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In view of the serious moral decay in South African society, this article reports on our research regarding the role of the school in the inculcation of citizenship values (as part of the brief of South African education). We regard a set of citizenship values consonant with a democratic dispensation to be a core component of a moral order essential for South Africa. Using a combination of interpretive-constructivist and comparative approaches, we examine and evaluate the experiences of other post-conflict societies in using education to inculcate citizenship values. We conclude that schools can be successful with respect to the inculcation of citizenship values, provided that the curriculum itself does not discriminate against any group or category of people. Desegregation can only be beneficial in the absence of negative depiction (including criminalisation) or the unequal treatment of any particular societal grouping. Our research suggests that active citizenship education is needed in schools. For this reason, we contend that teacher education has to form an integral part of a moral revival project. Lastly, we highlight the importance of finding democratically agreed-upon ways to continually engage with parents, legal caregivers and other stakeholders and role-players before and during the execution of any such project.

Many scholars argue that the practice of educational tracking exerts a distinct effect on young people's political engagement. They point out that students in academic tracks are becoming more politically engaged than those than those in vocational ones, and suggest that this may be due to differences across tracks in the curriculum, pedagogy, peer environment or student self-confidence. The current paper aims to investigate whether tracking is related to political engagement through any of these four mechanisms. It uses survey data collected among students in the final year of upper secondary education in France and employs a stepwise multilevel analysis to explore this question. It finds little differences between tracks in the curriculum and in pedagogy relevant for political engagement. Students in academic tracks nonetheless express a stronger commitment to vote than those in vocational ones. This difference between tracks disappears when the social composition of the school population is taken into account, suggesting that the peer environment is the primary mechanism driving the effect of tracking in France. However, in contexts with greater variation between the tracks in curriculum and pedagogy, the latter may well be equally or more important mechanisms.

This paper assesses the explanatory power of a perspective arguing that school social segregation enhances social inequalities in political engagement because of the distinct effects that concentrations of adolescents of disadvantaged backgrounds in educational settings generate. It tests this argument with data of the 2000 Civic Education Study among Upper Secondary students and uses intentions to participate and political competences as outcomes to represent political engagement. Social inequalities in political competences turn out to be greater in states with the most segregated systems, but social disparities in intentions to participate are unrelated to the level of segregation. The paper argues that policy makers should consider creating a more integrated school system if they seek to reduce social inequalities in "informed" political participation.

High-quality longitudinal data from the "UK Household Longitudinal Study" gives us the opportunity to investigate whether participation in adult education (AE) fosters volunteering, and whether this depends on the volume of AE, its content, or on the qualification obtained with it. From a public enlightenment perspective, we would only expect to find an effect if the content of AE relates to social issues and domains relevant for volunteering. Yet theories emphasizing AE as a place of encounter and an activity that strengthens self-confidence would expect a positive effect regardless of the content but depending on the volume and the obtained qualification. Our results from a person fixed-effects model reveal a significant and positive effect of participation in AE on volunteering in general, while volume, content, and obtained qualifications appear to make no difference. These findings provisionally suggest that social interactions and self-perceptions explain civic returns to AE.

This article examines how different civic learning opportunities relate to students' political knowledge in different school tracks. Existing studies have found that citizenship teaching can not only enhance overall levels of civic outcomes but also mitigate inequalities. However, educational achievement studies emphasize the risk of a tracked school context exacerbating the general knowledge gap. Combining these findings, we do not know whether efforts in the vocational track to enhance civic outcomes can still reduce civic inequalities. This study relies on the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016 data. It uses multilevel analysis to examine how the civic learning opportunities schools offer (as perceived by students) are related to civic knowledge across different tracks. It finds that cross-track differences in civic knowledge are not smaller in schools rich in civic learning opportunities. We provisionally propose that this is due to differences across tracks in the levels and the nature of the civic learning opportunities provided.

