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Contribution to Book
Assessing the intended participation of young adolescents as future citizens
World education research yearbook 2015 (2015)
  • John Ainley, ACER
  • Wolfram Schulz, ACER
  • Julian Fraillon, ACER
Abstract
In many Western countries there is concern about the level of participation of their citizens in civic life and the apparent lack of interest and involvement among young people in public and political life (Curtice & Seyd, 2003). The development of knowledge, understanding, skills, and dispositions that prepare young people to comprehend the world, hold productive employment, and be informed active citizens are among the characteristics that educational systems, schools, and teachers value and attempt to foster. However, countries vary in the status accorded to civic and citizenship education as part of school education and the relative importance of developing the knowledge and understanding of civic principles and dispositions to participate as citizens in society. The research presented in this chapter is concerned with aspects of civic and citizenship education of particular relevance in the East Asian region. It focuses on five education systems that participated in the IEA Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009): Chinese Taipei, the Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, and Thailand. Although these countries differ considerably with regard to cultural background (three have strong Confucian heritages, one has an Islamic heritage, and the other has a Buddhist tradition), their economic development, and their political structures, scholars have emphasized a number of common characteristics of citizenship education across the region. This chapter focuses specifically on two attitudes that were measured by questions duded in the Asian regional questionnaire and are related to perceptions of political leadership and public office: (1) students' views of the importance of morality for being a political leader; and (2) their attitudes toward the use of connections for holding public office. It explores the extent and variation of these attitudes across the five participating countries in the Asian region, which variables explain variation in these attitudes within these countries, as well as to what extent they are related to expectations of future participation as an adult.
Keywords
  • Asia,
  • Chinese Taipei,
  • East Asia,
  • Hong Kong,
  • Indonesia,
  • Korea,
  • Thailand,
  • Public officials,
  • Politicians,
  • Young people,
  • Attitudes,
  • Citizenship,
  • Civics,
  • Participation
Publication Date
2015
Editor
Lori Diane Hill and Felice J Levine
Publisher
Routledge
ISBN
9781138797123
Citation Information
John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz and Julian Fraillon. "Assessing the intended participation of young adolescents as future citizens" New YorkWorld education research yearbook 2015 (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_ainley/174/