Abstract. Cultivating students to become critical, reflective, productive, and responsible members of society with a strong civic competence is the groundwork for forming nation builders. This research assesses the civic literacy of grade six Social Studies students in terms of personal responsibility, civic responsibility, leadership efficacy, civic thinking skills, civic participation skills, sense of community, and civic knowledge, and how do grade school teachers integrate civic literacy in their Social Studies lesson in a private basic education institution in Mandaue City, Philippines. Employing a mixed-method design, the study assesses 186 Grade 6 students’ civic literacy across dimensions such as personal responsibility, civic responsibility, and leadership efficacy with a strong understanding of civic knowledge. While there are no significant differences in civic literacy based on sex or religion for most areas, leadership efficacy does show notable variation between Catholic and non-Catholic respondents. Additionally, integrating civic literacy in social studies lessons relies on real-life experiences in instruction, nurturing accountability and responsibility, contextualized learning, professional development, and resource utilization. The findings contribute to the existing literature by providing empirical data on the civic literacy levels of elementary students in the Philippine private school context while emphasizing the importance of culturally and contextually responsive pedagogies and highlighting actionable strategies for enhancing civic engagement at the basic education level.

Keywords: Civic education; Civic literacy; Leadership efficacy; Personal responsibility; Student engagement.