Nina Kolleck

1. Young people are growing up in a world increasingly defined by crisis and uncertainty. From the COVID-19 pandemic and climate anxiety to war, misinformation, and political polarization, youth fa...

Citizenship education (CE) has gained renewed significance in educational policy, research, and practice amid democratic backsliding, polarization, inequality, and shrinking civic space, referring ...

This paper argues that educational change can no longer be understood as a process confined to schools, policy systems, and formal educational institutions. As young people’s learning, orientation, and experiences of recognition are increasingly shaped within social media environments, educational change unfolds under conditions that extend beyond institutional control. Drawing on social network perspectives, the paper introduces the concept of digital closeness to describe forms of connection that are experienced as immediate and continuous, yet remain unstable, visibility-dependent, and shaped by platform dynamics. The paper shows how social media environments reorganize educational processes by shifting learning from instruction to exposure, orientation toward visibility, and recognition toward attention. It then argues that these changes transform the mechanisms of educational change itself. Under conditions of digital closeness, change becomes more selective, volatile, decentered, and fragmented. Rather than emerging primarily through formal implementation, educational change increasingly depends on the circulation, uptake, and stabilization of ideas, norms, and practices across networked environments. The paper concludes by suggesting that research on educational change needs to broaden its analytical frameworks beyond institutions and attend to the wider relational and platform-mediated ecologies in which educational processes increasingly unfold.

Social media platforms differ in how visibility and social feedback are structured, potentially exposing users to varying levels of social evaluation and reward contingencies. We conceptualize algorithmic recognition as a platform-level affordance through which algorithmic curation and quantifiable feedback (e.g., likes, views, follower counts) make social recognition salient, continuous, and comparable. Drawing on the digital stress framework, we examined whether platform use of algorithmically curated platforms is associated with psychological distress and problematic smartphone use (PSU). Using probability-based sample data from Germany (N = 2,042; ages 14–29), we estimated structural equation models testing both indirect pathways via distress and direct associations with PSU. Use of highly visual, feedback-saturated platforms (Instagram, TikTok) was positively associated with distress and PSU, whereas messaging-oriented platform use (WhatsApp) showed substantially weaker associations. Distress partially mediated associations between platform use and PSU, while significant direct effects remained, consistent with additional reward-based engagement mechanisms. Findings suggest that psychologically salient platform affordances shaping visibility and feedback may be more informative for understanding youth distress and dysregulated smartphone use than global indicators such as overall screen time.

Zusammenfassung: Das politische Informationsverhalten junger Menschen in Deutschland hat sich in den letzten Jahren stark gewandelt. Insbesondere während der Corona-Pandemie sind soziale Beziehungen vermehrt in digitale soziale Netzwerke umgezogen. Diese sozialen Medien haben zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen und stellen nicht zuletzt auch im Kontext des russischen Überfalls auf die Ukraine eine unregulierte Informationsquelle zu politischen Themen dar. Bislang mangelt es jedoch an systematischen Analysen des komplexen politischen Informationsverhaltens junger Menschen in Bezug auf demokratiegefährdende Einstellungen. Der Beitrag untersucht politische Informationstypen unter jungen Menschen im Alter von 16 bis 29 Jahren auf Grundlage einer geschlechts- und bundeslandrepräsentativen Stichprobe ( N = 3244). Mittels latenter Profilanalyse und multipler Regressionsanalysen werden vier Profile des politischen Informationsverhaltens unter jungen Menschen identifiziert und deren Zusammenhang mit der Zustimmung zu Verschwörungserzählungen über den Krieg in der Ukraine analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass junge Menschen, die sich hauptsächlich über Internetquellen und soziale Medien über Politik informieren, die geringste Zustimmung zu Verschwörungserzählungen aufweisen, während ein generell sowohl niedriges als auch ausgeprägtes Informationsverhalten mit einer hohen Neigung zu Verschwörungserzählungen zusammenhängt. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass medienpädagogische Ansätze, die sowohl traditionelle als auch digitale Medienkompetenz fördern, essenziell sind, um junge Menschen gegen Verschwörungserzählungen zu sensibilisieren.

Education is widely regarded as a driver of social mobility, yet persistent structural barriers continue to hinder full participation, particularly for marginalized students. This article proposes a multi-level model of educational participation that integrates structural, relational, and psychological dimensions. Drawing on recent empirical studies, it demonstrates how teacher expectations, peer dynamics, and institutional logics interact to shape inclusion and exclusion in schools. The model highlights how implicit bias, school culture, and curricular design either reinforce or dismantle systemic barriers to participation. By synthesizing insights from educational research, the article identifies evidence-based strategies—such as stereotype-awareness training, inclusive pedagogy, and network-based support—that can foster sustainable inclusion. The model serves both as an analytical tool and as a framework for practice-oriented reform.