Research consistently shows that parents' educational attainment is associated with their children's level of political interest. The life stage when this relationship is established and grows has been identified to be between the ages of 10 and 16. This paper identifies the social class‐based practices that drive the influence of parental education on the development of political interest among early adolescents and explains why the social gap grows at this point. The paper draws on two panel surveys, the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study and the Understanding Society Youth Survey, and applies latent growth curve modelling and path analysis. The findings show that university‐educated parents influence the change in political interest of their children in early adolescence by raising their educational aspirations, enabling their access to political activities in school, choosing the school for their children, taking their children to museums and art galleries and influencing their children's friendship groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academy concept has recently been subjected to significant academic scrutiny. However, this research has focused on assessing the success of this reform drive with regard to its outcomes, as opposed to its implementation. On the basis of the extant research, this paper identifies several factors that could plausibly be linked to variances in the extent of academy uptake across local authorities in England. The paper employs Fuzzy-Set-Qualitative-Comparative-Analysis (fsQCA) to analyse the relationship between these potential explanatory factors and the outcome of interest across 150 local authorities in England, up to November 2017. The findings support the paper's hypothesis that higher levels of academisation are associated with different causal combinations, unified by the fact of both a 'promoting' agent and a conducive context being required to underpin reform in this respect. We conclude that those interested in pursuing academisation should broaden its appeal to a wider range of social actors.

In 2014 the British government called on schools to actively promote fundamental British values (FBVs), seeing this as an effective way to prevent the radicalisation of young people. The government considers these values to include democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and respect for people of different backgrounds and religions. Rather than criticising this policy on theoretical or ideological grounds, as many studies have done, the current article aims to ascertain support for the values labelled as fundamentally British among 23 year olds in England and to assess whether levels of support are associated with educational attainment and distinct educational practices experienced earlier in life. Data from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) are analysed for these purposes. A multidimensional measure of FBVs is constructed based on policy understandings of the term rather than statistical considerations. The article finds that levels of support for FBVs among 23 year olds are already very high and do not differ between the White British majority and various minority ethnic groups, although the small sample sizes of the latter do not allow for strong conclusions about these differences. Among the educational conditions, educational attainment and particularly track attended appears to be the only influential condition, with those obtaining academic qualifications showing significantly higher support for FBVs than those achieving vocational ones. Adding this variable to the model neutralises the effects of specific programmes or pedagogies experienced during lower secondary, such as citizenship education, an open climate of classroom discussion or school-based political activities.

A major concern in religiously divided societies, is identity formation, as the different communities in such societies aim to pass their religion and culture on to the next generation. Research looking at the socialization function of education shows that history education plays a significant role in identity formation. For instance, [Korostelina, K. V. (2013). History Education in the Formation of Social Identity: Toward a Culture of Peace. Palgrave Macmillan] identifies three conceptions of national identity, an ethnic, a multicultural, and a civic one, and argues that these can be shaped through history education. Linking this back to divided societies, existing research shows that communities generally promote an ethnic or a civic identity through history education, but not a multicultural one. Lebanon is an example of a religiously divided society where the school system, which is mainly composed of private schools, is divided along sectarian lines. We draw on Korostelina's model to develop our own analytic framework, which we subsequently use to analyze history textbooks used in different Lebanese religious schools. We find that these textbooks generally promote sectarian identities corresponding to the three main religious communities, despite recent attempts to promote a civic identity in some Christian and Sunni private schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article performs exploratory research using a mixed-methods approach (structural equation modelling and a thematic analysis of interview data) to analyse the ways in which socioeconomic disparities in voting patterns are reproduced through inequalities in education in different national contexts, and the role of self-efficacy in this process. The evidence suggests that in Germany and England students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have lower levels of general self-efficacy, and that this is reinforced through early experiences of inequalities in the education system, such as within- or between-school selection. Low levels of general self-efficacy are then found to reduce political self-efficacy and voting intentions. In Germany and England, it is these students who enter initial vocational education and training (IVET). The experience of IVET then reinforces the distinctions in civic engagement, probably either through peer socialisation and/or curriculum differences. In Denmark, where SES has a weaker association with track placement, the experience of being placed in IVET plays a stronger role in reducing political self-efficacy and voting intentions.

Some recent studies have suggested a significant bottom-up or parental component to recent movements for autochthonous minority language-medium education (MLME). This study takes MLME as the outcome of interest and seeks to explain trends in Irish-medium education (IME) in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since 1920--a unique opportunity for double comparison over space and time--as an example of MLME. A comparison of data from government statistical reports in the Republic of Ireland, and from government publications and previous studies in Northern Ireland, shows markedly different trends in IME before 1970 but convergence in patterns since. Theoretical analyses suggest that theories focusing on the individual are more valid for explaining trends from the 1970s, while those focusing on the collective have more explanatory power regarding trends from the 1920s to the 1970s. This supports the idea that the initiative for heritage language instruction has shifted from the state and other "official" agents to grass-roots agents such as parents. At the same time, it raises the question of whether the new positive trend in IME is lasting, or just a fad that can be easily exchanged for a new marker of distinction by aspiring social groups.

