Teachers’ concepts of good citizenship and associations with their teaching styles

Abstract

Teachers are key agents in the political socialisation of adolescents. Therefore, knowledge about teachers’ beliefs concerning citizenship is essential, as these beliefs likely relate to how educators socialise young people via preferred modes of teaching. Studying the link between teachers’ citizenship norms and associated teaching styles can inform us about how to improve citizenship education in schools. The authors use the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study data, relying on the unique Teacher Survey conducted in Flanders (n = 1983) using multilevel latent class analysis. They identify five profiles of teachers’ concepts of good citizenship. These profiles are further correlated with goals of citizenship education emphasised by teachers as well as the sources and activities used to teach civics in the classroom. The results suggest that teachers can be seen as instructional gatekeepers, with teachers supporting more engaged and all-around norms of citizenship more frequently implementing active teaching styles.