Democratic School Research Articles

Experiencia Escolar, Diversidad y Ciudadanía Justa. Un Estudio Biográfico-Narrativo

The changes experienced by society over the last decades have shaped a new educational paradigm in which inclusive education stands as one of its badges. However, there have been diverse educational challenges –experiences of exclusion, segregation and integration– that we have had to face until we have reached an educational model closer to the concepts of democratic school, social justice and fair citizenship. The aim of the paper is to know the situations of exclusion, segregation, integration and inclusion experienced by Isabel and Emmit in the educational context. A biographical-narrative methodology has been used, starting from sixteen in-depth interviews. The narratives give us a closer look at the school experiences of segregation and integration or inclusion which created in both of them a sense of difference and discomfort at school. In the same way, we find school experiences of inclusion which were answered by teaching actions of recognition, social and academic participation, commitment and shared responsibilities. Isabel and Emmit's stories show how inclusive school practices have been more solicitous with their abilities and potentials, an aspect that has contributed to their social and school well-being.

Does Democratic School Management Bring Innovations into Hyukshin School in Seoul?

Does Democratic School Management Bring Innovations into Hyukshin School in Seoul?

The complexity of landscape ideas and the issue of landscape democracy in school and non-formal education: exploring pedagogical practices in Italy

ABSTRACT Landscape-related pedagogical initiatives present a multifaceted panorama of assumptions, approaches and goals, with some contradictions and commonalities. They reflect, on one hand, the theoretical ambiguity and inherent tensions of the concept of landscape itself and, on the other hand, the different institutional approaches to landscape management. This paper discusses the results of a national survey conducted in Italy on landscape-related initiatives in non-professional education. Five landscape ideas on which educational projects are grounded emerged from the analysis: ‘anthropic and lived landscape’, ‘perceived and green landscape’, ‘landscape as an arena’, ‘heritage landscape’ and ‘natural landscape’. This diversity proves the need for theoretical frameworks and methodological tools in educational contexts to address the complexity of landscape through an insightful reading. In particular, we focus on the ‘landscape as an arena’ idea and explore its limits and potentialities in relation to the debate on landscape power and democracy.

Education for democracy or democratic education?

This article examines the phenomenon of democratic education and the role of democratization of education in modern society. The subject of this research define the main goal: it is necessary to assess the level of impact of democratic education upon the formation of critical thinking among younger generation. Within the framework of this article, analysis was conducted on the theoretical works of the researchers of humanities, legislative documents and reports dedicated to the questions of education policy. The author also covers the examples of practical implementation of the principles of democratic education in history and modernity; as well as considers the experience of such democratic schools and Summerhill and Sudbury Valley. The conclusion is made that the principles of democratic schools are not always widely implemented in the society. However, despite the criticism of democratic education worldwide, the principles of democratization of education are used ubiquitously from elementary education to higher education. This is testified by the examples of the successfully functioning democratic schools. Namely democratic and democratized education lay the foundation for upbringing of the national members of civil society due to the flexibility and adjustment of education to the needs of modern society. Such school can be justifiably considered as one of the best models for the development of critical thinking among younger generation due to holistic development of children.

Control and agency in student–teacher relations: a cross–cultural perspective on Finnish and Korean comprehensive schools

ABSTRACT Drawing on a cross-cultural, qualitative study in Finnish and Korean comprehensive schools, we explore how teacher control and student agency are manifested and exercised in the teaching and learning practices of the “official school” and in the student–teacher interactions of the “informal school”. We also elaborate on how students reflect on control and agency. Bernstein’s concepts of framing and classification are employed as a theoretical lens with which to examine control, agency and hierarchy. Data consists of school observations and interviews with students aged 12 to 14 and their teachers, conducted in six schools. The findings indicate that student agency is intensively constrained in their participation in teaching-learning practices. The analysis also reveals a paradox where students do not welcome increasing their agency through student-oriented lessons. Moreover, the controlling and caring roles of teachers and the exertion and limitation of student agency appear differently in the Finnish and Korean schools studied. Students seem to desire a refined balance between control and agency while revealing conforming and self-critical attitudes towards the school system and teacher control. Finally, our analyses of control, agency and hierarchy among school members leads this article into a discussion of democratic school culture from a cross-cultural perspective.

Gestão escolar democrática: dimensão diretiva aos processos educacionais significativos

O presente artigo disserta sobre a importância de ações significativas e colaborativas para o avanço dos processos educativos no ambiente escolar, no contexto da gestão escolar democrática. O objetivo deste estudo é refletir sobre a importância da gestão escolar democrática como ponto de partida para que as ideias de planejamento, organização e envolvimento de atores sociais fortaleça a busca por transformações propositivas e positivas na qualidade do ensinar-aprender. Como metodologia utilizou-se a pesquisa bibliográfica para a análise dessa temática tomando como referência a abordagem qualitativa que promove breves considerações acerca da relevância da gestão escolar no campo educacional, bem como sobre a importância da construção coletiva democrática das decisões da organização escola. Desse modo, os instrumentos foram livros, artigos periódicos e leis para esta pesquisa de cunho qualitativo. Os resultados evidenciam que repensar as práticas educativas, o planejamento, a organização e o envolvimento de atores sociais numa elaboração conjunta, fomenta mecanismos favorecedores de melhorias na formação educativa de qualidade e lhes dá sentido. Conclui-se que a pesquisa permitiu a percepção de que a gestão escolar democrática escolar é um ponto fulcral na formação da educação para a democracia, sob um aspecto solidário e integrador.

