Through civic education and social interactions at school, students are able to develop more or less political knowledge and trust in political institutions. Both precede intended electoral participation. However, it is disputed whether the relationship between political knowledge, trust, and intended participation is consistent across countries.…

Interactions within classrooms contribute to adolescents' democratic civic development by providing resources fostering students' political understanding. Many teachers participate in social or political groups in their communities and more broadly. These out-of-school experiences inform their classroom practices and are contextualized by national…

Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, councils involving young people have become widespread, both in developed and developing countries. However, these councils are said to reflect the hierarchical nature of parliamentary and representative democracy, leading to tokenistic…

Both direct and indirect influences have been assumed to impact the transmission of political orientations within families. A lower socioeconomic status is related to lower intended political participation of adolescents. Within this context, schools play a crucial role in political socialisation, as citizenship education is assumed to either…

Teaching history in schools can be a significant policy instrument for shaping the identities of future citizens. The Danish curriculum for teaching history of 2009 aims at strengthening a sense of "Danishness" which calls for theoretical analysis. Focusing on this particular case, the paper develops a political theoretical frame for…

This article studies variance in the political participation of adolescents depending on achievement in civic education. The aim is to discover whether low achievers represent a distinctive pattern of political participation, and whether this varies across participation types (i.e. horizontally) and across current participation in school and…

In this paper we reflect on the challenges of engaging in social justice work within elite schools. Drawing on experiences collaborating with an elite school in a justice-oriented research project, we consider the theoretical resources that informed this work. We demonstrate how Freire's work has been critical in forming the kind of relations that…

Intercultural Policies and Education is concerned with educational challenges in multicultural societies. Educational policies, practices and strategies for fruitful coexistence in the multicultural school and classroom are explored and analysed through a collection of chapters designed and selected to provide readers with international,…

In the European context Active Citizenship has been promoted within the education and training Lisbon Strategy as a tool to support the continuation of democracy, human rights and greater social inclusion. In this article the authors analyse the impact of education on Active Citizenship and contribute to the existing debates relating to education…

The purpose of this article is to examine the connection between school democracy and a strong principalship. The point of departure is taken as the Danish Folkeskole, the aim being to extract some general trends from this Danish case. It is shown how international trends have influenced the Danish situation, making it possible to speak of a…

Many educational systems, like many public sectors, find themselves in the midst of rapid changes. In many cases, decentralisation is the order of the day, often alongside re-centralisation. The new relations between supra-national, national, local and organisational levels create novel conditions for leading schools and for establishing…

Reports on a comparative study of civic education in Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Australia, discussing educational policies, practices, and classroom climate. Explores adolescents' political attitudes and behaviors cross-nationally, specifically focusing on political interest, political efficacy, and…