Typology of student citizenship

Most of the empirical frameworks and theories concerned with the development of citizenship today are quite complex and only provide some guidance for what citizenship education should attend to; they do not provide insight into the actual citizenship of students. We constructed a typology of student citizenship, on the basis of data collected from students. Patterns of scores for the citizenship orientations and citizenship knowledge of students were examined, and four clearly interpretable profiles could be identified (committed citizenship, indifferent citizenship, ordinary citizenship and self-assured citizenship). A sample of 7,768 students from grades 5 to 9 (aged 11-16 years) from 38 primary and secondary education schools participated in this research. The typology was then cross-validated on a separate sample of 15,940 students from Dutch primary and secondary education schools. The types of the citizenship differed depending on the individual demographic characteristics of the students and their level of education. Implications of the typology for citizenship education and future research are discussed.