Emerging dimensions of young people’s citizenship activities and the role of citizenship education: a mixed-methods case study from a rural municipality in Germany

In this thesis I explore young people’s citizenship activities in a changing democracy and the role of citizenship education in shaping these activities. I share data from a mixed methods case study with Year 8-10 students and teachers from a rural secondary school in Germany, collected through eight researcher-led focus groups (n=26), four student-led focus groups (n=9), a student questionnaire (n=106) and teacher interviews (n=11). This thesis contributes, firstly, by exploring the range of young people’s citizenship activities at school and in their communities. Secondly, I propose a new framework for exploring citizenship activities in seven emerging dimensions including unofficial, individual, glocal, sporadic, online, issues-based, and justice-oriented. The proposed framework extends existing citizen typologies and taxonomies by characterising citizenship activities with overlapping citizenship dimensions to understand their nature in more detail. Thirdly, I contribute by adding empirical insights into rural young people’s experiences, often omitted in research on emerging citizenship. Finally, the thesis offers unique insights into the connection between citizenship education and young people’s uptake of citizenship activities, through the lens of the newly developed citizenship education subject (Gemeinschaftskunde) in secondary schools in the German state, Baden-Württemberg. Findings suggest that participants engaged in a wide range of citizenship spaces at their school including the form class, school-decisions, volunteering, service and activism, and within their communities including private, municipal, online, party politics and activism. Emerging citizenship dimensions , participants preferred, included glocal, unofficial, issues-based and sporadic. Regarding citizenship education, findings indicate that Gemeinschaftskunde has the potential to positively affect young people’s uptake of citizenship activities, particularly if lessons include gaining political knowledge, learning participatory skills and learning about current issues. Furthermore, there is a positive effect on citizenship uptake of using pedagogical approaches that allow student agency, raise interest, enable active learning, and fostering a democratic classroom climate.