State of Nation

8/3/2019 State of Nation

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FEATURE

This article outlinesdevelopments inthe implementationand assessment o

the achievement othe National Goalsor Schooling in theTwenty-frst Centuryrelating to civicsand citizenshipeducation. Nationaland state/territorydevelopments,

the key eatures ocivics and citizenshipeducation, and theresults o a nationalprogram to assessthe achievemento these goals arediscussed.

Civics and citizenship education:state of the nation

by Suzanne MellorAustralian Council forEducational Research

Project Manager, MCEETYA National Assessment

Program: Civics and Citizenship, 2004

IntroductionIn April 1999, the state, territoryand Commonwealth Ministers oEducation meeting in the tenthMinisterial Council on Education,Employment, Training and YouthAairs (MCEETYA), agreed to thenew National Goals or Schoolingin the Twenty-rst Century (theAdelaide Declaration). Two o thesegoals reerence civics and citizenshiplearning outcomes.

Adelaide Declaration Goal 1.3states that students should:

have the capacity to exercise

judgement and responsibility in

matters o morality, ethics and social

justice, and the capacity to make

sense o their world, to think about

how things got to be the way theyare, to make rational and inormed

decisions about their lives and to

accept responsibility or their own

actions.

Adelaide Declaration Goal 1.4species that when students leaveschool they should be:

active and inormed citizens with an

understanding and appreciation o

Australias system o government and

civic lie.

When the Ministers endorsed theNational Goals or Schooling theyalso set in train the work o measuringand reporting on student achievementand progress in attaining the Goals.

They identied eight areas o schoolingor attention, among them civics andcitizenship education.

This article outlines developmentsin the implementation and assessmento the achievement o these goalsnationwide. National and state/territory developments, the keyeatures o civics and citizenshipeducation, and the results o a nationalprogram to assess the achievement othese goals are discussed.

National developments in civics andcitizenship educationSince 2002 and the completion othe Commonwealths DiscoveringDemocracy program, the proleo civics and citizenship educationhas been signicantly enhanced bya number o developments at thenational and state/territory levels.These include the:

ormation o civics and citizenshipcurriculum outcome statements ineach educational jurisdiction

commencement o the NationalAssessment Program in Civics andCitizenship at Years 6 and 10, to beimplemented in a three-year cycle

publication o the Civics andCitizenship Assessment Domain

and associated Key PerormanceMeasures and Domain Descriptors

development o NationalStatements o Learning or Civicsand Citizenship.


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COMPAK2007 Issue 1 February

About the author

Suzanne Mellor, Senior Research Fellow, joinedACER in 1990 and has worked on national andinternational policy and survey research projects.Project management or ACER o civics and citizenshipprojects has included the 1998 report Whats the Point?Political Attitudes of Victorian Year 11 Students. Shemanaged the Australian component o the IEA CivicsEducation Study 19952002, and prepared the national

report. In 200003 she conducted the evaluation othe Victorian Discovering DemocracyProessionalDevelopment Program. In 200306 she managed theinaugural National Sample Assessment in Civics andCitizenship o Year 6 and 10 students in 600 schools inAustralia.

National Civics and CitizenshipAssessment DomainIn 2003 the MCEETYA Civics andCitizenship Assessment Domain wasreleased. This was developed as parto a national plan to assess and reporton student achievement against theNational Goals or Schooling in theTwenty-rst Century.

The national Civics and CitizenshipAssessment Domain has a Year 6 andYear 10 component, each consisting othree levels:

1 two Key Perormance Measures(the KPMs)

2 Domain Descriptors

3 Proessional Elaboration.

The two KPMs are:

KPM 1: CivicsKnowledge andUnderstanding o Civic Institutionsand Processes

KPM 2: CitizenshipDispositionsand Skills or Participation.

Domain Descriptors were writtenor both KPMs or Years 6 and 10.(The Year 10 descriptors or both

KPMs are listed on the next page).The Proessional Elaboration

expands on the Domain Descriptors othe Assessment Domain. It elaborateson and contextualises the knowledge,understandings, dispositions andskills that students will be required todemonstrate in the assessment.

