Tuesday, June 25, 2013
2.13 (Binnengasthuis)
Although education is recognized as an important institution for political socialization, little is known about the impact of the educational system on civic outcomes of students. Some evidence has been given that more strongly tracked educational systems are related to larger differences between education groups in their civic and political engagement. Such differences are in conflict with a justice criterion of democratic equality. However, little is known whether this relationship between tracking and inequality in civic engagement is causal. Does a strongly tracked educational system indeed magnify differences in civic engagement? In this study the impact of tracking and vocational orientation is examined using a difference-in-difference design, comparing 22 mostly European countries. Following a design similar to Hanushek and Wössmann (2005) we combine cross-sectional data collected among fourteen-year-olds (Civic Education survey 1998, CIVED) and among young adults of the same birth cohort (ISSP 2004-2008). It is examined whether the dispersion (i.e. inequality) in civic engagement is more strongly increased in countries with a more strongly stratified educational system, and with lower participation rates in higher education, than in countries with comprehensive schooling and higher participation rates in higher education.
