Students’ Attitudes Toward Free Movement Within Europe and Students’ Perceptions of Discrimination
摘要
Since its establishment, the free movement of workers has been one of the founding principles of the European Union. The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2022 European questionnaire asked students about their agreement or disagreement with a series of statements concerning freedom and restriction of movement within Europe for European citizens for work reasons. Findings highlighted that nearly all students strongly supported freedom of movement within Europe for European citizens, with no significant variation between ICCS 2016 and 2022. Larger variations across participating countries were observed for students’ agreement with restrictions of free movement. In several participating countries, students expressed their agreement with additional regulations to the movement of European citizens. Students’ attitudes toward freedom of movement were positively associated with students’ higher socioeconomic backgrounds and with higher levels of civic knowledge. The ICCS 2022 European student questionnaire also included a question aiming at measuring students’ perceptions of discrimination against different groups in their countries. Results showed that students’ perceptions of discrimination varied considerably across participating European countries. On average, most of the surveyed students perceived members of the LGBT community as the group most discriminated against in their own countries, followed by immigrants and poor people.