PhD defence I. (Işıl) Sincer

The increasing diversity in many societies and its accompanying worries such as the deterioration of social cohesion, lack of concern for civic issues, and increasing individualism have led to a prioritization of preparing young people for participation and contribution to society (Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, 2005; Eurydice, 2017; Geijsel et al., 2012). Supporting students’ citizenship competences is a legal duty assigned to schools in many countries, with the aim of “bridging the gap between the individual and the community” and fortifying an inclusive society (Eurydice, 2017). Parallel to society at large, the growth of heterogeneity has also become more and more visible in the make-up of the student body. Schools cater to varying student populations, and in that sense schools have the potential to be small-scaled societies, where students may meet different others, experience membership in a community and have a chance of encountering a democratic climate (Flanagan et al., 2007; Keating & Benton, 2013; Lenzi et al., 2014). Although schools may be fertile grounds for the development of citizenship competences, previous research suggests that the ethnic make-up of the student body may also pose some risks as regards co-existence within schools. For example, next to favorable outcomes, higher perceptions of conflict between students in heterogenous schools (Goldsmith, 2004), more peer victimization (see Thijs & Verkuyten, 2014) and more negative attitudes towards ‘out-groups’ in schools with higher proportions of students with a migrant background have been reported (Vervoort et al., 2011). Despite these indications, we know little of whether differences in students’ citizenship(-related) outcomes may be explained by schools’ student composition. Moreover, while studies have focused on citizenship education (CE)- related school factors that may contribute to students’ citizenship competences ( for a review, see Geboers et al., 2013), there is a scarcity of knowledge on what role particular CE-related school factors play in the association between school composition and students’ citizenship(-related) outcomes. Therefore, the aims of this dissertation were: 1) to examine the extent to which school compositional characteristics are related to citizenship(-related) approaches and outcomes, and, 2) to investigate the role that a number of CE-related school factors (used interchangeably with the term ‘school factors’) play in this relationship. Different kinds of CE can be implemented by schools (Geboers et al., 2013). While the learning and teaching of citizenship can, for instance, be facilitated by a formal and explicit curriculum (Geboers et al., 2013), informal and less explicit approaches can also promote learning in the area of citizenship (Dijkstra et al., 2010). Within the various possible approaches to CE, in this dissertation the main focus is on the latter mentioned. For the first research aim the focal point was the ethnic make-up of the student body. To address the second aim, informal and climate-related aspects of citizenship education (CE) were studied: teachers’ context-related understandings and practices concerning diversity, schools’ diversity climate, schools’ open classroom climate and teacher support.

Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall or in the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.