Improving citizenship competences

Towards an output-driven approach in citizenship education

Abstract

Keywords: Citizenship education; Measuring citizenship competences; Output-driven approach; Data-use in education; Social outcomes of education

Highlights:

• Research on effective characteristics of citizenship education is still scarce.
• An output-driven approach may improve the effectiveness of citizenship education.
• We reflect on the feasibility of an output-driven approach to citizenship education.
• We conclude that such an approach seems feasible for citizenship education.
• Normativity and the availability and quality of measurement instruments need attention.

Purpose: Scholars are increasingly paying attention to the characteristics of effective citizenship education. The systematic use of data to maximise student learning, also called an output-driven approach, is often presented as a powerful predictor of student outcomes. However, its effectiveness has not been studied in citizenship education. Therefore, this paper aims to theoretically reflect on whether an output-driven approach is also feasible for citizenship education.

Methodology: We distinguish five building blocks of an output-driven approach and elaborate on their applicability in citizenship education. While doing so, we draw attention to the normative notion in citizenship education and the quality and availability of measurement instruments for citizenship competences. Both may challenge the application of an output-driven approach, particularly given the relatively young tradition of measuring citizenship competences.

Findings: We conclude that an output-driven approach in citizenship education seems feasible, provided that the characteristics of citizenship education are carefully considered.