Deliberative Civic Education and Student Civic Engagement

Deliberative democratic theory presupposes that face-to-face group deliberation can increase participants' civic engagement, which includes political efficacy, respect for the opinions of others, willingness to meet their responsibilities as citizens, and ability to evaluate and defend positions. Research confirms that practice in deliberation affects each of these competencies and attitudes. However not all citizens are equally disposed toward or skilled in deliberation. Furthermore, the goals of civic education oblige us to identify mechanisms that provide all students with opportunities to engage in civic life. Therefore, if deliberation is a powerful and authentic means of imparting the dispositions and competencies that healthy democracies require, we need to understand how to impart skill in and enthusiasm for the discussion of important issues, particularly to young people. This mixed method study examined the relationship between educational experiences purposefully focused on deliberative skills and student civic engagement. Survey and interview data were used to better understand how high school coursework in Debate or Facing History and Ourselves, and classroom environments characterized by openness to expressing diverse views, affect political efficacy, social capital and civic mindedness. The findings of this study support the argument that a school environment which promotes respectful discussion of controversial questions and political issues increases students' internal political efficacy, trust in their peers, desire for mutual understanding on controversial issues, and deliberative habits. They also indicate that taking a Tournament Debate class was significantly correlated with increased internal efficacy, deliberative habits and attentiveness to public affairs. Analysis of data also indicate that student civic engagement was sometimes influenced by race, sex, grade level, and parental attentiveness to public affairs.

Chapter V: Findings Introduction The main objective of this case study was to
examine the relationship between educational experiences focused purposefully
on deliberative skills and student civic engagement. A second objective was to ...