Page 52 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 52
šolsko polje, letnik xxx, številka 5–6
pupils had 60 minutes to answer 20 tasks with 44 different questions and
assignments. Some of the questions were valued with more than just one
possible point so the maximum possible points was 50. The tasks in the
test were composed according to taxonomic levels (according to Bloom
(1956): knowledge and recognition, understanding and application, anal-
ysis, synthesis and evaluation) and, of course, according to the content
foreseen in the syllabus for this subject (RIC, 2015a). This means that the
test in the subject Patriotic and Citizenship Culture and Ethics tested the
knowledge that is foreseen or determined within the subject curriculum
(Ministrstvo za šolstvo in šport, 2011).
For the purpose of the present analysis, we selected and included in
the analysis concrete tasks and corresponding questions that were direct-
ly related to political democratic participation, be it through convention-
al or unconventional means, at local (including school environment), na-
tional or at the EU level. We underline again at this point that while we
agree with many who argue that political participation of youth is radical-
ly changed and new means to express political action have broadened the
definition and understanding of (civic) engagement beyond conventional
participative procedures such as voting. However, on the other hand, we
concur with the already mentioned arguments of Pérez Expósito (2014)
that depoliticised notions of participation have problematic consequenc-
es. In line with this, we insist that knowledge of pupils on democratic po-
litical participation is crucial for them to be able to significantly contrib-
ute and have a say in the arena of politics.
Based on this, for the purpose of analysing the knowledge of pupils
about political participation, we selected among 20 tasks those that di-
rectly concern political participation. In terms of the selection criteria, we
decided to include those questions that explicitly relate to (1) institutional
arrangement of political participation within a particular socio-political
context (school, local, national, international level) and (2) concrete par-
ticipatory action of an individual and/or group or community. Accord-
ing to this methodological selection criteria, we included five tasks with
eight questions altogether in the analysis. With the objective of making
the analysis as systematic and coherent as possible, we divided these se-
lected questions into three different content clusters. The first cluster fo-
cuses on pupils’ general knowledge about political participation and con-
crete democratic participation in school class. The second cluster pertains
to political participation on national and local level within Slovenian po-
subjects within the statistical regions, and the size of the schools is implicitly taken into
account, thus ensuring a more equal number of students writing each subject (Cankar,
2014).
50
pupils had 60 minutes to answer 20 tasks with 44 different questions and
assignments. Some of the questions were valued with more than just one
possible point so the maximum possible points was 50. The tasks in the
test were composed according to taxonomic levels (according to Bloom
(1956): knowledge and recognition, understanding and application, anal-
ysis, synthesis and evaluation) and, of course, according to the content
foreseen in the syllabus for this subject (RIC, 2015a). This means that the
test in the subject Patriotic and Citizenship Culture and Ethics tested the
knowledge that is foreseen or determined within the subject curriculum
(Ministrstvo za šolstvo in šport, 2011).
For the purpose of the present analysis, we selected and included in
the analysis concrete tasks and corresponding questions that were direct-
ly related to political democratic participation, be it through convention-
al or unconventional means, at local (including school environment), na-
tional or at the EU level. We underline again at this point that while we
agree with many who argue that political participation of youth is radical-
ly changed and new means to express political action have broadened the
definition and understanding of (civic) engagement beyond conventional
participative procedures such as voting. However, on the other hand, we
concur with the already mentioned arguments of Pérez Expósito (2014)
that depoliticised notions of participation have problematic consequenc-
es. In line with this, we insist that knowledge of pupils on democratic po-
litical participation is crucial for them to be able to significantly contrib-
ute and have a say in the arena of politics.
Based on this, for the purpose of analysing the knowledge of pupils
about political participation, we selected among 20 tasks those that di-
rectly concern political participation. In terms of the selection criteria, we
decided to include those questions that explicitly relate to (1) institutional
arrangement of political participation within a particular socio-political
context (school, local, national, international level) and (2) concrete par-
ticipatory action of an individual and/or group or community. Accord-
ing to this methodological selection criteria, we included five tasks with
eight questions altogether in the analysis. With the objective of making
the analysis as systematic and coherent as possible, we divided these se-
lected questions into three different content clusters. The first cluster fo-
cuses on pupils’ general knowledge about political participation and con-
crete democratic participation in school class. The second cluster pertains
to political participation on national and local level within Slovenian po-
subjects within the statistical regions, and the size of the schools is implicitly taken into
account, thus ensuring a more equal number of students writing each subject (Cankar,
2014).
50
