Explaining Global Citizenship Levels of Polish University Students from Different Variables

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1 Explaining Global Citizenship Levels of from Different Variables Muhammed Hayati Taban Kastamonu University, School of Foreign Languages, Kastamonu, Turkey Kadir Karatekin Kastamonu University, Faculty of Education, Kastamonu, Turkey Abstract At the age of a new kind of everything (a new kind of communication, a new kind of education, a new kind of social problems etc.) citizenship also takes a new kind form: global citizenship. Global concept has been conducted on almost every area including citizenship. Therefore, citizenship has been understood from a global perspective to overcome new global scale problems. EU is a good example of changing citizenship understanding differing from the national base. Poland is a good target country taken its membership since years duration means that new generation has been raised in the atmosphere of a supra national environment. At this point, what kinds of variables have what kinds of impact on the global citizenship level of this generation is worth being studied. This study has aimed to understand this question using a personal information form in addition to a global citizenship scale developed by Morais & Ogden (2010). The study conducted through survey model included 353 Polish university students. It is understood from the results of the study that Polish students have an intermediate level of global citizenship and low level of global civic engagement. It is also one of the findings that some variables have impact on global citizenship levels. In this respect, the study will contribute to the understanding of the global citizenship levels of EU member students. This document gives formatting instructions for authors preparing papers for publication. Keywords: Global Citizenship,, EU, Poland Introduction In 2000s.the global effect and impact of problems has been felt in a sudden and dramatic way. The 9/11 attacks, and therefore 2003 US military intervention in Iraq, the process called as Arab Spring, the migration flow as a result of Syrian civil war, global ISIS terror attacks may be the primarily global concerns at glance. Environmental (e.g. climate change) and economic problems (e.g.2008 crisis) may also be added to these global concerns. The widening scope of problems leads to the widening scope of solutions as a matter of course. Indeed, the citizenship definition which is based on a national base is being defined at a global scale so as to solve global problems. The citizenship definition that goes beyond the nation base has been distinctively and practically reified in The European Union. The Union has entitled its member citizens a European Union citizenship right in addition to their national ones and provided individuals with rights that make it possible to address and apply for EU institutions directly. In this context, the significance of The EU not only comes from its economic and political togetherness also comes from the closest point it gives for the transnational content of the citizenship concept. Given the relationship of The EU with citizenship, Poland which has been the member of The Union since 2004 gives us a dependable sample with its young generation who has been raised during the membership. The aim of the study, at this point, is to evaluate the variables that are though to be influential on global citizenship. To this end, a global citizenship scale was carried out with Polish university students and the correlation between variables on the personal information form and global citizenship levels was tried to be uncovered. In this study these hypotheses will be tested; H1: There is a positive correlation between being a membership of a NGO, being interested in politics and global citizenship level. H2: Those proving the membership of Turkey have a higher level of global citizenship. 216

2 H3: Gender makes a difference in global citizenship level. H4: The more family income a student have, the better s/he has a global citizenship level. Method Research Model In this study, one of the quantitative research methods, survey model is employed to evaluate global citizenship levels of Polish university students in terms of various variables. Survey model is a quantitative research method which helps to reveal the opinion, behavior or attitude of a sample about an issue or situation (Creswell,2012). Study Group The study group is composed of 353 Polish university students who are studying at University of Warsaw in Warsaw (the biggest and the capital city of Poland), Tischner European University in Krakow (the second biggest city of Poland) and University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow. Some demographic information of the study group is given the tables below. Table 1. Gender distribution of the study group Gender Participants Female Male Total f % f % f % , , ,9 % of 353 participants of Polish university students is female and 54,1% of that is male. Table 2. Age distribution of the study group. Participants Age and over Total f % f % f % f % , , ages group consists of the highest share with 45,9 % while the lowest share belongs to 23 and over ages group. Table 3. Distribution of the study group by mother s education level Mother s Education Level f % Illiterate - - Only literate 2 0,6 Primary School Graduate 4 1,1 Secondary School Graduate 4 1,1 High School Graduate ,1 University graduate and above Total There is no participant whose mother is illiterate and mothers of 64% has a university and above level of education. Table 4. Distribution of the study group by father s education level 217

3 Father s Education Level f % Illiterate 1 0,3 Only literate 2 0,6 Primary School Graduate 6 1,7 Secondary School Graduate 7 2 High School Graduate ,1 University graduate and above ,4 Total Only one participant s father is illiterate among the study group. Those Polish students whose father has a primary school education level is 1,7 % while those whose father has a university and above education level is 52,4%. Table 5. Distribution of the study group by monthly family income Income Level f % Euro , Euro 62 17, Euro 31 8, Euro 18 5,1 Total The highest income level (3000+ Euro) consists 5,1% of the study group while the lowest level consists 68,6 % of the study group. Table 6. Distribution of the study group by being a member of a nongovernmental organization Being a Member of a Nongovernmental Organization Yes No Total f % f % F % 61 17, , The rate of those Polish university students who are a member of a nongovernmental organization is 17,3%. Table 7. Distribution of the study group by the level of interest in politics The level of interest in politics f % None 45 12,7 Little ,2 Some ,3 Much 45 12,7 Total The rate of Polish university students who feel much interested in politics is 12,7% while that of Polish university students who don t feel interested in politics is 12,7. And the highest rate belongs to those who feel some interested in politics. Table 8. Distribution of the study group by proving Turkey s EU membership. The attitude towards Turkey s EU membership Yes No No Idea Total f % f % f % f % 218

