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Citizenship Education Activities and Youth Political Attitudes: an Experiment in Diverse Secondary Schools in Brussels

par Lebrun, Robin
Président du jury Close, Caroline
Promoteur Van Haute, Emilie ;Caluwaerts, Didier DC
Publication Non publié, 2022-05-18

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

There is an exponential interest for initiatives concerning citizenship education activities in democracies, often designed in response to a decline in voter turnout and interest in politics. These activities are likely to — and often aim to — affect young people's political attitudes, which eventually influence individuals' long-term political engagement. It is established that citizenship education may change the levels of political interest, trust, and efficacy of the young people, depending on the type of content of the activity. However, the literature is still incomplete — and sometimes inconsistent — on the effects of an ever-increasing diversity of educational activities. Furthermore, little is known about the existence of differentiated effects of citizenship education activities depending on the characteristics of the pupils. A latent question is whether citizenship education can compensate young people's existing political inequalities.This dissertation analyzes the variation in young people's political attitudes during participation in the citizenship education activity "Jeunes & Politiek" organized between November 2018 and May 2019. This project involved 1200 pupils from 24 secondary schools (French- and Dutch-speaking) in the Brussels-Capital Region (quota based on the socio-economic characteristics of the schools). In the run-up to the Brussels regional elections in May 2019, these first-time voters pupils were asked to (1) learn about, (2) discuss with politicians, and (3) express a public opinion about a political issue assigned to them. A quasi-experimental panel design with a baseline group was set up to measure the effects of the "Jeunes & Politiek" activities before and after each phase of the activity, as well as one year after the end of the activity (5 waves in total). The evolutions of the participants' political attitudes were analyzed using linear mixed methods based on the different phases of the project — each mobilizing a distinct type of activity — as well as according to the characteristics of the individuals (socio-economic status, political predispositions, and perception of the educational environment). Results confirmed the existence of differentiated effects depending on the activities, with positive impacts on pupils' political interest and efficacy, while both positive and negative effects are found for pupils' political trust. The effects also vary according to participants' background and confirm that citizenship education may compensate for pupils' political inequalities.