In this paper, we explore the factors involved in developing digital citizenship through social media use in schools for 14-year-old students in four Nordic countries. The internet and social media have paved the way for a new era of global communication (Loader & Mercea, 2011), moving beyond the context of the nation-state (Jorba & Bimber 2012). Consequently, new forms of global citizenship and political participation are emerging (Carretero et al., 2017). Digital resources have opened up new possibilities for civic engagement. Moreover, social media provides a low threshold for political participation and civic engagement. Young educators well versed in the use of social media, however, tend to struggle with using social media for civic and citizenship education purposes (Biseth et al., 2018; Gudmundsdottir & Hatlevik, 2018). Schools play a core part in developing students’ digital civic engagement, yet the field of digital citizenship education and the factors that enable engagement in schools is underexplored. To address this issue, we have conducted a mixed-methods study analyzing the national curricula in four Nordic countries and complementing this with an analysis of data from school leaders, teachers, and 14-year-old students participating in the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016. The findings of the analysis show that digital citizenship and citizenship, in general, are prevailing ideals in the national curricula and that schools are well-equipped technologically. Yet, both teachers and students are ambivalent in their use of social media for developing digital citizenship.

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