This article focuses specifically on the incorporation of ethnic minority children within the education systems of England, France and Germany. The trends in policy development after World War II in these countries are examined through the prism of three ideal-typical incorporation strategies--integration, assimilation and separation. This is done to test the theories of universalism, parallel development and particularism, which anticipate different trajectories with regard to these strategies. The paper finds evidence for convergence towards integration with regard to provisions for extra support in the host country's language. This supports the theory of universalism. However, no evidence of convergence towards integration is found in four other policy areas. For instance, country-specific trends emerge on minority religious education and enrolment into mainstream schools, which is consistent with the particularist perspective. As there is little evidence of the three countries drawing closer in terms of all three adopting a strategy of incorporation promoted by transnational agencies, the expectation that national states can borrow in a straightforward fashion from internationally advocated models of ethnic minority incorporation appears unfounded. The paper further finds that local practices are sometimes significantly at odds with national educational policy, suggesting that future research should be directed more at the local level to determine the policies affecting ethnic minority children.

"Ireland and Ukraine: Studies in comparative imperial and national history" is a comprehensive edited volume that compares the histories of Ukraine and Ireland. The book explores the similarities and differences between the two countries, including their experiences under imperial rule, the suppression of their languages and cultures, and their struggles for national liberation. The volume covers various topics such as the famines, the national liberation movements, independence, and the aftermath. It provides a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the study of imperialism, nationalism, and the liberation movements of national minorities in Europe. However, the book could have benefited from a more explicit discussion of the rationale for the Irish-Ukrainian comparison in each study. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this paper is to test the connections between the indicators used in the literature on social cohesion, which usually reflect "general" values or behaviours, and indicators specific to a particular space, namely the labour market. A key question is the stability of the social cohesion's indicators when moving from a societal level to the labour market. Based on data from the World Value Survey, and following a restrictive definition of social cohesion, a comparison is done, for European countries. Examination of the situation in the two spheres makes it possible to identify more or less homogeneous groups of countries and also to point to instabilities. "Regimes" of social cohesion begin to emerge. As in most analyses, the Nordic countries (excluding Finland) have high scores in all the dimensions. Conversely, most of the new EU member states from the former Eastern bloc have low scores, particularly in the horizontal dimension of trust between individuals.

In this article we argue that the legitimacy and stability of the social and political order in Britain is undermined by persistent inequalities of skills and opportunities. We first contend that British society is characterised by a liberal regime of social cohesion. Crucial to such a regime is the belief in individual opportunity and rewards based on merit. We demonstrate, through comparative analysis, that skills inequality is actually higher and social mobility lower in Britain than in other western countries. Also the perception of equal opportunities is lower. In Britain there is thus a mismatch between the cherished ideal of meritocracy and the reality of a stratified society, both objectively and perceived. This, we postulate, is likely to contribute to the political alienation of disadvantaged groups. We argue that in theory adult learning could reduce the skills gap but that in reality it only magnifies skills inequality since in Britain the well educated and people in work have higher participation rates than the poorly educated and unemployed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

In this article we revisit and re-analyse data from the 1999 IEA CIVED transnational study to examine the factors associated with the ways in which young people learn positive attitudes towards participation in, and knowledge and skills about democracy. Less formal learning, wherever it takes place, has recently been conceptualised as a process of social participation, and we explore its effects using Lave and Wenger's and Wenger's understanding of learning through communities of practice. This is then contrasted with the effect of the volume of civic education. The analysis shows that learning through social participation, both inside and outside school, and in particular through meaning-making activities shows a strong positive relationship with citizenship knowledge, skills and dispositions across a wide range of countries. Moreover, it demonstrates the usefulness of situated learning theory in the field of civic learning, and its applicability in large-scale, quantitative studies. (Contains 8 notes and 9 tables.)

