Stakeholder Perceptions of a Civic Education Program at an International School in Europe

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to discover stakeholder perspectives of the civic education program at an international school in Europe. The research questions were: (1) how do the stakeholders define civic education, (2) how do the stakeholders describe the civic education program and (3) what are the intended outcomes of this program. Five school administrators, five teachers and eleven students were interviewed for this single case, qualitative study. Study findings indicate that the majority of stakeholders interviewed wanted a participatory civic education program, which included international interaction and community civic engagement. Based on the study results, a participatory civic education model was created for this international school. That model consists of four components; curriculum development, service-learning, character education and administrative support. Of those components, several sub components are included such as global citizenship representing a sub component of character education. Goals have also been developed in order to help guide the school towards the final objective of a participatory civic education program. Given the dramatic growth in international schools worldwide, it would behoove other international schools to construct a civic education program at their school for the benefit of student learning and student global mindedness development.