The Civics and CitizenshipAssessment Domain is availableat . Additional inormation

about the National AssessmentProgram can be ound on the Civicsand Citizenship Education website.Click on ForTeachersNationalAssessment.

National Statements of Learning forCivics and CitizenshipThe Statements o Learning orcivics and citizenship educationwere developed by MCEETYAand published in 2006. They are

the result o collaborative work byAustralian education jurisdictionsto achieve greater consistency incurriculum across Australia. Thestatements set out the knowledge,

skills, understandings and capacitiesthat students in Australia should havethe opportunity to learn and develop

in the Civics and Citizenship nationaldomain. Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 havebeen designated as the junctures atwhich opportunities to develop civicsand citizenship knowledge, skills,understanding and capacities existin the curriculum in the respectivejurisdictions. For each level oschooling, the statements are groupedby aspectsnamely Government andLaw, Citizenship in a Democracy,and Historical Perspectives.

The statements are not acurriculum in itsel, but rather aseries o statements about essentialopportunities to learn in this particulardomain, which state educationjurisdictions have agreed to implementin their own curriculum documents,as these come due or review. Assuch, these documents are primarilyintended or curriculum developers.

Further inormation about theStatements o Learning can be oundat .Click onForTeachersStatementsof Learning for Civics and Citizenship.

Key features of civics andcitizenship educationA key eature o civics and citizenshipeducation is its interconnectedness.Evaluations o eective civics andcitizenship education programsindicate that a whole-school approachproduces the best learning outcomes.See Discovering Democracy inAction: Implementing the Program(Department o Education andTraining, Victoria, 2004) or adviceon whole-school practice and policy

development in relation to civics andcitizenship education (available inPDF orm at .

What is the dierence between civicsand citizenship learning outcomes?Civics and citizenship are twodistinct cognitive areas. The two KeyPerormance Measures used in theNational Assessment ProgramKPM1(Civics) and KPM2 (Citizenship)correspond to the two dimensions inthe Civics and Citizenship domain

o the Victorian Essential LearningStandards (VELS): Civic knowledgeand understanding and Communityengagement.

In short, civics relates to civicknowledge and citizenship isdispositional (attitudes, values,dispositions and skills). Interpretationlies at the heart o civics andcitizenship education, and programsmust allow or students to develop andpractise this competency.

Civics is the more dened o the

two. It can be dened as the studyof Australian democracy, its history,traditions, structures and processes;our democratic culture; the waysAustralian society is managed, bywhom and to what end. Even thissimple denition indicates there arecontested areas to be encountered inthe teaching and learning o civics.

On the other hand, citizenship isthe development of the skills, attitudes,beliefs and values that will predisposestudents to participate, to become

and remain engaged and involved inthat society/culture/democracy. Theseconstitute a rich and complex set o


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f e a t u r e

understandings, based on both civicknowledge and attitudes or values.They also reerence the provisiono opportunity to practise civiccompetencies, is required or eectivecitizenship education. Without bothcivic knowledge as dened above anda disposition to engagement, a person

cannot demonstrate the requiredcitizenship skills or eectively practisecitizenship.

Is Civics and Citizenship a subject?The short answer is no. Becauseteaching civics and citizenship willgenerate learning outcomes that relateto a range o issues and skills, it canbe meaningully connected to anylearning area. It is possible to have civicsand citizenship learning outcomes builtinto all curricular and extracurricular

activities and programs in schools.All jurisdictions have civics andcitizenship learning outcomes listedin their curriculum documents. InVictoria, Civics and Citizenshipis a domain within the Physical,

Personal and Social Learning strando VELSit is not a discipline withinthe Discipline-based Learning strand.In addition, the Physical, Personal andSocial Learning strand is one o threeequally valued and interwoven strandso VELS, emphasising the importanceo whole-school approaches.

