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This article examines achievement motivation in connection with the political knowledge of upper secondary level pupils at German vocational grammar schools. The influence of achievement motivation in civic courses has been scarcely researched so far. In the expectancy-value model, expectations of success are important determinants of action in relation to academic achievements. Pupils' expectations of success or failure in civics courses have a behaviour-regulating function. They influence pupils' behaviour when learning about politics. In the cross-sectional survey of 470 pupils, results show lasting effects from an approach motivation ("hope of success") and an avoidance motivation ("fear of failure") studied. The data of this study confirmed the influence of achievement motivation in civics courses on the school-related political knowledge. While cultural capital makes no significant difference in the extent of the motivational constructs, a migrant background showed moderate but inconsistent effects and gender had clear negative effects for the girls. In this study, it was shown that based on the theoretical foundation described, the theory of domain-specific competency can be combined with the achievement motivation in Civics.

Political education in school is aimed at preparing adolescents for their role as citizens, which comprises political participation as well as political knowledge. While it is generally agreed that basic knowledge about politics is a prerequisite to participation, the specific link between knowledge and participation is left unclear in normative theories of democracy and didactic approaches of political education. A study with 1324 German ninth graders tries to clarify the relationship between the two constructs. The findings show a positive effect from knowledge to the expressed willingness to participate in politics in the future. But against the expectations, already performed political participation does not increase knowledge about politics. Furthermore, girls and pupils with migration background show less knowledge and express less willingness to participate.

Very little research has been conducted on the contribution of political education to learning progress in Germany. Hence, there is a need for intervention studies measuring performance against the theoretical background of a political competence model. This model comprises three constructs: subject knowledge, motivation and attitudes. According to this model, politics lessons should not only convey knowledge but also arouse subject interest, promote political attitudes and develop problem-solving skills. This study investigates how knowledge acquisition is influenced by intervention using theory-oriented teaching materials on the European Union, intervention using conventional textbooks on the European Union and politics lessons without any reference to the European Union. It further asks how the performance-related self-concept and subject interest in political issues impact political knowledge and whether civic virtue and trust in the system are related to it. The sample comprises 1071 pupils. Theory-oriented politics classes lead to greater growth of pupils' knowledge than in the control group. As anticipated, this study proves that a positive subject-specific self-concept impacts knowledge. The examination of political attitudes reveals a positive correlation between civic virtue and knowledge. There is no connection between trust in the political system and knowledge.

This study investigates the effectiveness of political science classes in Germany. It analyzes whether or not 1,071 students in the 9th and 10th grade showed increases in knowledge after participating in the lesson series. This analysis focuses on the competence dimension "subject-specific content knowledge" as well as on the motivational predispositions "academic self-concept" and "interest in politics." It also examines the instructional characteristics "inclusion of students" and "cognitive activation" from the students' perspective. One's academic self-concept and interest in politics, as well as cognitively activating instruction, have a moderately positive effect upon educational success. Social inclusion correlates with all constructs except subject-specific content knowledge.