Ancient methods & modern memes: using Socratic circles and TikTok within classes to democratise your teaching

Abstract

Democratic education remains a contentious and much strived for goal within teaching practice. What is most often lacking are the precise tools and techniques that might be combined to make this democratic goal a reality within schools. Considerations of democratic approaches to education within the literature are frequently theoretical, but practically quite limited. Moving from a highly theoretical space to a practical approach ready to be applied within a modern classroom, this paper will explore a confluence of teaching approaches that might make democratic education possible. The techniques, tools and platforms provided for consideration by teachers and lecturers here are grouped around three core themes: accessibility; relevance and efficiency to generate and allow a space that is democratic in nature. The tools for accessibility are: Instructional Video; Assistive technologies; and Generative Artificial Intelligence. Whilst for relevance: YouTube and TikTok are explored. In regards to efficiency: Flipped Learning, Retrieval practice and Method of Loci are discussed. And when honing in on the democratic nature of classroom spaces Socratic circles and a broadly Socratic approach are key. By combining these techniques this paper will propose a highly practical, modern method for producing a democratic classroom, with notes on how teachers might be able to carve out space and thinking to defend their choices and the logic behind combining these techniques to address modern students' needs and requirements.