The purpose of this symposium is to discuss the implications of results from the latest implementation of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), a comparative survey that was conducted in 2022 collecting data from students, teachers, and schools from 24 education systems (see Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Losito, Agrusti, Damiani, & Friedman, 2024). The purpose of ICCS is to investigate how young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries. ICCS 2022 is the fifth international IEA study in this area and the third cycle of ICCS. It is explicitly linked through common questions to the previous ICCS cycles undertaken in 2009 (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito, 2010) and 2016 (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Losito, Agrusti, & Friedman, 2018). In addition to providing an opportunity for an evidence-based discussion of the variation in practices and outcomes of civic and citizenship education the symposium will also provide a forum for discussion of methodological issues related to the cross-cultural study of civic and citizenship education.

The symposium will primarily focus on the following aspects related to civic and citizenship education:

• Student perceptions of political system and institutions
• Student engagement with digital technologies
• School and teacher perceptions of diversity at schools
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on civic and citizenship education

Educational systems, school and teachers seek to prepare young people to understand the society they live in, to engage with its political and social issues and become actively involved as citizens in later adult life. There is a consensus that formal education influences the extent of adult engagement in society (Pancer, 2015). The third cycle of the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, ICCS 2022, provides an opportunity to study both the extent and variation of civic knowledge, attitudes, and engagement based on recent data, and it allows to review changes in civic learning outcomes compared to previous cycles. It also provides a basis for a systematic analysis of contextual factors, at different levels of educational systems that influence civic-related learning outcomes.

The symposium includes four papers. The first paper is concerned with an analysis of ICCS 2022 data reflecting lower-secondary students views of their political systems and institutions. The second paper focuses on data about how young people use or expected to use digital technologies for civic engagement. The third paper focuses on how schools and teachers deal with aspects of diversity as part of education. The fourth paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on civic and citizenship education outcomes.

Pancer, S. M. (2015). The psychology of citizenship and civic engagement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Kerr, D., & Losito, B. (2010). ICCS 2009 International Report. Civic knowledge, attitudes and engagement among lower secondary school students in thirty-eight countries. Amsterdam: IEA. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., & Friedman, T. (2018). Becoming citizens in a changing world. IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 International Report. Cham: Springer. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer.