Influence of teachers and schools on students' civic outcomes in Latin America

ABSTRACT

The authors investigated to what extent teachers' practices and school characteristics can influence students' civic knowledge, civic attitudes, and future participation in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico and how this can be related to their specific curricular structures and educational content. It uses data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. The results show that in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, teacher practices and attitudes relate to the civic outcomes. Although teachers' practices and attitudes significantly predict students' civic knowledge, this relationship does not seem relevant for students' expected participation and students' attitudes toward diversity. Still, the democratic environment of the school is a relevant variable in the case of expected participation of students and their attitudes toward diversity, which shows a possible indirect influence of teachers through the school environment. The results are discussed in relation to the civic education curriculum in place in the countries analyzed.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• civic education
• Latin America
• school environment
• teachers' practices

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council of Sciences and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT, Grant Number N° 163697) as part of the project “Civic engagement of secondary students in Mexico, Chile and Colombia,” and by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile (CONICYT, Grant Number N° 1120979), as part of the project “Leadership for educational improvement.”