The role of values in citizenship education: a comparative study of Estonian-and Russian-speaking schools in Estonia

For emerging democracies civic education issues have special meaning. Often these issues play a vital role in the process of nation building and democratic consolidation, which makes the interplay between the school system and the socio-political environment particularly important. Estonia, which inherited from the half-century Soviet occupation a large non-Estonian population that was not granted citizenship, presents a case in which becoming a citizen involves both legal and democratic aspects. This article will analyze this complicated situation: firstly, by investigating the citizenship model 14-year-old students prefer and how they relate their own future civic behavior to their concept of a good citizen and secondly, by comparing attitudes of Estonian and non-Estonian students toward different forms of social engagement and by discussing the impact of citizenship policy on formal civic education. While the attitudes of Estonian and non-Estonian students toward unconventional activities vary significantly, it was remarkable that conventional citizenship received an equally low rating in both groups.