Studies show adults’ attitudes towards citizenship to be related to their educational level. It has been claimed that higher educated people more often possess ‘good’ citizenship values. However, only limited insight exists into how differences in citizenship attitudes between adolescents from various educational tracks develop over time. In this qualitative longitudinal study, we investigate the perspectives of adolescents from different educational tracks on
aspects of citizenship. The results show that adolescents in higher tracks develop stronger political orientations with age and learn to focus more strictly on competition between perspectives and on formal procedures of decision-making. Those in the lower track remained rather uninterested in politics but stick to their emphasis on consensus and inclusiveness. Overall, our study shows that ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ citizenship values do not simply coincide with educational level and provides a more nuanced insight into adolescent developmental
trajectories towards citizenship.