The literature on political socialization has overlooked the influence of system characteristics of schooling on civic values and youth political identities. This article addresses that gap by investigating the degree to which system differentiation relates to the values of ethnic tolerance and patriotism. We distinguish between pedagogical differentiation and territorial differentiation. While the first concept relates to the contrast between early tracking and comprehensive education, the second term captures the contrast between federal versus unitary states. We find that comprehensive schooling and nonfederal systems are associated with smaller disparities of ethnic tolerance and patriotism across ethnic and social groups. Patriotism is positively linked to ethnic tolerance in nonfederal systems. We suggest that nonexclusionary forms of patriotism can be promoted by public education through some form of national regulation of the curriculum. (Contains 7 tables and 12 footnotes.)

Unlike most studies on social cohesion, this study explores the concept as a real-life macro-level phenomenon. It assesses to what extent the conceptions of social cohesion suggested by several macro-level approaches represent coherent empirically observable forms of social cohesion. Additionally it discusses two perspectives on social cohesion--the universalist and the particularist perspective. The former would expect social cohesion to be related to stages of socio-economic development. The latter hypothesizes enduring, regionally unique regimes of social cohesion resisting the homogenizing pressures of modernization. The paper finds evidence for both perspectives. On the one hand, a syndrome of social cohesion was identified consisting of trust, equality, order (i.e. lack of crime) and consensus on basic values which correlates closely with indicators of socio-economic development. This finding supports the universalist perspective. On the other hand, and consistent with the particularist perspective, the study found regionally unique patterns for Latin America, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

This paper examines the discourses framing citizenship education in Ukraine and Russia from "perestroika" to the present and assesses the role of the Council of Europe in promoting democratic citizenship in both countries. We argue that there is a tension between the discourses of active citizenship, strongly disseminated by international agencies (the Council of Europe in our case), and national consolidation, pursued by Ukraine and Russia since the fall of the Soviet regime. While the beginning of the 1990s was marked by democratization and individualization, from the mid-1990s the emphasis on state cohesion became more prominent in both states. From the end of the 1990s, however, citizenship education aims started to diverge, despite a similar approach of the Council of Europe to the two countries. In Russia the government reinforced the state cohesion agenda, which led to the patriotic education discourse gaining strength. In Ukraine, nation-building was made secondary to bringing the education system in line with international standards in order to improve the country's competitiveness. The nature of citizenship education in the two countries therefore seems to be more a reflection of domestic political developments than the product of international policy agenda. (Contains 12 notes.)

This paper examines portrayals of Russia and the Russians in two generations of Ukrainian history textbooks. It observes that the textbooks are highly condemning of Ukraine's main ethnic other in the guise of foreign ruler: the tsarist authorities and the Soviet regime are always attributed dubious and malicious intentions even if there is appreciation for some of their policies. By contrast, the books, certainly those of the second generation, refrain from presenting highly biased accounts of the ethnic other as a national group (i.e. Russians). Instances where negative judgements do fall onto Russians are counterbalanced by excerpts criticizing ethnic Ukrainians or highlighting conflicting interests within the Ukrainian ethnic group. The negative appraisal of the ethnic other as foreign ruler is clearly instrumental for the nation-building project as it sustains a discourse legitimating the existence of Ukraine as independent state. However, recent trends in history education, the paper concludes, suggest that the importance of nurturing patriotism as a national policy objective is diminishing. (Contains 5 notes.)

This paper compares the narratives on the Famine in Irish and Ukrainian history textbooks and examines to what extent these narratives are colored by a nationalist discourse. It argues that the story of the Famine in Irish history textbooks has changed from nationalist propaganda to a more balanced narrative, and that this change was brought about by the social transformations in the 1960s. The paper further observes that the current Ukrainian textbooks display quite a variation in the selection and interpretation of events relating to the Famine. Whereas some show a considerable nationalist bias, others present more moderate views. The trajectory of Irish narratives lends support to a theory that relates politicized historiography to the age of a state and to the consolidation of democracy. The diverse pattern of Ukrainian narratives, however, is difficult to reconcile with theories linking historiography to the wider social and political context. This pattern suggests that young states and/or states emerging from authoritarian rule need not automatically entertain uniformly nationalist or otherwise ideologically colored discourses in the immediate post-independence period. (Contains 81 footnotes.)

