1

Measuring Civic Competence Across Europe:

A Complex Picture

Bryony Hoskins European Commission

Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning (CRELL)

2

Active Citizenship in a Learning Context

Aims of the Project:• To propose indicators on active

citizenship and learning active citizenship• Evaluate and monitor the success of

education and training policies on active citizenship citizenship

• To explore the relationship between the learning for and the practice of active citizenship

3

Policy Context

• Lisbon Strategy• Progress report 2004

onwards• Need indicators on active

citizenship 2005 Council • European Framework on Key

Competence 2006• Council Conclusion coherent

framework indicators and benchmarks 2007

• First indicators on Active Citizenship 2007 EC reporting

4

SOCIAL EXCLUSION

EXTREMISM

GLOBALISATION

MIGRATION/RACISM

APATHY/ RESENTMENT

5

Theoretical framework of active citizenship in a learning context

1 Background

VariablesContext

Personal

Socio-familiar

Educational

Location

2Learning

ExperiencesLearning active

citizenship

Formal education

Non-Formal (e.g. training course)

Informal (e.g. media input)

3Individual Outcomes

Civic Competence

Cognitive:-Knowledge-Skills

Affective:-Attitudes-Values-Intended behaviour

4Social

OutcomesActive citizenship

Participation:-Representative democracy

-Protest and Social change

-Community life

Values (connected to participation):

-Democracy-Human rights-Intercultural understanding

Barriers

A

B

C

1 Background

VariablesContext

Personal

Socio-familiar

Educational

Location

2Learning

ExperiencesLearning active

citizenship

Formal education

Non-Formal (e.g. training course)

Informal (e.g. media input)

3Individual Outcomes

Civic Competence

Cognitive:-Knowledge-Skills

Affective:-Attitudes-Values-Intended behaviour

4Social

OutcomesActive citizenship

Participation:-Representative democracy

-Protest and Social change

-Community life

Values (connected to participation):

-Democracy-Human rights-Intercultural understanding

Barriers

A

B

C

6

Theoretical model of a competence

Competence

Skills

CognitiveAffective

AttitudesIntended

behaviour KnowledgeValues

7

European Framework on Key CompetencesCivic competence

Knowledge: • Democracy, justice, equality, citizenship, civil rights • History, socio political events of the day• Europe; main objectives, values and diversitySkills: • Engage effectively with others, problem solving in the

community, decision-making, critical and creative reflection

Attitudes & Values: • Respect for human rights, equality & democracy, • Sense of belonging local, country, Europe, World• Willingness to participate in democratic decision-making • Respect shared values necessary for community

cohesion i.e. democratic principles• Sustainable development

8

Data 1999 CIVED study

• 28 countries 22 of which are European countries and 20 which are now EU countries. Belgium (french speaking), Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak republic, Slovenia, Sweden (Norway, Switzerland and Russian Federation)

• + USA, Australia, Hong Kong, Chile and Colombia

• Grade 8 students• The study has a follow-up in 2009

(repeated measurement) • Used scales instead of individual items

9

Limitations of measuring civic competence

• Only aspects that can be measured in international surveys(not ‘build coalitions’, ‘cooperation’, ‘to

interact’)

• Only those measured by CivEd(not ‘to know how to vote’)

• Data from 1999• Only 14 years old

10

Civic competence & CIVED

Compared lists• Some uncovered: history & culture• Most partially or poorly covered Removed• Questions formulated to take left or

right political positions removed(e.g. Immigration)

11

IEA Scales

Cognitive• TOT – Knowledge of contentKnowledge• KNOWL – Knowledge of contentSkills• SKILS – Skills in interpretation of

material with civic or political content

12

IEA, CEDAR, CRELL Scales

Attitudes & Values: • DEM – Attitude towards democracy• CTCON – Conventional citizenship• CTSOC – Social movements• WOMRT –Women’s political & economic right• MINOR –Opportunities for minorities• EFFIC – Internal political efficacy

Intended Actions: • CONFS + SCON – Confidence School Participation• POLAT – Political activities• VOTE – Voting• COMM – Community participation

13

FACTOR ANALYSISRotated Component Matrix

Sub-domain Scale Label Component

1 2 3 4

Values CONVENTIONAL CITIZENSHIP CTCON -0.02 0.02 0.26 0.82 SOCIAL-MOVEMENT-RELATED CITIZENSHIP CTSOC 0.07 0.25 0.03 0.82

DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS DEM 0.69 0.19 0.04 0.16 ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMENS POLITICAL AND

ECONOMIC RIGHTS WOMRT 0.32 0.70 -0.14 -0.04

ATTITUDES TOWARDS MINORITIES MINOR 0.14 0.72 0.01 0.12

Attitudes CONFIDENCE IN PARTICIPATING AT SCHOOL CONFS 0.11 0.66 0.13 0.18 INTERNAL POLITICAL EFFICACY EFFIC 0.15 -0.08 0.75 0.11

EXPECTATIONS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION COMM -0.18 0.45 0.46 0.20

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES POLAT -0.02 -0.03 0.76 0.08

Intended Behaviour

SELF-CONFIDENT PARTICIPATION SCON -0.01 0.46 0.54 0.03 EXPECTATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH VOTING VOTE 0.40 0.25 0.41 0.24

