Multilevel Model

Youth’s civic knowledge, civic attitudes and dispositions may be understood as multidimensional phenomena, depending on a combination of family, social and educational factors (Schulz, Fraillon, Ainley, Losito, & Kerr, 2008). As stated above, one of the main relevant factors at school level are teachers, who can be seen as a key modifiable factor influencing student learning. The importance of the teacher’s role in improving educational outcomes has been widely stated by scholarly research, with a special emphasis during the last few decades (Akiba, 2013; Akiba & LeTendre, 2009), highlighting the influence of teachers’ characteristics and practices in students’ learning achievements. A considerable amount of research has pointed out that teachers

Multilevel models account for the characteristics of the data from the ICCS; in this case, two levels were considered: a) school, and b) students nested within schools. Following similar studies, the analyses of this study include variables for predicting civic outcomes at the student level related to their individual characteristics and socioeconomic background, while at the school level the predictors are related to school composition, school environment and teachers’ characteristics (Marien, Hooghe, & Quintelier, 2010; Quintelier, 2010). Figure 1 shows the proposed conceptual

The school climate can be understood as the norms, values and relationships that characterize the social environment and has been identified as a relevant factor influencing students’ academic outcomes (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009). In this particular study focused on civic outcomes, the climate is defined as the democratic environment of the school that accounts for its capacity to embody democratic practices and characteristics in its own operation that promote democratic behaviors among students. A democratic environment in the school has been internationally identified as a relevant factor in predicting attitudes and dispositions of youth to democracy and civic knowledge and engagement (Biesta, Lawy, & Kelly, 2009; Diazgranados-Ferráns & Selman, 2014; Wilkenfeld, 2009). A school culture which promotes students’ participation prepares them better to participate in society, and teachers play an important role in creating a democratic culture, both in the classroom and the school (Veugelers & Vedder,