Democratic School Research Articles

Four person-ideas in a soul-searching internally persuasive discourse

The monologues presented in this article represent a particular Bakhtinian analysis of a transcript of a passionate, dramatic, and conflictual General Assembly meeting held in the first democratic school in Norway, the Experimental Gymnasium of Oslo (EGO), only two months after the school was opened, on November 2nd, 1967. In the meeting, they confronted each other with deep disagreements in their vision of the school and ways to govern it. The Bakhtinian assumption is that a dialogic analysis of any dialogue takes entering into dialogic relationships with the original participants in the analyzed dialogue (Matusov, Marjanovic-Shane, & Gradovski, 2019; Matusov, Marjanovic-Shane, Kullenberg, & Curtis, 2019). By taking the floor in the Soul-Searching Assembly, the students confronted each other fully from the bottom of their hearts and minds. Their ideas were embodied intentions, motives, reasons, and desires – what Bakhtin called the person-ideas (Bakhtin, 1999). I constructed four person-ideas based on the transcript of the Soul-searching assembly. In that process of dialogic abstraction, I attempted to distill specific points of view without depersonalizing them into abstract ideas thorn out of the living moment of their lives. The analysis through the construction of the four person-ideas complements a vignette I wrote based on the same transcript (Marjanovic-Shane, 2023b). It is both a distinctive kind of dialogic analysis, and it also helps me prepare the data regarding the students’ ideas for a further conceptual analysis, where I explore the students' ideological positions, beliefs, and worldviews. That conceptual analysis is published in a separate article of this special issue (Marjanovic-Shane, 2023a).

Democratic education and dialogic pedagogy: synergies and dissonances

This paper is a republication of an interview between Tina Kullenberg and Ana Marjanovic-Shane, published in the EARLI SIG 25 Interview Series: ”The role of theory and philosophy in Educational Science” (Kullenberg & Marjanovic-Shane, 2020)[2]. In the interview, the authors discuss the reasons democratic schools sometimes support but other times do not support or even limit dialogic pedagogy. In the interview conducted by Tina Kullenberg, Marjanovic-Shane makes a distinction between schooling and education. Finally, in the face of global development, while sharing her comprehensive experiences over time and cultures, Marjanovic-Shane critically reflects on predominant approaches to education and the organization of schooling.

Democratic practice and curriculum objectives: Paul Hirst’s visit to Summerhill

Abstract This paper revisits the battle between Summerhill School and the Department for Education and Employment following the damning Ofsted inspection in 1999 that demanded changes to the school’s practice. The focus of the discussion is Paul Hirst’s involvement in the subsequent inspection of Summerhill following the school’s victory against Ofsted in their 2000 appeal at the Independent Schools Tribunal. Drawing on contemporary commentaries on the Ofsted inspection and the court case, alongside Hirst’s work on curriculum and early criticisms of this work, I explore what is meant by ‘a broad and balanced curriculum’—a phrase that lay at the heart of Ofsted’s case against Summerhill. The discussion will question some of the commonly posited oppositions between ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ education, and will suggest that such a framing of the issues is an unhelpful way to understand the radical challenge posed by democratic schools such as Summerhill. In focusing on the daily life and ethos of Summerhill as part of an attempt to build and nurture a democratic community, I explore the possibility that Summerhill’s broad conception of learning and curriculum, reflected in the school’s organization and ethos, lends itself to a less narrow and more socially oriented conception of curriculum that is in line with Hirst’s later work on social practices.

Understanding the democratic promise of the city

Looking at current theoretical approaches to democracy and the city, this article deepens our understanding of the democratic relevance of cities. It suggests four ideals of the democratic city which are labelled the city as a school of democracy, the urban cosmopolis, the city as a commons and the sustainable city. Tracing commonalities between the ideals, while avoiding their pitfalls, the article develops an argument for understanding the democratic promise of the city by linking John Dewey’s concept of democratic action as experimental problem-solving to the spatiality of the city. Building on Dewey, the article introduces the concept of urban experimentalism and points out prospects for a spatialized understanding of democracy and pathways for democratizing urban space.

