Individual datasets that do not belong to any series.
The data focuses on the views of lower secondary school teachers on democracy, political participation and their ability to implement democracy education in their work. The data was collected as part of the project "Education, Political Efficacy and Informed Citizenship (EPIC)", funded by the Academy of Finland and The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
First, respondents were asked how interested they are in politics as well as their views on politics in general. Respondents were also asked about their level of political participation from different perspectives. Then, respondents' experiences in implementing democracy education and their role as civic educators in lower secondary schools were asked.
The next questions were about teaching situations and what teachers believe students should grow up to be in order to be good citizens. Respondents were also asked about their trust in various institutions, their voting behavior and their position in the political arena. This was followed by series of questions asking respondents about their opinions on various proposals for the future direction of Finland and how often they discuss political or social issues. Finally, the respondents were asked about the culture of debate and the handling of socially sensitive issues.
Background variables included gender, teacher qualification, education and the year of completion, school size, municipality size, mother tongue, age, years of teaching experience and subject taught.
The study municipalities and schools were selected through a two-stage purposive cluster sampling. At the very beginning of the study, before funding for the oversampling of Swedish-speaking pupils had been secured and before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the data collection plan, two municipalities from each electoral district in Mainland Finland were targeted for the study, so that both larger and smaller municipalities would be included. However, the sample was subsequently extended when it became apparent that the survey would be conducted entirely electronically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The electronic data collection allowed for a wider geographical coverage of municipalities and schools. In addition, when it was decided to collect an oversample of Swedish-speaking pupils, not only municipalities in Åland were included, but also several Swedish-speaking and bilingual municipalities in mainland Finland. The research team also sought to ensure, based on existing research literature and statistical data, that in larger cities, survey schools were selected from different areas of the municipality so that respondents would be evenly represented among young people from families of different socio-economic backgrounds.