This paper examines the development of the impact of family background on young people's political engagement during adolescence and early adulthood in order to test a number of hypotheses derived from the impressionable years and family socialization perspectives. The study analyses data of the British Household Panel Study and Understanding Society to assess these hypotheses. Political interest and voting intentions are used as outcomes of political engagement. The study finds parental education to have no effect on initial levels of these outcomes at age 11 but to be positively related to the change in these outcomes between ages 11 and 15. This indicates that the effect of parental education becomes stronger over time and that social disparities in political engagement are widening significantly during early adolescence. In contrast, parental political engagement is positively related to initial levels of voting intentions at age 11 but not related to the change in voting intentions between ages 11 and 15, which supports the hypothesis drawn from the family socialization perspective. Neither parental education nor parental political engagement are related to post-16 changes in political engagement. These results point to early adolescence as a crucial period for the manifestation of social inequalities in political engagement. They provisionally suggest that the influence of parental education runs through educational conditions in lower secondary and that these conditions could play an important role in amplifying the said inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The civic attitudes of migrant and native youth in five West European countries are compared and the effect of citizenship education on the civic orientations of migrant children is explored. It is concluded that differences between various groups in the acceptance of civic values are a reflection of social differences.

One of the most influential theories in the study of nationalism has been the ethnic-East/civic-West framework developed by Hans Kohn. Using the 2002 Eurobarometer survey on national identity and building on earlier survey studies, this article examines whether the Kohn framework is valid at the level of popular understandings of nationhood. It scrutinizes the framework both conceptually--do people define nationhood in civic or ethnic terms?--and regionally--is the East indeed more ethnic than the West and the West more civic than the East? It will show that identity markers cluster in a political, a cultural and an ethnic dimension. Respondents do not see these dimensions as competing sources of nationhood, however. The article further lends some support for the regional component of the framework. Lastly, it argues that it is the intensity of national identifications rather than their qualitative nature (ethnic-civic) that correlates with xenophobia. Keywords: Nationalism; civic-ethnic; West-East; national identity; survey data; attitudes.

Previous research on youth attitudes towards immigration has tended to focus on explaining why young people are more accepting of immigrants than their elders. In this article, therefore, we focus on the young people that are opposed to immigration. First, we use nationally representative survey data from young adults in England to highlight that a substantial minority hold negative attitudes towards immigrants. In the second half of the article, we then turn to qualitative data (in-depth interviews) to explore how young people talk about and justify holding these negative attitudes. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data suggest that anti-immigrant attitudes among young people are linked to the perception that immigrants pose an economic and cultural threat, and to the spread of culturalised forms of citizenship. What the qualitative data also reveal, however, is how these distinct discourses reinforce one another and how they intersect with other types of prejudice. We will argue that the idea of Hard Work is central to understanding anti-immigrant attitudes, as this has become a deeply-embedded cultural norm that is being used to include and exclude (immigrants and others), and to distinguish between who is deserving of membership of British society and who is not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents reflections on the life course of the journal "Compare," which is celebrating its 50th birthday in academic publishing, as of November 2020. Topics covered include how the journal has benefited from trends in global higher education, the trends and challenges in relation to validation of knowledge and the outcome of the study commissioned to celebrate the journal's 50th birthday. It also discusses the 40th anniversary celebration of "Compare" in 2010.

The article announces 20th Anniversary of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) which include Anniversary Symposium on the theme of ‘Sustainability, Peace and Education;" and a panel discussion based upon the present Compare Forum contribution.

The author discusses the importance of the participants in education amidst the continuous educational reform and top-down and bottom-up pressures on education systems. The author cites on the participants, teachers, students and policy makers who have the voice to the issue of the education reform. The author also discusses the religious education in conflict regions.

