Does civic and citizenship education (CCE) help people become more accepting of those from different ethnic backgrounds? This presentation discusses this question through two studies. The first looks at the introduction of social studies as a mandatory subject in Singapore secondary schools in 2001. The second analyzes data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). In both studies, the results suggest that CCE alone cannot improve ethnic tolerance. However, further exploratory analyses reveal that CCE can nurture greater ethnic tolerance when it is taught in (1) an ethnically diverse environment and (2) a classroom open to diverse opinions.

Jeremy Siow is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Quantitative Political Science at the University of Oxford. His research uses natural and survey experiments to evaluate the impact of different education reforms on intergroup relations. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2024.

Discussant

Li-Ching Ho, School of Education, University of Wisconsin — Madison

Organised in collaboration with

Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University

This event is part of the AcademiaSG Singapore Studies Junior Scholar Seminar Series.