‘삶의 양식으로서 민주주의’를 경험하는 학급자치회의

Abstract

Purpose: To make the class an experience of becoming a space for democratic life, this study designed the operating principles of a self-governing council that can foster democratic citizenship and analyzed how students experience democracy while conducting self-governing meetings according to theestablished rules.
 Methods: The researcher employed an action research method and analyzed data from a total often self-governance meeting transcripts, student records, and in-depth interview materials.
 Results: As students formed a strong cooperative relationship with teachers, they recognized themselves as partners with teachers possessing decision-making authority, and demonstrated a tendency to treat each other as equal citizens while experiencing mutual respect among students. The agendaof the classroom self-governance meetings exhibited a shift from passive and constraining autonomy to proactive autonomy involving discussions on structural constraints. The dialogue culture formed through nonviolent dialogue and the circle process helped to form and maintain an attitude to accept various values and position, along with attitude of mutual respect and treating each other as equal citizens.
 Conclusion: As students experienced democracy in their school lives, they recognized themselves as agents of school transformation and became agents of innovation capable of reshaping the school community. Therefore, effective democratic citizenship education should be integrated into teachertraining, and the national curriculum should be meticulously designed to facilitate students' growth as democratic citizens within their school lives.