Governance for Civic Education: The Role of Curriculum Standardisation in Stratified Civic Learning Opportunities in Schools

Schools can teach youngsters’ about democracy and society through a civic curriculum. This matters, as sufficient and relatively equal levels of civic learning among citizens can enhance accessibility of democracy for all. In contrast with curricula for literacy or numeracy, however, countries seldomly have a standardised civic curriculum, and schools often differ in the extent to which they teach youngsters’ about democracy. Previous research on non-civic learning in school shows that curricula affect students’ learning, and that standardisation may reduce social disparities in students’ learning opportunities. The current paper assesses these relations for civic curricula in particular. Using ICCS 2016 data from 1639 schools in 14 European countries, our results show that schools’ use of a standardised civic curriculum tempers inequalities in civic learning opportunities, but only in countries with centralised policies on civic education. We discuss these findings in relation to the compensatory role of schools and whether standardisation can help or hinder this role, specifically for civic education.