The effect of classroom diversity on tolerance and participation in England, Sweden and Germany

items each. The indices have been created by the Cived methodological experts and
represent internally coherent scales which are conceptually equivalent across the three
countries (see Schultz 2004, pp.105-119). Both indices have an international mean value
of ten. The index tapping participation has alpha reliabilities of .77 for England, .72 for
Germany and .76 for Sweden and combines items asking respondents about their future
political participation:

When you are an adult, what do you expect that you will do?’

1. ‘Join a political party’

2. ‘Write letters to a newspaper about social or political concerns’

3. ‘Be a candidate for a local or city office’

Categories: ‘I will certainly not do this’, ‘I will probably not do this’, ‘I will
probably do this’, ‘I will certainly do this’.

The higher the value on this index the higher the stated willingness of the respondent to
participate later in life. Although participatory intentions are not the same as action, many
studies suggest that they are at least indicative of subsequent behavior (Campbell 2007).

The index tapping ethnic tolerance has alpha reliabilities of .90 for England, .89
for Germany and .90 for Sweden and consists of the following five items:

(1) ‘Immigrants should have the opportunity to keep their own language’

(2) ‘Immigrants’ children should have the same opportunities for education that other
children in the country have’

(3) ‘Immigrants who live in a country for several years should have the opportunity to
vote in elections’

(4) ‘Immigrants should have the opportunity to keep their own customs and lifestyle’
(5) ‘Immigrants should have all the same rights that everyone else in a country has’
Categories: ‘strongly disagree’, ‘disagree’, ‘agree’, ‘strongly agree’.

The first and the fourth item clearly tap into the notion of respect for and positive
acceptance of out-group cultures, which is what ethnic tolerance is essentially about for

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