Young people’s citizenship activities at and beyond school – exploring a new theoretical framework with empirical data from a rural community in Germany

Figures & data

Figure 1. Proposed definition of citizenship activities.

Table 1. Proposed framework of emerging and traditional citizenship contexts.

Traditional citizenship contexts		Emerging citizenship contexts
National	↔	Glocal
Citizenship activities that address national issues and/or are carried out at a national level Example: watch parliamentary debates		Citizenship activities that address local regional, global or glocal issues and/or are carried out at a local, regional, global or local level, including at school, in the community and online Examples: collect rubbish in the local community, organise an anti-discrimination event at school
Offline	↔	Online
Citizenship activities done without the use of online tools and that do not take place in online spaces are offline Examples: attend a face-to-face community meeting, collecting rubbish in the community		Online can be a space for (on Instagram, on YouTube) or mode of (accessing political information through online media) citizenship activities Examples: follow politicians on Instagram, discuss issues below YouTube videos
Official	↔	Unofficial
Citizenship activities that are directly supported, driven, or invited by the state are official Includes citizenship activities at school that are formally invited by the state Examples: take part in formal school assembly meetings, volunteer at red cross (funded by state)		Any citizenship activity that is not directly supported, driven, or invited by the state is unofficial. The state involves national, regional and local state authorities. Includes citizenship activities, initiated by school members that are not formally intended by the state Examples: participate in a protest, raise money for a sport club
Collective	↔	Individual
Collective citizenship activities are carried out as a group of at least one other person It can include initiating an activity with others or participating in an activity with others Examples: complain about a teacher with your class, take part in a protest		Individual citizenship activities are carried out alone (usually so one does not have to adjust one’s ideals to fit collective values) Individual participation, however, often includes dealing with collective issues such as climate change Examples: sign a petition, follow politicians online
System-based	↔	Issues-based
System-based citizenship activities are not centred around an issue or event but rather around membership in organisations Examples: teach gymnastics to kids, work as student rep		Issues-based citizenship activities focus on issues or events Examples: watch YouTube videos about political issues, don’t eat meat
Personally-responsible/ Participatory	↔	Justice-oriented^4
Personally-responsible/ participatory citizenship activities do not aim for or deal with systematic change but are rather geared towards helping without addressing the root causes Personally-responsible/ participatory citizenship activities may also aim for self-improvement such as accessing political information Examples: collect rubbish in the local community, go shopping for elderly		Justice-oriented citizenship activities aim at initiating or participating in demanding systematic change individually or as a collective Systematic change = change of laws and regulations (not just regarding state but also school) or change of discourse (homophobia, racism) Justice-oriented activities may include refusing to do things, preventing laws and regulations, raising awareness, and making consumer choices Examples: buy fair-trade products, protest
Regular	↔	Sporadic
Regular citizenship activities happen at regular intervals (often, every week, every fortnight, in regular intervals, for a longer time span) and are often based on a commitment to something like being a member in a club Examples: youth council member in the music club, attend regular student council meetings		Sporadic citizenship activities happen at irregular intervals (once, once a year, sometimes, when an issue appears, during a project, intermittent, until something is resolved, for an event) Examples: help at Christmas school service with school band, buy organic products sometimes

Table 2. Profile of questionnaire participants.

Characteristic	%
Male	51
Female	42
Non-binary	2
13 years old	15
14 years old	30
15 years old	31
16 years old	21
School Year 8	41
School Year 9	34
School Year 10	25
Perceived socio-economic status 3–5	19
Perceived socio-economic status 5.5–7.5	57
Perceived socio-economic status 8–10	21
Small rural towns	32
Rural villages	61
Very interested in politics	9
Quite interested in politics	20
Hardly interested in politics	62
Not at all interested in politics	10

Table 3. Coding excerpt from focus group data.

Code/ citizenship activity	Participant quotation	Online	Offline	Unofficial	Official	Individual	Collective	Justice-oriented	Personally-responsible Participatory	Issues-based	System-based	Glocal	National	Sporadic	Regular
Attend local council meeting	Bruno, Y9: I was at a local council meeting once. JS: Did you go there with someone you knew? Bruno: My father	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	0

Figure 2. Questionnaire participants’ uptake of emerging and traditional citizenship contexts.

Figure 3. Focus group participants’ uptake of emerging and traditional citizenship contexts.

Table 4. Excerpts from data on glocal citizenship contexts.

Themes	Focus group and questionnaire quotes
School	Milena, Y8: ‘...we were separated in Year 7 into the new subject options. So, I wrote a letter with the class to the principal that it should be organised differently...’
Local community	Ava, Y8: ‘...since Corona, I've been doing shopping for the old people in our village.’
Global	Emil, Y9: ‘...if I see a fair-trade version of the product I want to buy, then I prefer to buy fair-trade because then I've done something good...’

Table 5. Data excerpts on unofficial citizenship spaces.

Themes	Focus group and questionnaire quotes
School: form class, extracurriculars & events	Tilbert, Y9: ‘We supervised the new Year 5s during open day and showed them the different rooms.’
Community: clubs, church & events	Lotta, Y8: ‘I'm in the community music club, we had several performances before Covid, including charity concerts. I also took part in the annual litter pick...’
Online: social media, online gaming, news sites & chatrooms	Milena, Y8: ‘...when BlackLivesMatter happened, I put something about it in my story just to spread it around a bit … that was on Instagram … I just said that people should share that.’
Familiar spaces: supermarket, at home & peer groups	Maxi, Y10: ‘My family and I don't buy anything with palm oil or that is factory farmed. And mostly only organic. Because we believe that those who can afford it should do so.’

Table 6. Excerpts from data on sporadic contexts.

Themes	Focus group and questionnaire quotes
Sometimes	Manuel, Y9: ‘...sometimes I watch parliamentary debates...’
Once	Louisa, Y9: ‘I donated my hair. So they make the wigs out of real hair and they then pass them on to a cancer ward...’
Once a year	Hanna, Y8: ‘We had a community club in Kinkenraden. And sometimes, I think every year in summer there is an event … we used to have a stall there as a club and sold things there.’
For a while	Constantin, Y10: ‘During my confirmation lessons I helped every now and then with day events for children...’

Table 7. Excerpts from questionnaire and focus group data on issues-based context.

Themes	Focus group and questionnaire quotes
Environment: climate change, resources, rubbish	Katja, Y8: ‘... I tend to buy organic. So whenever I’m in front of the egg shelf, I make sure that they’re organic or there’s an organic label on it because then I also feel more comfortable when I buy it.’
Human & animal rights: poverty, racism, LTBTQ, sexism, animal cruelty	Helena, Y9: ‘I support the LGBTQ+ community and often have discussions with people who say that LGBTQ+ is not good, the same with the headscarf ban, racism etc.’
Children & elderly: events, projects, helping, mental wellbeing	Patricia, Y9: ‘I help with children's Bible days that are held every year … I look after the children for 3 days.’
Community & school resources: club and school funding, beautifying school & community	Mika, Y10: ‘I helped with the graffiti in the science rooms...’
School issues: teachers, digitalisation, school changes	Finn, Y8: ‘...IT was an option subject and, because our teacher is sick so often, we never have IT and I'll definitely get on to the teachers from time to time and ask if we can have a substitute teacher because it's really stupid that we haven't had IT for 8 weeks...’
Political & social topics: elections, data protection, right wing extremism, Covid	Jens, Y9: ‘I often take part in online petitions if I'm interested, for example I signed something against Article 13...’