ABOUT BOOK

This chapter explores inequalities in access to civic learning opportunities in high school. Civic education is conceived of in a broad sense and may include school councils, an open classroom environment, debating clubs, and formal citizenship education. We review the literature on accessing citizenship education in schools across the world. While the existing literature is able to give an initial indication of patterns in access, gaps in the evidence base emerge. This chapter begins to fill some of these gaps with a new analysis of data from two major international surveys on civic education: CIVED and ICCS. We explore whether different models of civic learning are in a competitive, trade-off relationship; how different opportunities relate to civic outcomes; whether there are inequalities in access to civic learning based on a knowledge acquisition model; and whether inequalities in access to civic learning opportunities have changed over time. Our findings suggest that participatory learning opportunities are more strongly associated with certain civic and political engagement outcomes than a knowledge acquisition approach to learning, but that these approaches are not in a trade-off relationship. We discuss our findings with a focus on the practical implications for teachers and researchers of civic education.