Knowledge KNOWLEDGE OF CONTENT KNOWL 0.88 0.07 0.05 -0.02

Skills SKILLS IN INTERPRETATION OF MATERIAL WITH CIVIC OR POLITICAL CONETNT

SKILS 0.85 0.10 -0.01 -0.10

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

14

Civic Competence(CCCI)

Social Justice (Values and attitudes)

Participatory attitudes

Cognition about

democratic institutions

POLATCONFS KNOWL SKILSSCON*

Citizenship Values

WOMRT MINOR COMM VOTECTCON CTSOC EFFIC DEMR

15

Results of the Composite Indicator

16

Country Average SD

CYP 642 102GRC 623 112POL 594 107SVK 569 93PRT 565 98NOR 562 110ITA 560 103ROM 558 98SWE 541 110DNK 535 106FIN 533 100ENG 533 106LTU 533 92SVN 524 94HUN 523 87DEU 521 98CHE 520 94BGR 519 109CZE 516 95BFR 512 107LVA 502 87EST 494 86

Civic Competence

Finland

SwedenNorway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech RepublicSlovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

Russia

17

Civic Competence Composite Indicator

• Overall mixed results• Not typical score board results• Greece & Cyprus highest score

18

Country Average SD

GRC 676 134CYP 669 129ROM 645 137LTU 628 139POL 606 119PRT 604 110SVK 598 118ITA 590 119BGR 581 149HUN 567 117NOR 563 117DEU 558 110LVA 552 106CHE 547 111SWE 546 126SVN 542 133CZE 537 115DNK 525 106ENG 518 107EST 516 104BFR 510 114FIN 496 105

Citizenship values

Finland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

RussiaFinland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

Russia

19

Country Average SD

CYP 613 130GRC 572 129ROM 558 133POL 550 143PRT 540 126SVK 539 126ITA 511 133LVA 503 141SVN 495 128HUN 493 126NOR 490 149BFR 481 142BGR 475 145DNK 474 144LTU 471 137ENG 464 154DEU 462 140CHE 456 140EST 456 135FIN 454 136SWE 447 152CZE 443 130

Participatory attitudes

Finland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

RussiaFinland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

Russia

20

Citizenship Values & Attitudes towards participation

• South and East Europe perform well for Participatory attitudes and Citizenship values

Citizenship values: • Romania and Lithuania high• Southern European top (Greece and

Cyprus) • North and West Europe low• Denmark, England, Belgium-Fr and Finland

lowest

21

Citizenship Values & Attitudes towards participation

• South and East Europe perform well for Participatory attitudes and Citizenship values

Participatory attitudes:• South & East High: Cyprus, Portugal,

Romania, Poland & Slovakia• Most North & West Low: Denmark,

Sweden & Finland/ Germany, England & Switzerland

22

Hypothesis

•Recent & less stable democracies young people value citizenship and the importance of participation more

•Longer democracies with greater levels of participation by adults young people apathetic

23

Country Average SD

CYP 707 144PRT 680 140NOR 678 153ENG 671 157POL 668 154GRC 667 149SWE 655 148DNK 654 150FIN 649 141BFR 630 162LTU 620 128CZE 617 126CHE 616 142ITA 616 132SVK 616 122ROM 613 135EST 608 117SVN 604 132DEU 603 140HUN 586 119BGR 583 154LVA 571 116

Social Justice (V/A)

Finland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

RussiaFinland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

Russia

24

Country Average SD

CYP 595 102GRC 593 112FIN 587 100POL 583 107SVK 571 93ITA 565 103SWE 552 110NOR 549 110CZE 538 95ENG 529 106DNK 528 106DEU 526 98CHE 522 94SVN 513 94HUN 512 87BGR 493 109BFR 486 107PRT 482 98EST 469 86ROM 468 98LTU 465 92LVA 446 87

Cognitions

Finland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

RussiaFinland

Sweden

Norway

Poland

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Germany

Czech Republic Slovakia

HungaryRomania

Bulgaria

Greece

Cyprus

Italy

Denmark

Belgium(FR)

England

Portugal

SloveniaSwitzerland

Russia

25

Social Justice and Cognition about democratic

Social justice & Cognition about Democratic Institutions; East Europe performs less well

Social justice • North, South & West Europe: Cyprus, Portugal, Norway

& England perform well• Former communist countries low: Russian Federation,

Hungary, Bulgaria and Latvia• Outlier Poland Cognition about democratic institutions• North, South and West Europe top half• East Europe bottom half • Baltic states lowest• Outlier Portugal low• Outlier Slovakia and Poland high

26

Hypothesis

Affects of Communism •Young people no longer

interested in equality•A lack of citizenship education

27

Conclusions

• Limitations: – data availability: gaps in different components of

civic competence– Age Group: 14 years old– 1999

• CCCI– 84 indicators – Combines (Attitudes, Values, Knowledge & Skills)– 4 dimensions: Cit. values, Social justice, Part.

attitudes, Cog. dem. Instit.– Results very robust

28

Conclusions

• Mixed regional picture• Length of time and stable democracy a

key factor in results • Most countries & regions have some

work to do on citizenship education

29

Thank you