In response to evidence showing a declining participation in formal politics throughout Europe there appears to have been a revival of interest in civic life and the involvement of citizens in political life. Educational systems, schools 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. The purpose of this symposium is to discuss the results of an evaluation of citizenship competences among adolescents. The papers are based on the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009) (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito, 2010; Kerr, Sturman, Schulz & Burge, 2010). In addition to providing an opportunity to discuss issues related to the cross-national measurement of civics and citizenship competences it will also provide a basis for an evidence-based discussion of variations in the outcomes of civic and citizenship education.

ICCS investigated how young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries. With 26 participating European countries and its rich database the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is the largest comparative international study ever undertaken in this area and provides a unique opportunity to study both extent and variation of civic knowledge and engagement as well as contextual factors that influence citizenship competences. ICCS is explicitly linked through common questions to the IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED) undertaken in 1999 and 2000 (Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald & Schulz, 2001; Amadeo, Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Husfeldt & Nikolova, 2002; Schulz & Sibberns, 2004).

The symposium will address the following issues:

1)     Measuring civic knowledge among young adolescents

2)     Assessing the intended participation of young adolescents as future citizens

3)     Evaluating the contribution of schools to the development of young people as future citizens

4)     Measuring changes in knowledge about and perception of civics and citizenship over a ten-year period

ICCS surveyed 83,000 Grade 8 students across 26 European countries collecting measures of civic knowledge, affective and behavioral responses, as well as family and social background. It also gathered data from 42,000 teachers and principals in the 3,300 schools in which those students were enrolled (see Schulz, Ainley & Fraillon, 2011).

The symposium includes four papers. The first paper is concerned with the measurement of student knowledge about a wide range of civic-related issues and also includes results and multivariate analysis of their variation. The second paper focuses on students' preparedness to become citizens in a democracy and their disposition to actively participate in society and it contains an analysis of measures of students' intentions to participate as citizens in civic life and lower secondary students' current participation in civic activities. The third paper compares the ways in which schools contribute to the development of civics and citizenship intentions and dispositions through their general climate and approach to teaching in civic-related areas. The fourth paper is concerned with measuring change in civic knowledge and selected questionnaire results in 15 European countries between 1999 and 2009.