On a Mission to Break Ground for a More Democratic School System

The importance of building democratic competency in the face of current global challenges cascades down into national curricula. Illustratively, in 2020, Norway introduced a new national curriculum that conveyed an expectation that students should experience a democratic school society in practice. In response to this new curriculum, in 2019, an upper secondary school in Norway decided to embark on a mission to develop and implement a new pedagogical model. The ambition was to increase the students’ sense of codetermination and participation in school, the local community, and society at large. Subsequently, an interdisciplinary pedagogical model has been in development at the school, in which the subject content is organized according to overarching topics. These topics are presented to students as quests called learning missions. Through in-depth interviews with teachers and leaders currently working on developing the new pedagogical method at the school, the current article investigates the challenges and opportunities the participants encountered in this process. The data have been coded through a stepwise deductive-induction method and analyzed using Bernstein’s concepts of classification and frame. The participants identified the inflexible organizational structures of the school—such as the school administrative system, the building, assessments, and the set timetable—as aspects that made it challenging for the school to depart from the dissemination-based approach to education. Inversely, the implementation of interdisciplinary topics in the Norwegian National Curriculum is one example of a structural change that the participants thought had opened up more flexibility. However, the participants experienced that this flexibility was not extended into the regulations controlling how time is spent in school or the assessment forms. Hence the article concludes that structural changes are necessary to enable the growth of pedagogical models that can increase students’ codetermination, active participation, and real-life experiences in schools.

Abandoning children to their participation? A rights-based analysis of the strong participation ethos in democratic (open) schools’ disciplinary procedures

Democratic (open) schools are founded on an ethos that sanctifies human rights and an egalitarian relationship between children and adults. Accordingly, students participate in all types of decisions, including those relating to disciplining their peers. This study explored the disciplinary procedures in three democratic schools, all operating participatory disciplinary committees in which students and educators serve as adjudicators. Drawing on interviews with students, parents, and teachers, the findings identified three types of conflicts, describing collective participation rights as potentially impinging on individual students’ rights to privacy, protection, and participation. The schools mitigated some of these conflicts by modifying the disciplinary protocol and providing students with guidance. The conclusions account for the ramifications of an uncritical whole-school approach to participation.

ԺՈՂՈՎՐԴԱՎԱՐԱԿԱՆ ԱՐԺԵՔՆԵՐԻ ՀԱՆԴԵՊ ՎԵՐԱԲԵՐՄՈՒՆՔԻ ՁԵՎԱՎՈՐՈՒՄՆ ԱՆԳԼԵՐԵՆԻ ՀԱՂՈՐԴԱԿՑԱԿԱՆ ՈՒՍՈՒՑՄԱՆ ԳՈՐԾԸՆԹԱՑՈՒՄ / FORMATION OF ATTITUDES TO DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

The article deals with the problem of perception and evaluation of democracy as a sustainable value among students in the process of communicative English teaching. The recognition and achievement of democratic values, first of all, contributes to the formation of an independent personality, who values justice, equality, the rule of law, who speaks several languages and is able to communicate and act in the modern multilingual and multicultural world. The work specifically clarifies the idea that the school has ceased to be just a source of knowledge. Knowledge is not the only criterion and does not make a person competitive in the world. It is considered as a way to achieve the set of goals. Emphasis is placed on the formation of a number of skills, competences and values along with knowledge. Taking into account the fact that the phenomenon is still new in the Republic, the practical implementation of democracy in school requires consistent work. The principles and process of teaching, as well as the applied language material, should be aimed at providing practical results. The article reveals some possible tasks that, in our opinion, can be used in the classroom in the process of teaching English to form students' attitudes to democratic values.

