Student and family engagement for developing a culture of democratic/civic participation

Expected outcome

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Policymakers, education and training institutions, and educators will be provided with an evidence base, toolkits, and recommendations on the types of collaboration mechanisms with families that are most effective in supporting schools' efforts to provide citizenship education.
• Policymakers, education and training institutions, and educators will have a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of student councils and other student participatory mechanisms on influencing school decision-making and on student civic engagement.
• Policymakers, education and training institutions, and educators will have a deeper understanding of the impact of family involvement in citizenship education in schools.
• Educators have frameworks, guidance, and tools for evaluating social-emotional learning, including values and attitudes, as part of citizenship education.

Scope

Research should examine schools as a locus for practicing participation and developing innovative participatory practices.

Research should examine student and family engagement to foster a democratic culture via school activities. It should consider schools as social places for intergenerational dialogue.

Research should examine the role of socio-emotional learning in tackling sensitive topics in the classroom and in fostering civic agency development among learners. Research could explore the emotions that drive civic engagement and investigate strategies to help students emotionally cope with frustrations when their civic engagement efforts do not unfold as expected. Research should integrate an intersectional approach that is sensitive to gender and ability, by studying how students contribute to and respond to civic engagement efforts differently according to their identity and backgrounds.

Research should examine the active role of families in building children and young people's civic identity. Parents/caregivers and the wider family are key in children and young people’s informal learning, shaping their interests, values, and world-views; family involvement in school citizenship education might vary in more diverse communities, depending on the family’s cultural, migrant or socio-economic backgrounds; some families may not appreciate the importance of teaching about social issues, democracy, or civic participation or may feel excluded or disconnected from schools’ efforts to provide citizenship education. Research should examine how citizenship education is reinforced or challenged outside the classroom, especially with growing polarization and diversity of our societies. The research should provide recommendations of how to effectively engage families from diverse backgrounds in their children's citizenship education. The main focus should be on parents and caregivers (legal guardians); exploring other wider family influences is also possible.

Research should examine families’ and students' views on the content of citizenship education and examine the role of curriculum design in promoting inclusive civic engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. Arts and humanities can be part of the disciplines examined where relevant. Research should aim to identify the types of collaboration that not only bolster students' civic competence but also ensure inclusivity in their engagement.

The research should investigate the effectiveness of student councils and other participatory mechanisms in providing meaningful opportunities for student influence. Research should investigate the incentives and motives behind participation and uncover possible restrictions and motives for non-participation. It should exploit the tools that have been already developed in previous research projects in the area of civic participation.

Research should address the lack of formal monitoring and evaluation of these participatory mechanisms. It should develop frameworks, guidance, and tools for evaluation of socio-emotional learning, including values and attitudes as part of citizenship education.

Research can explore whether and how engaging families in citizenship education and fostering of a democratic culture at school influences both the civic participation of children and young people, and that of their families. Emphasis could be placed on schools in marginalised areas or with high migrant populations, to uncover structural barriers to civic engagement in those settings.

Research should include pilots or living labs, developing innovative participation practices in schools, where students learn to recognise and exercise their citizenship rights and obligations, strengthen the value of democracy, and build their identity as active citizens. Projects should collaborate with schools and education authorities in the development and running of these pilots and living labs.

Projects may freely choose the age group they will examine, as long as it remains within primary and/or secondary education levels.

[1] The Action plan on basic skills (March 2025) explicitly recognises citizenship as a basic skill, and it defines it as: “The ability to act responsibly and participate fully in civic life, grounded in an understanding of social, economic, legal and political structures. This involves understanding and evaluation of civic and democratic concepts, institutions and processes, including democracy, media literacy, crisis preparedness and respect for others and freedom of speech.”