National assessment program : civics and citizenship years 6 and 10 report 2010

This report presents the findings of the National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship conducted under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) in 2010. Under the National Assessment Program, assessment of civics and citizenship is conducted with a random sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students on a triennial cycle. This is a report of the third such assessment. The National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship measures not only students’ skills, knowledge and understandings of Australia’s system of government and civic life but also their attitudes, values and participation in civic-related activities at school and in the community. The 2010 assessment framework was influenced by the release of the national Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship in 2006 and the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians in 2008. As a consequence, the 2010 assessment was broader than those in 2004 and 2007 but also provided a strong link to those prior assessments to allow reporting of trends over time.