Caciques e repressão perante o modelo laico das escolas fundadas da América pela emigração Galega (1923-1936)

ABSTRACT Between the last part of the XIX century and the first decades of the XX, in a context of intense European emigration, hundreds of thousands of Galician men and women moved massively to diverse regions of America. Despite the harsh conditions of departure the new situation offered positive elements such as, among others, political awareness, its influence on the mutualist associationism and the ethnic solidarity in the place of origin by means of schooling projects intended for popular classes; in some cases, inspired on the modern educational reformist trends that advocated a lay and democratic school. This produced situations of conflict with the local conservative parties, deriving from persecution campaigns during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) and a more intense repression from the military rebellion and during the period of the Spanish War (1936-1939). This work focusses on the labour of the societies of instruction, members of the Federation of Galician, Agricultural and Cultural Societies of Buenos Aires (Argentina).The consultation of diverse bibliographical newspaper press archives from that period enables us to reconstruct the scenario of persecution and repression in its area of influence, as an example of the perpetrated in general terms in other places in the rest of the country, and of which were victims the promotors of the schooling projects as well as their teachers, the pupils and their respective families.

Experiências, percepções e expectativas de estudantes na escola gerencialista da rede estadual paulista

Abstract This paper analyses the students’ experience in relation to schools occupancy movements in 2015 and their perceptions and opinions on educational policy of the State of São Paulo from 1995 to 2018. We conducted a documentary and bibliographic research on São Paulo’s educational policy and interviews with former high school students who participated in schools occupancy. The concept of “experience” is used for the analysis of empirical material and the notion of New Public Management (NPM) under the influence of neoliberalism is used to understand educational policy. We verified that students, based on their experiences, formulated criticisms and expectations regarding the programs and projects of the São Paulo State Secretariat of Education (SEE-SP). They are criticisms that defend a universal, plural and democratic school as opposed to managerialism and the New Public Management.

Feasibility of Inclusive Education in Greece: Current Challenges, Difficulties, and Opportunities

Statements made by major governmental and non-governmental bodies and organizations (UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, and the World Bank), members of various governments, and during significant historical conferences (Dakar, 2000, Amman, 1996, and Jomtien, 1990) emphasized the importance of ‘Education for All’. This is a message that reflects the spirit and philosophy of inclusive education, an education free of discrimination, barriers, limitations, and stigmatization; an education guided by respect, acceptance, solidarity, and understanding. The aim of this article is to introduce the concept of Inclusive Education, and to emphasize the significance of educational transformations and modifications to be made in order to promote and implement inclusive education in schools. In addition, the barriers and advantages/benefits are discussed, and inclusive policies and practices that contribute to the creation of a more democratic school are presented. According to the analysis of this topic, many important actions must be taken in order to achieve inclusive education in each school in Greece.

The public school in the light of democratic management: the construction of protagonist training

The construction of citizenship does not represent only a human aspiration, but a struggle for a dignified existence and for the opportunity to fight the deep inequalities that weaken society. Education has an important role in the formation of principles and values through the practices arising from school daily life, once the school adopts this perspective prioritizing democratic and participatory management, these aspects contemplated in the school project may represent an important tool for the construction of citizenship and youth protagonism in the school environment. Therefore, the present work aims to analyze the construction of citizenship having as a conception the implantation of democratic management and youth protagonism in the school environment. The research corpus was worked with studies on the construction of the democratic school, as theoretical reference we have Freire (1967; 1974); Gadotti (1992); Benevides (1994), from a methodological point of view, the study takes a qualitative, bibliographic and documentary approach. The results of the study indicate that the guidelines that guide schools and are responsible for providing an education based on the formation of citizenship face challenges and advances, and that the model must be constantly revised, in order to meet the objectives of an education for citizen formation.

Le regard des mères sur le bien-être des enfants fréquentant une école Démocratique

Cet article interroge, à partir d’entretiens semi-directifs menés auprès de six mères, l’application des facteurs génériques propices au bien-être et propres à l’environnement scolaire, mis en place au sein d’une école Démocratique (ED) belge. Par ce biais, cette recherche s’intéresse à l’environnement spécifique de cette école, à l’implication parentale et au développement des compétences psychosociales des enfants. Cette analyse qualitative met en évidence une spécificité propre aux écoles Démocratiques belges qu’est l’école parentale, incluant ainsi les parents dans la vie active de l’établissement. S’ensuit, l’étude des pratiques et des outils éducatifs, tels que la gouvernance partagée, la communication non violente ou encore la liberté d’action, qui peuvent être considérés, au vu de la littérature, comme des facteurs propices au bien-être.