MCEETYA National AssessmentProgram: Years 6 and 10In 2003, ACER was contracted byMCEETYA to conduct the assessmento a national sample o more than20 000 Australian Year 6 and Year 10students in approximately 600 schoolsin 2004. The assessment comprisedmultiple-choice and open-endedresponse questions on concepts suchas the rationale or the citizenshippledge, social responsibility, basic

historical and political acts and theimpact o infuencing actors such asthe media on democracy. The NationalAssessment Program: Civics andCitizenship Years 6 and 10 Reportwasreleased in late December 2006.

Key fndingsStudent profciency in civic knowledge and

citizenship skills

The report provides and analysesthe results o the 2004 nationwideassessment o civics and citizenshipknowledge o Year 6 and Year 10students and maps the achievementlevels demonstrated by students andtheir understanding o the testedconcepts.

Thereport ound that youngAustralians seemed to appreciatetheir democracy, but their level oknowledge and understanding o civicsand citizenship was less than wasexpected by a range o experts in theeld. These experts set the prociencystandards or Years 6 and 10, aterconsiderable examination o thestudent achievement data and the scalethat had been developed.

The report (page xii) describes theprociency standards in the ollowingway:

The prociency standard is a level operormance that would be expectedor a student at that year level.Students needed to demonstrate morethan minimal or elementary skillsto be regarded as having reached aprocient standard. The ProcientStandard or Year 6 was set atProciency Level 2 and or Year 10at Prociency Level 3.

Students who achieved atProciency Level 2 were able todemonstrate accurate responsesto relatively simple civics andcitizenship concepts or issues, withlimited interpretation or reasoning.They could, or example, identiy

more than one basic eature odemocracy or democratic process,have basic understandings o citizenstaxation and/or civic responsibilities,and recognise tensions betweendemocratic rights and private actions.

Students who achieved atProciency Level 3 were able todemonstrate comparatively preciseand detailed actual responses tocomplex civics and citizenshipconcepts or issues, and someinterpretation o inormation. Theycould, or example, identiy the

historical event remembered onAnzac Day, clearly understand themechanisms and importance o secretballot, and understand the generaleect o sanctions in internationalagreements.

MCEETYA PMRT CiviCs And CiTizEnshiP AssEssMEnT doMAin FoR

YEAR 10: doMAin dEsCRiPToRs FoR EACh KPM

The Year 10 Civics and Citizenship KPMs assume the Year 6 KPMs have already beenachieved by students.

KPM 1: CivicsKnowledge and Understanding of Civic Institutions and Processes

Within secondary schooling this KPM expects that students can:

10.1 Recognise that perspectives on Australian democratic ideas and civic institutionsvary and change over time.

10.2 Understand the ways in which the Australian Constitution impacts on the lives ofAustralian citizens.

10.3 Understand the role of law-making and governance in Australias democratictradition.

10.4 Understand the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a range of contexts.

10.5 Analyse how Australias ethnic and cultural diversity contribute to Australiandemocracy, identity and social cohesion.

10.6 Analyse Australias role as a nation in the global community.

KPM 2: Citizenship: Dispositions and Skills for Participation

Within secondary schooling this KPM expects that students can:

10.7 Understand that citizens require certain knowledge, skills and dispositions toparticipate effectively in democratic political and civic action.

10.8 Analyse the role of a critical citizenry in Australias democracy.

10.9 Analyse the relationship between democratic values and social justice as animportant aspect of Australias democratic tradition.

10.10 Analyse the reasons Australians make choices about participating in political andcivic processes.

Source: www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=9015


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COMPAK2007 Issue 1 February

Hal o Year 6 students and 39per cent o Year 10 students met theprociency standards in Australian

civics and citizenship knowledge, asdened or their respective years.

Students lacked knowledge o keyinormation about national eventsand nationally representative symbols.Students also notably struggled withthe concept o the common goodstrategies that reer to how individualscan infuence systems or the benet osociety. They either didnt understandit, didnt believe in it, or couldnt seehow they could exercise it.

According to ACER CEO ProessorGeo Masters:

The results o this assessment

indicate a need or a greater emphasis

on civics and citizenship education

in schools. It is important that

Australian students develop a sound

understanding o how Australias

government and democracy work in

order to participate ully in society.