4 123 34, , , The rate of Polish university students who prove the Turkey s membership to EU is 34,8% (123). On the other hand, those who don t approve Turkey s membership has 24,6% share. And, 40,5% of the study group has no idea about the Turkey s EU membership process. Data Collection Tool In this study, a personal information form that is made of variables thought to be influential on participants global citizenship level and Global Citizenship Scale. developed by Morais and Ogden (2010) have been employed to determine global citizenship levels of Polish university students. The Global Citizenship Scale has three subdimensions : Social responsibility, Global competence and Global civic engagement. The coefficients of internal consistency reliability of the scale are as follows for the subdimensions:.60 for global responsibility,.69 for global competence and.86 for global civic engagement. The Global Citizenship Scale was translated into Polish and then explanatory factor analysis was carried out for the construct validity. The scale was proved to be reliable according to the results. Data Analysis Data obtained from the study was analyzed via SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) program. The answers to the 5 point likert scale have been interpreted as seen in the table below. Table 9. Score intervals used to interpret the averages. Score Intervals Grading Interpretation ,80 Strongly Disagree Very inadequate 1,81 2,60 Disagree Inadequate 2,61 3,40 Neutral Average 3,41 4,20 Agree Satisfactory 4,21-5,00 Strongly Agree Very Satisfactory Findings and Comments Table 10. reveals the fact that Polish university students total score from the scale equals to average (2,95). It is also recorded that Polish students has average (3,59) level of social responsibility while they have lower score of global competence (3,29). This finding suggests that Polish students have enough faith to take social responsibility but they don t have enough global competence to fulfill these responsibilities. The lowest score that Polish university students have is seen in global civic engagement dimension. (2,50 = inadequate). This finding highlights that Polish university students don t feel confident enough to take action for solving the global problems. Table 10. Global citizenship levels of Polish university students. Global Citizenship Scale Subdimensions N S Social Responsibility 353 3,59,690 Global Competence 353 3,29,575 Global Civic Engagement 353 2,50,754 TOTAL 353 2,95,484 As seen in Table 11. female students have higher scores in subdimensions of social responsibility and global civic engagement. Also female students have a higher total global citizenship score compare to male ones. As a result of these findings it is clear that female Polish university students have a better sense of global citizenship than male ones. They also have more social responsibility conscious and show more global civic engagement compared to male ones. 219

5 Table 11. t-test results of Polish university students global citizenship levels by gender variable What is striking to find is that income level makes no difference in university students global citizenship level. Table 12. shows in detail that neither subdimensions nor global citizenship total score has any correlation with income levels. Table 12. One way variant analysis of Polish university students global citizenship scores in terms of income level A significant difference has been found between the university education the students global citizenship scores except social responsibility subdimension (Table 13.). In other words those who believe the university education makes them feel more global citizen including global competence and global civic engagement. Table 13. t test results of the impact of university education on students global citizenship level. Table 14. gives interesting implications about the relationship between being a member of a NGO and global citizenship. First of all, as seen in the table, big majority of Polish university students (292 out of 353) aren t a member of a NGO. Secondly, those students who are a member of a NGO have a better sense of global citizenship sense including global 220

6 civic engagement dimension while those who aren t a member of a NGO feel more socially responsible. Here it can be suggested that being a member of a NGO make students feel more global citizen but it also fails to make them feel more socially responsible. Table 14. t test results of the impact of being a member of a NGO on students global citizenship level Table 15 gives us opinion about the correlation between being interested in politics and the level of global citizenship. According to the results seen in the table, there is a positive correlation between the interest in politics and global citizenship level. That being said, the more a students feel interested in politics, the better they feel global citizen. However, social responsibility dimension should be excluded from this correlation because not any significance has been found for social responsibility dimension. Table 15. One way variant analysis of Polish university students global citizenship scores in terms of interest in politics. The attitude towards to Turkey s EU membership has also been asked to the study group. Table 16 shows that those students who prove the membership of Turkey seems more global citizen including global competence and global civic engagement dimensions. In other words, except from social responsibility dimension, those proving the membership of Turkey have more global competence and global civic engagement, thus they have a better sense of global citizenship. 221

