Citizenship education in Scandinavian multicultural schools: A comparative study of students and teachers perceptions

Increasing demographic diversity in urban areas brings forth a query on how the educational systems manage to promote democratic virtues suited for a multicultural society. Through a qualitative study in fourteen schools in the Scandinavian capitals, information is collected from both educators and students. In comparing their perspectives on how the educators and the school environments provide for and nurture civic development, the study suggests that students find educators who only to a limited extent manage to utilize the asset of diversity in citizenship education. In a socially and politically difficult environment, the minority students of this study risk marginalization as future citizens, not to any large degree in the attention of the custodians of democracy, the educators.