OECD Education Working Papers
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies drawing on the work of the OECD Directorate for Education. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language (English or French) with a short summary available in the other.
- ISSN: 19939019 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/19939019
Education and Civic Engagement
Review of Research and a Study on Norwegian Youths
What difference does education make for young adults' engagement in politics and social issues? This
study is part of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) project on
"Measuring the Social Outcomes of Learning" (SOL). It discusses relevant international research, with
special attention to studies in the Nordic countries, and analyses survey responses by more than
11 000 Norwegian youths aged 13 to 19. "Engagement" is defined as youth's declared interest in politics
and social issues and by their participation in various forms of political activity. Educational performance
and especially educational aspirations matter for this type of engagement. Socialisation in family
environments with regard to civic related issues, however, matters even more for taking interest in such
types of civic engagement. It also seems that young people experience educational benefits from growing
up in families who care about the civic domain. Separately, the findings suggest that young people who are
politically active do not easily conform to the status quo. Rather, they confront the authority structures of
their schools more often than other young people do. The paper concludes with suggestions for policy and
research.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 961.49KBPDF
-
Click to Read online and shareREAD