Two o the ndings that surprisedthe experts and researchers involvedAustralian history. Only 16 per cento Year 6 students and 23 per cent oYear 10 students could correctly namethe event commemorated on AustraliaDay. Further, only 17 per cent o Year6 and 27 per cent o Year 10 studentscould articulate why Australia Daywas sometimes called Invasion Day.

Students also struggled to explainthe signicance o iconic symbols andevents such as aspects o the Australianfag and ANZAC Day. The role o theGovernor-General provided anotherstumbling block with only 7% per cento Year 6 students and 23% o Year10 students able to correctly identiyocial vice-regal duties. The reportsauthors suggested that more targetedteaching is required i students are tolearn about these things.

While the researchers and theexperts rom state and territoryeducation authorities were somewhatsurprised and disappointed at theresults, they recognised that studentscould not have been expected to

achieve the relevant prociencystandard i they have not hadany ormal, consistent curricularinstruction in civics and citizenship.

Despite the concerns about therelatively low levels o achievement,

one o the most encouraging aspectswas the act that some students wereable to achieve at higher levels than

had been expected. It is not possibleto know whether this was a result oparticular teaching or lie experiences,but the specicity o knowledge andcomplexity o response required (asdemonstrated by the item responsedescriptors) suggests that well-taughtstudents can indeed achieve wellbeyond the expected prociency incivics and citizenship.

The data collected in theNational Civics and CitizenshipSample Assessment in Civics aretaken to be the base rom whichuture measurement o growth instudent achievement in this areawill be constructed. SubsequentNational Civics and CitizenshipSample Assessments may show animprovement in student perormancei students receive more consistentinstruction in civics and citizenshipand i teachers receive qualityproessional development to assistthem to maximise the value ocurriculum support programs such asDiscovering Democracy.

Student participation in civics and

citizenship activities outside school

According to the National AssessmentProgram report, watching the news ontelevision was the most requent civic-related activity outside school, withour out o ve students watching thenews at least once a week.

Listening to the news on the radioand reading about current eventsin newspapers were less requentactivities, with three out o vestudents listening to the news andone-hal o the students reading aboutcurrent events at least once a week.One-third o the students talkedabout political and social issues withtheir amily at least once per week.All o these civic activities were morerequent or Year 10 students thanYear 6 students.

According to students,opportunities existed in most schools

or students to participate in decision-making and school governanceactivities. More than our-ths o thestudents (including nine out o 10 othe Year 10 students) indicated thattheir school provided an opportunity

or students to be represented onstudent councils and that studentrepresentatives could contribute to

decision-making.More than our-ths o the Year 6

students, and two-thirds o the Year 10students, indicated that at school theyhad learned about governance, theimportance o voting in elections andhow to represent other students, andwere interested in how their schoolworked. Furthermore, more than nine-tenths o the students agreed that theyhad learned to work cooperativelywith other students and to understandpeople who had ideas that are dierentrom their own.

Participation in out-o-schoolcivic-related activities appeared tohave a moderate contribution to civicsachievement among Year 10 students.Specically, requent engagement intalking about politics and social issueswith amily was quite strongly relatedto civics achievement.

Future assessments o civics andcitizenship educationThe program o national assessments isongoing and assessments will be heldevery three years. ACER will conductthe next phase o the MCEETYANational Assessment Program: Civicsand Citizenship in 2007. Preparationwork is under way or the 2007assessment, which will involve asample o around 14 000 students atYear 6 and Year 10 levels in over 600schools. Ater the student achievementdata rom the 2007 assessmentare analysed it will be possible todetermine whether improvement hasbeen made since 2004.

Further inormationThe National Assessment Program:Civics and Citizenship Years 6 and 10Reportis available on the MCEETYAwebsite .

Curriculum resourcesA wide range o curriculum resourcessuitable or secondary courses

incorporating civics and citizenshiptopics and details about nationalactivities can be ound on the Civicsand Citizenship Education website.

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State of Nation