Lower secondary school students' attitudes toward equality

The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) investigated outcomes and processes of civic and citizenship education in 2016 (Schulz et al, 2017) and 2009 (Schulz et al., 2010). In addition to investigating students' knowledge and understanding of civics and citizenship those studies also studied attitudes regarding the importance of various principles underlying societies and communities, attitudes that students hold toward civic institutions and society, and perceptions of civic groups, institutions, and sources of information. This article discusses ICCS results regarding students' attitudes to gender equality and equal rights for ethnic and racial groups. It describes the strength of these attitudes in 2016, changes since 2009, and associations with student characteristics, social interactions at home and factors related to civic learning at school. Results suggest generally strong endorsement of equal opportunities for males and females, as well as ethnic and racial groups, but with considerable variation across countries. Factors associated with civic learning, in particular civic knowledge, were positively associated with endorsement of equal opportunities. Furthermore, the findings suggest associations of these attitudes with school climate factors as well as background and engagement.