Working paper 2014/3
Inequalities in Youth Citizenship Knowledge and Attitudes:Does Cognitive Classroom Composition Matter?
Authors: Bram B. F. Eidhof, Geert T.M. ten Dam, Anne Bert Dijkstra and Herman G. van de Werfhorst
Bron: website UvA
Inequalities in Youth Citizenship Knowledge and Attitudes
Does Cognitive Classroom Composition Matter?
Amidst worries about growing inequalities in citizenship competences of younger generations, policymakers increasingly call on education to equip students for functioning in a democratic society. The degree to which teachers may address inequalities in citizenship outcomes of their students, may depend on the cognitive composition of the classroom, however. Here, we investigate to what degree cognitive peer characteristics are associated with citizenship knowledge and citizenship attitudes in primary education. Our findings suggest that particularly low language ability students benefit from being surrounded with classroom peers that display both variation in and high average levels of cognitive ability for the acquisition of citizenship knowledge.
Image credits
Icon image: Fotograaf: Edwin van Eis. Fiep Westendorpschool, uit fotobank Gemeente Amsterdam