It is common knowledge that in times of recession people lose confidence in the government and in other state institutions. Political scientists have pointed out that a loss of faith in a particular government or parliament does not necessarily amount to an erosion of civic culture as the cultural foundation of liberal democracy is broader. However, the recent recession has been unusually severe and long-lasting and some countries have only just started to climb out of it. It is an open question whether civic culture is so resilient that it can even weather exceptionally serious economic crises such as the recent one. As often happens in times of crisis, young people have been most affected by the recent crisis, and one may thus expect this age group to show the steepest drops in civic values. The current article examined the impact of the recession on the civic values of different generations across a selection of European and western states. Analyses of both short and long-term trends based on European Social Survey (ESS) and World Values Survey (WVS) data showed that social trust, tolerance, active civic participation and post-materialism values, as civic culture indicators, are not susceptible to economic downturns, confirming the idea that civic values need to be distinguished from political trust. Correlational analysis provided additional support for this finding as it showed no links between changes in civic culture indicators and changes in economic performance. However, civic dispositions were found to be related to overall levels of economic prosperity and performance, indicating that such dispositions are not wholly immune to material conditions. This led us to surmise that civic culture is more susceptible to enduring processes affecting people's life chances and well-being than to fleeting phenomena such as economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the pasttwodecades, various policy initiatives have been proposed to solve the perceived problem of youth disengagement from politics. This article examines the impact of one such policy initiative-namely the introduction of activities that seek to teach 'education through citizenship' at school. In short, 'education through citizenship' involves formal and informal learning opportunities that enable students to acquire civic skills and knowledge through hands-on experiences. School councils, debate teams and/or mock elections are some of the most common 'education through citizenship' activities in schools in England, and drawing on data from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study this article shows that such activities can indeed have an effect, not just in the short-term (as previous studies in England have shown), but also in the medium-term (by encouraging political engagement once the students have left the confines of the school). This article thus argues that school activities can have a lasting and independent impact on youth political engagement and provides support for the continuation of education through citizenship, as well as about citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates whether civic competences among youngsters are linked to the social and ethnic composition of classrooms and whether these links are influenced by the system of ability grouping. Use is made of the IEA Civic Education Study to investigate these relationships. The article finds that inequalities of civic competences across classrooms are relatively large in systems characterized by early selection on the basis of ability. Classroom social segregation is also most pronounced in such systems. However, classroom ethnic segregation shows no relation with ability grouping. The article further finds that the social composition of the classroom primarily affects the cognitive component of civic competences (knowledge and skills). This relationship, moreover, is influenced by selection: the less a system groups pupils on the basis of ability, the weaker the link between classroom social status and civic knowledge and skills. However, similar regularities are not found for the attitudinal and behavioural components of civic competences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the relation between socio-economic inequality and disparities of democratic values in Western societies. It discusses three perspectives on democratic attitudes and values – rising inequality, social capital, and postmaterialism – and explores to what extent cross-national patterns and trends in value disparities are in agreement with the predicted outcomes of these perspectives. Use is made of the World Value Survey and the European Value Study to explore these value disparities. The results do not provide unequivocal support for any of the three perspectives. The patterns on some values are in line with the rising inequality perspective, while those on others are consistent with the other two perspectives. Low and high incomes have come to drift apart on democratic values, which is what the rising inequalities perspective would expect. But these widening disparities are unrelated to socio-economic inequalities. It is proposed that socio-economic inequalities primarily affect mean levels of democratic values while individualism is the key factor producing value divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction to papers on education and identity formation in post-cold war Eastern Europe and Asia that appear in this periodical.

The article presents information on the origins of the ethnic-civic dichotomy and explains how it can inform the analysis of history textbooks image of the nation in the history textbooks of post-Soviet Ukraine. The distinction between civic and ethnic notions of nationhood has a long tradition in the social sciences. Since national independence from the Soviet Union, no major structural reforms have occurred in the Ukrainian educational system. The centralized nature of the school system remains its prominent feature. A study of the history curriculum plan reveals that pupils are first acquainted with the history of Ukraine at age ten in the fifth grade. The textbooks express a clear preference for an ethnocultural understanding of the nation. The first-generation textbook for the ninth grade is the most outspoken. The textbooks do not consistently depict the Ukrainian nation as either a civic or an ethnic community. On the one hand, an ethnic vision is conveyed when the books highlight the importance of language in unifying Ukrainians in Austria and tsarist Russia and present maps showing the residential pattern of ethnic Ukrainians.

In the contemporary era, societies are divided, and political polarization is increasing. One of the most powerful instruments the government can use is general standard education, specifically citizenship education. We will look at the case of Estonia, because Estonia's main political cleavage is the ethnic cleavage between the Estonian and the Russophone community. Our main research question is as follows: How would it be possible to use democratic citizenship education to decrease in the future the socio-economic inequality between different communities in Estonia? We will outline the context of ethnic socio-economic inequality in Estonia and show how these differences have been at least partially influenced by the current education system in Estonia and how citizenship education can be used to reduce these inequalities in the future. We will conduct an empirical analysis of the curriculum, and this will be followed by semi-structured qualitative interviews. In the discussion, we will make suggestions to the current Estonian citizenship education policy and offer various insights into tackling this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]