Youth Political Interest, Political Participation, and Civic Education in French-speaking Belgium

In spring 2007, we administered a survey to 1437 high school students (16-18 years old) in order to measure their political interest and participation as well as to assess their political knowledge. Relying on the results of some of the 150 questions, in this paper, we argue that uncovering the relationship between political interest, knowledge, and participation is a prerequisite for insightful and further research on civic education. So doing, we shall move our analysis beyond the usual sociological categories in order to stress differences between “clusters of students”. As such, we privilege the analysis in terms of classifications. With a more precise image of the various forms of youth’s political attitudes, different patterns will characterise young people’s opinions and behaviours. Accordingly, our understanding of the mechanisms of political socialisation will be adapted. Such an inquiry seems necessary in order to engage the traditional views on political participation and interest of today’s youth as well as the impact of civic education, for which further research, both quantitative and qualitative, is needed.