Contemplating modes of assessing citizenship competences

Abstract

Assessment of citizenship competences has become common practice following the statutory assignment of citizenship education to schools in many countries. Assessment can serve various goals. The suitability of various types of instruments depends on the alignment with the goals intended. In this paper we evaluate four types of instruments and their suitability to assess citizenship competences. Tests and questionnaires, portfolios, game-based assessment, and vignettes are each evaluated in terms of seven attributes relevant to instruments aiming to assess students' citizenship competences. Our results indicate no single type of instrument aligns with all attributes, and expanding the range of available instruments appears the best way forward so that educators and researchers can make a choice that fits their purpose. The analysis presented provides further insight into the strengths and weaknesses of particular assessment types.

Assessing young people’s citizenship attitudes using rubrics

“…Several instruments are available in the form of various large-scale standardized surveys measuring citizenship attitudes for descriptive purposes. However this hardly, or not at all, applies to instruments focusing on facilitating student learning (Daas et al, 2016). This study has shown a rubrics-based approach could make a contribution in this respect.…”

“…However, they are generally not asked why they make a certain choice. This means that their underlying beliefs or arguments are difficult to assess with such instruments (Daas, Ten Dam, & Dijkstra, 2016;cf. Duckworth & Yeager, 2015).…”

Social citizenship competences of primary school students: does socio-ethnic diversity in the classroom matter?

“…Moreover, they measure students' citizenship skills by means of self-perception questionnaires, which are sensible for social desirability (Daas, ten Dam, and Dijkstra 2016;Ledoux, Meijer, van der Veen, Breetvelt, ten Dam, and Volman 2013) and overor underestimation of students (Ledoux et al 2013). This causes that the way in which students perceive themselves is not always a good representation of their actual citizenship skills.…”

All things considered: The views of adolescents in vocational education on competing democratic values

“…Firstly, studies often have a quantitative design, measuring views through surveys asking respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree with a set of statements using a Likert scale. These measures do not provide adolescents the opportunity to verbalize their reasoning processes, restricting insights into the motivations of adolescents for selecting a particular response (Daas et al, 2016). Secondly, most studies focus on adolescents' support for each democratic value in isolation, which does not provide insight into their views on situations in which values are competing (Kranendonk et al, 2019).…”