Suchergebnisse

Educational attainment measured by years of education has been widely reported as leading to higher levels of political participation. The theory is that education plays an important role in a person's civic skills and cognitive capacity that helps them understand and connect with the world of politics and be able to defend their interests (Nie et al. 1996). However, a number of studies argue that education has no effect on political engagement as educational attainment has been identified as a proxy for socioeconomic background and cognitive ability. In order to examine whether the university has an effect on young people's intentions for active citizenship in England, hybrid cumulative logit models are used in the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) 2009–2014 with between and within effects which help explain differences between individuals and within individuals at different time points. Control measures of previous citizenship education are also included in the analysis. We find that the university has a positive independent effect on intentions to vote, a negative effect on intentions to volunteer, but not on intentions to protest in the future for young people in England. These findings help clarify the role of higher education (HE) in developing and maintaining democracy and social cohesion.

Measuring Learning to learn is part of a process to establish and monitor the learning processes and outcomes needed to facilitate the development of lifelong learning in Europe. This report highlights the European political developments that have taken place which have placed learning to learn as a political priority within the Lisbon 2010 Education and Training process. It connects these with the move to a competence based approach that emphasises the testing of a holistic and real-world based capability that includes values, attitudes, knowledge and skills. The report analyses how the competence learning to learn has been defined. It highlights different understandings which have been developed from within the social-cultural and cognitive psychological paradigms. It investigates the European definition of learning to learn and how it relates to these epistemological positions. The report also establishes what learning is not by visiting concepts such as intelligence, problem-solving and learning strategies. In a second step the report investigates how learning to learn can be measured. 3 national tests that are combined within the European test are explained: the University of Helsinki test, the Bristol University test and the Dutch test. The European framework is then described and preliminary evaluation of the European learning to learn pre-pilot is briefly given. Existing international tests, in particular PISA, are analysed to see if these tests cover the definition. The results described are that these tests do not cover the full range of aspects of learning to learn and tend only to use the affective questions as explanatory variables for the test results rather than one dimension of the measurable outcomes. Finally, future directions for research to improve the conceptual basis of the European learning to learn test are proposed which highlights the need for more interdisciplinary research in the field of learning.

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Learning political engagement -- Chapter 3. Access to forms of political learning -- Chapter 4. Social gaps in forms of learning and political engagement: 11-16 year olds in England -- Chapter 5. England in a comparative light: lower secondary -- Chapter 6. Learning political engagement in further and higher education in England -- Chapter 7. The Influence of Post-16 Education on Political Engagement: England Compared to Other States -- Chapter 8. Conclusions and implications for policy and practice

Volunteering is routinely advocated in British policy as a key mechanism for young people to gain employment, but with little evidence of its viability as a strategy. Indeed, the limited research in this area suggests the link is weak and that access to good quality volunteering is differentiated along class lines. This article draws on a mixed methods approach, using survey data from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Survey and qualitative interviews, to analyse the relationship between youth volunteering and employment. It finds that volunteering is not unequivocally beneficial for employment, particularly if it does not offer career-related experience or is imposed rather than self-initiated. It can even have a negative effect on employment. Furthermore, social class mediates access to volunteering opportunities most likely to convert into employment. We conclude there is little evidence to support policy assumptions that, in the short term, volunteering has a positive relationship to paid employment.

Abstract
This article analyses the changing nature of Active and Participatory Citizenship in Europe during the period of the financial crisis from 2008–2015 and introduces the special issue which has a focus on this topic. This article and the accompanying special issue shed light on the current critical situation in Europe, how we got here and provides critical insights on where we may be headed. The findings of the research show that during the period of the economic crisis the European Union (EU) was seen to take a leadership role championing austerity and neoliberal economic policies whilst many of its citizens suffered and began to lose trust in the EU, its institutions and leaders. National politicians often successfully shifted blame to the EU for domestic policies that made citizens and public services suffer in the name of austerity for recovery. At the same time, Active and Participatory Citizenship policies received major cuts to funding, as part of the austerity drive, and were no longer considered a policy priority at both the European and the national level as concerns about mounting unemployment and a skills crisis took over. In addition, there was a general policy shift from cosmopolitan European Citizenship to a more nationalistic and, reactive citizenship driven by responses to pressing social issues such as extremism, radicalisation, migration and violence. The article concludes that in order to maintain the European project the Active and Participatory agenda needs to urgently be restored to give people a sense of belonging and ownership of Europe.

Abstract
This article examines the impact of education on political participation in 15 European countries. We use data from the European Social Survey and find that education is positively associated with voter turnout and information acquisition about politics and currents affairs. However, when we use exogeneous changes in compulsory schooling to instrument education, we observe a statistically significant causal relationship in the case of information acquisition but not voter turnout.

Democracy should enable citizens to play an informed role in determining how power is exercised for their common wellbeing, but this only works if people have the understanding, skills and confidence to engage effectively in public affairs. Otherwise, any voting system can be subverted to serve the interests of propagandists and demagogues. This book brings together leading experts on learning for democracy to explore why and how the gap in civic competence should be bridged. Drawing on research findings and case examples from the UK, the US and elsewhere, it will set out why change is necessary, what could be taught differently to ensure effective political engagement, and how a lasting impact in improving citizens' learning for democratic participation can be made