Just world? The impact of young peoples’ perceptions of social inequalities in education on the learning of active citizenship Bryony Hoskins and John Preston LLAKES, Institute of Education

Inequalities & Social Cohesion ESRC LLAKES Centre  role of LLL promoting competitiveness and social cohesion Inequalities associated with social cohesion (national level) Individual actions which would benefit social cohesions: active citizenship, trust and tolerance Exploring the impact of inequalities on these behaviour Possible barriers to those actions;  Experiences of inequalities reduce self-efficacy/ alienation/ apathy  In unequal societies there is a perception that people get what they deserve 2

Inequalities & Social Cohesion Countries/cities: England, London: Denmark, Copenhagen: Germany, Frankfurt: France, Marseille and Singapore. Institutions: lower school (14), FE & 6 th form (16-18), Higher Education Instruments: Questionnaires/ England 550, other countries 450. Interviews and focus groups/ England 40, other countries 30. Creation of quantitative and qualitative databases for analysis 3

Introduction to just world paper Active citizenship crucial for democracy & social cohesion (legitimises it and holds it to account) Equality of participation But not just quantity but the quality of participation –E.g. BNP, EDL Active citizenship Participation in civil society, community and/or political life, characterised by mutual respect and non-violence and in accordance with human rights and democracy.

Theories of participation Rational choice Cost v benefit analysis e.g. voting Individual as agent Arrow, Downs & Olson Political cultural theory The search for a civic culture of a country Historical and political developments Almond & Verba Just world theory Post-hoc justification to devalue person unequally treated (lottery/ electric shocks) Conservative authoritarian attitude - limits need to act Limits of rationalisation Lerner, Duru Bellet

Data Source IEA 1999 CIVED study (follow-up 2009) 28 countries 3000 students/ country Grade 8 students in schools Tests knowledge and skills Attitude and values towards citizenship related topics

Perceptions of inequalities 4 questions on perceptions of fewer opportunities in education than other students: –Ethnic groups –Gender –Poor –Countryside 4 point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree Factor Analysis demonstrated single scale The Cronbach alphas

The Civic Competence Composite Indicator list of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values for active citizenship Used existing data from IEA CIVED Developed & used scales (using IRT) Factor analysis to decide upon dimensions

Civic Competence (CCCI) Social Justice (Values and attitudes) Participatory attitudes Cognition about democratic institutions POLATCONFSKNOWLSKILSSCON* Citizenship Values WOMRTMINORCOMMVOTECTCONCTSOCEFFICDEMR

Analysis Impact of perceptions of inequality of education on civic competence Step by step regression analysis Control variables have been entered in the model as dummy variables.

Effect of inequalities on CCCI CCCI Pinequal-0.010*-0.009* * Observations R-squared significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; * significant at 1%

Social Justice Social justice pinequal-0.020*-0.018* * * Observations R-squared significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; * significant at 1%

Cognition pinequal-0.015* *-0.013* * Observations R-squared significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; * significant at 1%

Intended Participation Parta pinequal0.002**-.001** Observations R-squared significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; * significant at 1%

Citizen Values Citizen values pinequal0.002* 0.003* 0 Observations R-squared significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; * significant at 1%

Conclusion The ‘just world’ can be considered a barrier to the learning of civic competence In particular a barrier to the learning of attitudes of social justice and cognition on democracy No relation towards intended participation or values towards citizenship behaviour Quality of participation effected

Education is important but how?

Barriers to the quality of participation i. Barriers: Perceived inequalities ii. Less ability & less support for social justice iii. Reduced quality of participation