as dependent variables: Students' expected participation in legal activities. Students reported their intention to participate in seven different activities such as “Take part in a peaceful march or rally”. Students' expected participation in illegal protest activities. Students stated their intention to participate in three different activities such as “Occupy public buildings as a sign of protest”. Students' expected electoral participation. Students reported their intentions regarding future electoral participation such as “Get information about candidates before voting in an election”. Students' expected active political participation. Students expressed their intentions to participate in seven political activities such as “Join a political party”. We considered as independent variables the following: Students’ perceptions of the importance of social movement related citizenship. Students expressed their perceptions regarding the importance of four statements such as “Participating in peaceful protests against laws believed to be unjust” Students’ perceptions of the importance of conventional citizenship. Students answered to six statements regarding the importance of different features related to citizenship such as “Voting in every national election”. Students' perception of the importance of personal responsibility for citizenship. Students expressed their perceptions regarding the importance of four statement such as “Making personal efforts to protect natural resources”. For the previous variables, student responses were placed on a scale with mean scale score of 50 across all countries and standard deviation of 10, using IRT partial credit scaling. Civic knowledge scale. Based on 88 items, reflects students’ knowledge and understanding of civic issues. The international average centre point (fixed on ICCS 2009) is 500. As control variable a measure of students’ socio-economic index was considered. This index includes parents’ educational level, parents’ occupational status and resources for study available at home (number of books at home). As moderator variable the immigration status of student was used: based on students’ answers, a new variable was created identifying students without immigration background (students born in the country of test or with at least one parent born in the country of test) and students with immigration background (students who were not born in the country of test or born in the country of test, but with both parents born in another country).

Descriptive statistics showed differences across countries: both for students' expected participation in legal activities and students' expected active political participation. In almost countries (12 out 13) students without immigrant background reported higher level of students’ expected electoral participation than students with immigrant background. On the contrary, in most countries (10 out 13) students with immigrant background had higher scores on the scale students' expected participation in illegal protest activities. The structural equation model had good indices according to recommended cut-off values (Byrne, 2001): RMSEA=0.03 and CFI=0.99 and explained 13% of the variance for students’ expected participation in legal activities, 12% of variance for students' expected participation in illegal protest activities, 28% of variance for students’ expected electoral participation and 11% of variance for students’ expected active political participation. Students’ expected participation in legal activities was best associated with student perceptions of the importance of conventional citizenship (β=.26, p < 0.01); students' expected participation in illegal protest activities was negative associated with civic knowledge (β=-.30, p < 0.01); students' expected electoral participation was strongly associated with civic knowledge (β=.37, p < 0.01) and student perceptions of the importance of conventional citizenship (β =.31, p < 0.01); students' expected active political participation was strongly associated with student perceptions of the importance of conventional citizenship (β=-.33, p < 0.01). With regards to mediator variable, the results evidenced the same pattern found for the overall model, with negligible differences on β values. Students’ perceptions of the importance of conventional citizenship appeared to be an important factor associated with the students’ expectation to participate in legal activities, electoral activities and in political activities. Socio-economic status seemed to play a role only on civic knowledge variation, but not on students’ expectations and attitudes toward citizenship.

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