Comperative research project on civic education

The research project is part of an international study of civic education - The IEA Civic Education Project. The international study consists of two phases. In the first phase extensive documentary evidence have been collected to document what countries believe to be important for 14-year-olds to know about a wide range of civic and political topics. Among other documents it includes a set of summaries responding to the eighteen Case Study Framing Questions detailing their importance and basic information about civic education. Phase 2 is a test/survey administered to nationally representative samples of students in the grade in which majority of 14-year-olds are to be found. The test includes cognitive items, items that assess concepts, attitude items and items that include actions, practices and dispositions toward actions. The theoretical model guiding both phases presents a view of the civic education process as one in which the individual is embedded and involved with a series of face-to-face and more distant institutions.