Does civic education for young people increase political participation? A systematic review

Abstract

This paper uses established systematic and transparent methods to review the evidence for the effect of civic education on young people’s normative political participation. Extensive electronic searches were undertaken of social science and education databases. The searches yielded 6890 titles; both authors independently screened titles and abstracts to apply predefined inclusion criteria. Nine studies were included in the review. Given the heterogeneity of these studies, statistical pooling was not possible and a narrative analysis has been performed. The results indicate little evidence for civic education having a discernible or direct effect on voting or voter registration/enrolment. Some support was found for civic education increasing activities of political expression (e.g. signing a petition). The implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• civic education
• young people
• political participation
• voting
• citizenship
• systematic review

Notes

1. While qualitative studies could provide useful information about the relationship between civic education and political participation, qualitative research was not included in the review as it is not suited to investigating causal links generalisable to a broader population.

2. The authors are grateful to Kate Misso (Kleijnen Systematic Reviews) who provided expert searching advice.