REGULAÇÃO POR RESULTADOS E RECONFIGURAÇÕES EM ARRANJOS INSTITUCIONAIS ENDEREÇADOS AO GOVERNO DEMOCRÁTICO DA EDUCAÇÃO

ABSTRACT: In the context of the growing implementation of accountability measures in basic education identified with policies of regulation by results, this paper analyzes possible reconfigurations of institutional arrangements to account for democratic school government in terms of participation and social control. We conducted this documental research in two Brazilian capitals (Fortaleza [CE] and Palmas [TO]). We surveyed, examined, and systematized target documents, guidelines, measures, and conditions for the democratic government of public basic education, which were in line with result-based regulation policies carried out since the 2000s. Nonetheless, we conclude that the ensemble of changes in each capital may indicate some favoring of the institutional conditions of participation and social control. However, we highlight that the suggested potential of these changes seems to lose power when faced with a political-institutional framework that emphasizes measures identified with policies of regulation by results.

O Organizar de Práticas de Gestão de Atividades Artísticas e Culturais em uma Escola pública

Abstract This paper aims to analyze the organizing of art and culture management practices in a federal education institute. To that end, we utilize the contributions of two epistemological approaches, organizing and the practice lens. The study is characterized as qualitative research, developed in two main steps: an exploratory step, which involves the analysis of documents and two projective interviews; and a field immersion step, characterized by participant observation and by the analysis of management practices in the implantation of an Art and Culture Nucleus at the studied institute. As a result, an organizing approach articulated with art and culture management practices enables one to understand school management in a less orthodox manner in opposition to the usual binarism of the school management research field, which involves the disputes between elements and ideologies of the traditional school management and the democratic school management approaches. The study contributes by characterizing the process of re-signification of material aspects in the practice of school management, which makes it possible to problematize the use of administrative planning and the role of contextuality in the attribution of competences of group dynamics, and to point out the effects of decision-making in school management.

Pedagogical Mediation in the Theory and Practice of Modern Education

The article examines the development of pedagogical mediation as one of the most effective socio-pedagogical directions of conflict resolution among participants in educational legal relations, corresponding to the principles of a modern democratic school. The main tasks of pedagogical mediation are defined, including ensuring the protection of the rights of teachers of students and their parents, creating conditions for the organization of a safe educational space, providing all participants in educational legal relations with equal opportunities and protecting their interests. Regulation of the rights, duties and responsibilities of participants in the educational process is presented in the form of normative consolidation of their legal status in an educational organization using pedagogical mediation technologies. The importance of mastering the technologies of pedagogical mediation by a teacher – specialist of the reconciliation service, his acceptance of the values and principles of the restorative approach as a factor of successful resolution of a wide range of conflict situations in the field of education is substantiated. The structure of the teacherʼs mediation activity is considered, in which constructive-modeling, organizational, communicative, socio-legal components are highlighted. Pedagogical mediation is presented in the form of a system of interdependent and interrelated components that provide social and legal protection of participants in educational legal relations. It is established that the criterion for the effectiveness of a teacherʼs mediation activity is the level of formation of his corresponding readiness, expressed in a focus on the implementation of the protective function and including interrelated and interdependent components: motivational, cognitive, procedural, creative and analytical.

Democratic School Management and Social Capital

Social capital is the constructive potential of motivation, initiative and activation that emerges in the context of trust, solidarity, collaboration and goodwill. The potential for social capital to generate benefits for both individuals and organizations makes it worth investigating in order to better understand the processes that bring it into existence. This research assumes that democratic sub-processes in the organizational context will contribute to the development of social capital. Democracy, as an ideal of humanity, can contribute to the development of social capital since it allows people to express their own ideas, takes them into account, offers negotiation conditions in line with ethical and fair principles, requires information sharing and gives confidence. Commitment to democratic values in school management can make individuals feel safe and facilitate relationships. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the effects of democratic practices such as critical participation, transparency, justice, equality and accountability on the development of social capital. Research findings offer important implications for the effects of democratic processes on social capital development.

