School systems, segregation and civic competence

Germ Janmaat

LLAKES International Conference, Birkbeck, London

5-6 July 2010

Research questions

What are the links between ability grouping, segregation and civic competences?

• Is ability grouping associated with greater disparities of civic competences?

• Is ability grouping associated with high levels of social and ethnic school segregation?

• Is ability grouping intensifying the effect of school social and ethnic composition on civic competences?

Why these research questions?

• Academia has disregarded disparities of civic competences; yet these are likely to be of interest for policy makers;

• Ability grouping may enhance disparities of civic competences across schools through curriculum differences and different teacher expectations;

• Ability grouping has been linked with social and ethnic segregation because of the close relation between social and ethnic background and achievement;

• In countries with the highest level of school social segregation the effect of social composition on achievement is greatest (OECD 2002; Green et al 2006)

But does the latter also apply for civic competences?

What are civic competences?

A comprehensive, multidimensional collection of qualities consisting of:

- Civic knowledge and skills (cognitive component)- Civic attitudes (normative component)- Participation (behavioural component)

Are attitudes and participation responding in the same way to school conditions as knowledge and skills?

Data sourcesData: • Green et al’s (2006) classification of countries regarding grouping by ability in lower secondary (LS):

- Nordic states: full comprehensive systems with strict mixed ability classes;

- Southern Europe: centralised comprehensive systems with some streaming;

- English-speaking states: incomplete comprehensive system with widespread streaming and setting; - the “German”-speaking states: early selection systems with stratified

LS schools• IEA Civic Education Study (1999) to explore civic competences• Analysis on 13 states

Methods:Multilevel analysis with cross-level interaction effects

Civic competence outcomesFour outcomes:

Cognitive component:- Civic knowledge and skills (scale based on 38 test items)

Normative component:- Interpersonal trust (single item tapping trust in compatriots)- Ethnic tolerance (scale based on 5 items on immigrants)

Behavioural component:- Civic participation (composite index based on 15 items on

participation in various organizations)

Methods

• Intra Class Correlation coefficient to assess disparities of civic competences and levels of social and ethnic segregation

• Multilevel analysis using SPSS mixed methods option to assess individual and classroom effects

Results 1: Cross classroom disparities in civic competences (ICCs)

Full compre-hensive

Centralized Incomplete compre-hensive

Earlyselection

Civic knowledge and skills

.12 .30 .24 .37

Ethnic tolerance .14 .08 .11 .17

Civic participation .12 .29 .09 .12

Interpersonal trust .03 .13 .07 .03

Results 2: Classroom social and ethnic segregation

Social segregation: (ICC)

Ethnic segregation: (ICC)

Denmark .05 .05Finland .06 .11Norway .07 .06Sweden .18 .17Full comprehensive .11 .14

Greece .10 -*Italy .18 .12Portugal .20 -*Centralized .18 .19

Australia .07 .10England .13 .09United States .16 .12Incomplete comprehensive

.15 .11

Belgium (French) .18 .09Germany .21 .10Switzerland .16 .10Early selection .19 .11

Results 3: Effects of classroom social and ethnic composition on civic competences (controlling for other individual and classroom level effects)

Civic knowledge and skills

Ethnic tolerance

Trust in compatriots

Civic participation

Full compr Social composition - ++Ethnic composition -- ++ - ++

Centralized Social composition ++ --Ethnic composition -- -- --

Incomplete Social composition ++ - +Ethnic composition +

Early selection

Social composition ++ + -- ++Ethnic composition ++

Conclusions

• Results are as expected for social segregation and civic knowledge and skills (CKS): the more grouping by ability, the more segregation, the greater the disparities of CKS and the greater the effect of social composition on CKS

• Results are not in line with expectation for ethnic segregation and the attitudinal and behavioural component of civic competences. Why not?– Ethnic segregation may depend more on residential segregation in

combination with strict catchment areas;– Pupils in lower status tracks may be unaware of the disadvantaged

position they find themselves in; by contrast pupils in mixed ability classes may be much more aware of inequalities;

• One thing is certain: civic competences are a diverse set of qualities