7 Table 16. One way variant analysis of Polish university students global citizenship scores in terms of proving Turkey s EU membership. Results, Discussion And Recommendations In this study these hypotheses have been tested; H1: There is a positive correlation between being a membership of a NGO, being interested in politics and global citizenship level. H2: Those proving the membership of Turkey have a higher level of global citizenship. H3: Gender makes a difference in global citizenship level. H4: The more family income a student have, the better s/he has a global citizenship level. H1: There is a positive correlation between being a membership of a NGO, being interested in politics and global citizenship level. True Table 15 gives us opinion about the correlation between being interested in politics and the level of global citizenship. According to the results seen in the table, there is a positive correlation between the interest in politics and global citizenship level. That being said, the more a students feel interested in politics, the better they feel global citizen. However, social responsibility dimension should be excluded from this correlation because not any significance has been found for social responsibility dimension. Table 14. gives interesting implications about the relationship between being a member of a NGO and global citizenship. First of all, as seen in the table, big majority of Polish university students (292 out of 353) aren t a member of a NGO. Secondly, those students who are a member of a NGO have a better sense of global citizenship sense including global civic engagement dimension while those who aren t a member of a NGO feel more socially responsible. Here it can be suggested that being a member of a NGO make students feel more global citizen but it also fails to make them feel more socially responsible. Firstly, it should be remembered that being interested in politics shows the awareness of contemporary issues in the world. Independent from ideological background, someone who is interested in politics is considered to know migration problem, conflicts, global and local inequalities are nowadays problems thanks to the speed of information flow and vanishing national-international distinction. At this point, those who are aware of the global concerns should be understood, in Kantian sense, to feel the violation of a Right in one place of the world (Kant, 2010). Taken from another perspective, those who are interested in politics are the closest group to think globally and act globally while those who aren t interested in politics tend to consider local issues. Also, NGO memberships are among the examples of what a citizen can do to be a global 222

8 citizen regardless of legal regulations (Dower, 2000). By being a member of a NGO that works for global purposes someone can take responsibility to solve global issues (Armstrong,2006) and this person can be considered as a global citizen in both structural and moral terms (Dower, 2000). The rate of Polish university students being a NGO is 17,3 % fieldwork research results supports this finding showing that only 20% of Polish young people have become a member in the last year (EU Commission Flash Eurobarometer 408, 2015). The weakness of civil society is also considered to be a negative impact on global citizenship level. Young people of 21 st century should be directed to NGOs and the factors that hinder Polish young people from being a member of a NGO should be revealed. H2: Those proving the membership of Turkey have a higher level of global citizenship. True Table 16 shows that those students who prove the membership of Turkey seems more global citizen including global competence and global civic engagement dimensions. In other words, except from social responsibility dimension, those proving the membership of Turkey have more global competence and global civic engagement, thus they have a better sense of global citizenship. The number of students who proves Turkey s membership is 123 (34,8 %) and this rate reflects approximately the EU average; in 2008 %31, in 2010 %30) EU Commission Standard Eurobarometer 74, 2010). What is more interesting is that 40,5 % of Polish university students have no idea about Turkey s membership process. This result is supported by the view that Polish ruling elites have no policy agenda to bring Turkey s membership to the public debate (Szymanski, 2009, Balcer, 2010, Biegaj 2012). In fact 73% of Polish sees Turkey belong to Europe geographically while 61 % of them sees Turkey belong to Europe historically in 2006 (EU Commission Eurobarometer 66, 2006). At this point it is worth to analyze what has changed since then. Turkey that has been in accession negotiations since 2005 is about to lose Poland in which public opinion does not reflect any prejudge against Turkey s membership today. This study reveals that there is a 40,5 % share who is waiting to be convinced or at least be informed about Turkey s EU membership process. If Turkey wishes to be a member of EU, it should effort more to inform and convince these Polish young people. H3: Gender makes a difference in global citizenship level. True Table 11. shows that female students have higher scores in subdimensions of social responsibility and global civic engagement. Also female students have a higher total global citizenship score compare to male ones. As a result of these findings it is clear that female Polish university students have a better sense of global citizenship than male ones. They also have more social responsibility conscious and show more global civic engagement compared to male ones. This gender difference should be studied in detail trying to understand why male Polish students have a weaker sense of global citizenship. H4: The more family income a student have, the better s/he has a global citizenship level. False One of the interesting result of the study is that income level makes no difference in university students global citizenship level. Table 12. shows in detail that neither subdimensions nor global citizenship total score have any correlation with income levels. It can be said that it is not a prerequisite for being a global citizen to have a certain level of income. Everybody from all income levels have a potential be a global citizen. It won t be incorrect to claim that the globalism wind has touched at every citizen of all income groups. Acknowledgements This research has been supported by Kastamonu University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Department. Project Number: KÜ-BAP01/2015. References [1] Armstrong, Chris (2006). Global Civil Society And The Question Of Global Citizenship. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, (17),4, [2] Balcer, Adam (2010) (ed.). Poland and the Czech Republic: Advocates of the EU Enlargement?. demoseuropa-centrum Strategii Europejskiej [3] Biegaj, Ursula, M. (2012). Polish Political Elite Opinion on Turkey s EU Acession, master thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 223

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