Leadership matters in democratic education: Calibrating the role of Principal in one democratic school

Abstract Through a series of conversations, Fintan McCutcheon and Joanna Haynes explore McCutcheon's reflections on school leadership in the contexts of the Educate Together movement (in the Republic of Ireland) and, specifically, in his aspiration to build an optimally democratic school in Balbriggan. Much of the academic and professional literature on school leadership depicts the role of school leaders as expressing a strong vision for the school, with charismatic communication and strategic skills, and putting explicit emphasis on high educational standards. On the ground, the school leader is required to maintain executive governance standards, is accountable to a range of hierarchies and audiences and is in a custodian role to traditions of school culture and human resource relationships. Taken together, these academic, professional and contractual obligations can corral the school leader into practice of limited scope, obstructed by protocol, risk-averse and curtailed in creativity and, in relation to developing a democratic school, lacking in the necessary room for innovation. The conversation focuses on the rough ground of incident and messiness, identified through critical moments of school life when the aspirations to be democratic, to lead democratically, to teach democracy and to create a sustaining democratic school culture are lived-out. Through this dialogue, the conversants observe a practice of school leadership grounded in practical reason. The dialogue touches on and threads congruence between the on-the-ground risk-taking, rule-breaking, action orientation, nuanced dialogue, passionate engagement and deep reflection that characterise day-to-day school leadership practice. It concludes with ideas concerning the dynamics of forms of democracy that can prevail.

Strengthening Urban Community Resilience against Extremism: Culture and Heritage as a Tool

The paper focuses on the concept of resilience in an urban environment in a broad perspective. In times of growing extremism and radicalisation – both in virtual and real worlds – it becomes crucial to build resilient communities through strategies and practices that lead to strengthening social cohesion and social bridging between various groups including minorities. The paper examines a case of the middle-size Slovak city of Banská Bystrica, which was the first (and so far the only) regional capital in Slovakia where a neo-Nazirepresentative became a governor in legimate regional elections in 2013. It focuses on activities of local activists and volunteers and the grassroots movement Not in Our Town aimed at preventing and countering the growth of radicalisation and extremism in local and regional communities. Part of the movement’s activities (such as Schools for Democracy or a multicultural festival Embargo) are based on cultural and heritage-based actions that tend to address and connect various groups living in the city and make them resilient to extremism, racism, antisemitism and xenophobia.

Professional Learning Communities and Democratic Ideals: The Influence of John Dewey

This paper conceptualizes as well as theorizes how Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) demonstrate democratic principles using John Dewey’s philosophy of education and democracy. The study reviewed the meaning of democracy and its characteristics and highlighted PLCs as social spaces for building democracy in schools. Also, the study explored whether a relationship existed between PLCs and democracy as ideally conceived. The reason behind this exploration was to ascertain whether the environment created in schools and the activities of teachers in their PLC groups serve as core components of establishing PLCs. The study revealed that the formation and implementation of PLCs truly illuminate democratic principles because all teachers take an active part in discussions and deliberations in matters affecting them; members remain committed to the course of the group and the school system because they feel as part; respect and tolerate the views of others, especially minority views and; take part in the decision-making process of the group. The nurturing of these ideals develops informed democratic citizens who would be capable of influencing local, state, and national level decisions and policies. These principles could also be passed on to their students.

The Mediating Role of Peer Attachment between Affective School Environment and Children’s Behavior Problems

This study aims to examine the mediating role of peer attachment between affective school environments and the problematic behaviors of children using data from the Panel Study on Korean Children 10th wave (2017). Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, Sobel test, and bootstrapping versification were performed using SPSS 28.0 and Process Macro 28.0. The results indicate that controlled and rigid school environments were negatively associated with peer attachment and positively associated with both internal and external behavior problems. Furthermore, peer attachment was negatively associated with both internal and external behavioral problems. Peer attachment completely mediated the link between affective school environments and internal behavioral problems, and partially mediated the link between affective school environments and external behavioral problems. These results show the important role of supportive and democratic school environments regarding peer attachment.