Meaningful evaluation of citizenship education: The co-construction of a framework

Assessment is a focal point in current discussions on and practices of democratic citizenship education. To what extent is it possible and desirable to assess citizenship education, especially in standardized ways (Daas, Ten Dam &amp; Dijkstra 2016)? In a learning community of seven Dutch high schools we developed an alternative form of evaluation, informed by a critical review of available assessment methods in the Dutch context. Dutch schools and <br/>teachers are struggling with the citizenship assignment in general, and the obligation to monitor outcomes in particular (De Groot, Daas &amp; Nieuwelink 2022). This is often framed in terms of incompetence, to be remedied by clearer guidelines and professionalization. The learning network started from the premise that teachers’ experiences, opinions and possibly critical stances towards assessment of citizenship education should be taken more seriously, <br/>also in light of epistemic justice (Fricker 2007). <br/>In a process of co-creation, we investigated how schools could comply with the Dutch law (mandating monitoring of citizenship education outcomes) in a way that did justice to their own (critical) views on citizenship education and assessment. In five meetings we discussed experiences with and concerns over standardized assessment of citizenship education and worked on an alternative called ‘Meaningful evaluation of citizenship education’. This alternative focusses on the meaning of educational, democratic and citizenship experiences of pupils and teachers and their developing citizenship narratives and orientations (De Groot &amp; Lo 2022). The paper places the experiences and results of the learning community in the international debate on the assessment of citizenship education, focusing on the relation between content (alternative perspective on citizenship education and evaluation) and the method of co-creation (asserting teacher and student agency and the struggle with top-down educational policies).