Gender perspective as a dimension of democracy in schools

Otherness, the recognition of the non-hegemonic other, is one of the dimensions to work on in the construction of democracy in schools. In this article, we analyse the relationship between sex and gender, and democracy, based on case analysis of five preschool and primary education centres in Catalonia. In each centre, democracy occupies a prominent place in the educational project. The main finding emphasizes that these centres, where democracy is a cornerstone, seldom consider the dimension of gender perspective. Therefore, gender equality policies, increasingly present in the guidelines and legislation of educational administrations, have little impact. However, in one of the centres analyzed, the democratic project is linked to social transformation, which does include gender relations. This is an example of implementation, from the bottom up, based on the reflection and participation of the entire educational community.

Democracy and Democratic Education: Searches and Concerns

The main axis of this study includes the analysis of democracy as a political system and as a social mechanism and way of life, the reflection on the crisis of democracy today and the causes of its challenge, as well as the definition of democratic education as a determining factor in shaping the democratic citizen with active citizenship.Democracy as a political system in modern industrial societies became popular because of its association with the socio-economic system and the dissemination of democratic ways of living people by the media. all over the world. The globalization of social life with the possibility of expanding and legitimizing democracy initially gave the impression that the establishment of a stable democratic order in a country as an undertaking is not difficult. However, through a historical review of the evolution of the globalization of the economy, which has brought considerable benefits to the production and accumulation of wealth, the system's inability to ensure the quality and efficiency of democratic institutions is featured (Alexander, Thompson & Edles, 2016; The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2016). Democracy is being called into question today. This is because in countries with high economic growth, where formal procedures seem to maintain democratic processes, there is a lack of prosperity and social equality for all sections of the population, a deepening of social inequalities, a sharp contraction of the middle class.Because democracy is not only a form of government but, above all, a way of communicating, interacting with people in pursuit of a common interest, it offers multiple possibilities for action. Therefore, it shows the role of democratic citizens in order to thrive and preserve democracy. And the formation of a democratic citizen is achieved in democratic schools that promote democratic processes and enhance the development of democratic conscience and behavior in the new man. In the project we present proposals and practices for shaping the democratic active citizen through democratic education.

Samvinna framhaldsskólanemenda: Liður í lærdómi til lýðræðis

Lýðræði í skólastarfi hefur borið hátt í alþjóðlegri umræðu um og eftir síðustu aldamót í kjölfar verkefna Evrópuráðsins og Evrópusambandsins um lýðræði í menntun og borgaravitund. Áhrifa þeirra gætir í íslenskum aðalnámskrám frá 2011. Í aðalnámskrá framhaldsskóla frá 2011 segir meðal annars að starfshættir skólanna skuli mótast af lýðræðislegu samstarfi. Samvinna nemenda um lausn viðfangsefna námsins er einn af lykilþáttum lýðræðislegra náms- og kennsluhátta. Markmið greinarinnar er að varpa ljósi á tíðni, umfang og skipulag samvinnu framhaldsskólanemenda í kennslustundum og viðhorf nemenda til hennar. Byggt er á vettvangslýsingum á 130 kennslustundum (167 klukkustundum) í níu framhaldsskólum og viðtölum við 17 nemeßndahópa úr rannsókninni Starfshættir í framhaldsskólum. Gögn voru greind í ljósi fjölþjóðlegrar stefnumörkunar og námskrár þar sem lögð er áhersla á lýðræðislegt samstarf. Niðurstöður um tíðni leiddu í ljós að einhvers konar samvinna fór fram í 47 kennslustundum (af 130 stundum) eða 36% heildarstundanna. Við athugun á umfangi kom fram að samvinna átti sér stað í 17% heildarkennslutímans (fjöldi mínútna talinn). Allnokkur munur kom fram milli skóla og námsgreina. Í einum skólanna var um 34% heildartímans varið í samvinnu en aðeins um 3% tímans í öðrum. Meiri tíma var varið í samvinnu í íslensku og erlendum tungumálum en í öðrum námsgreinaflokkum. Ekki kom fram munur á umfangi samvinnu milli byrjendaáfanga og framhaldsáfanga. Nemendafjöldi í námshópi eða uppröðun húsgagna virtist ekki skipta meginmáli í þessum efnum. Við greiningu á skipulagi voru skilgreindir þrír flokkar samstarfs: a) Hópvinna eða samvinnunám skipulagt af kennara og nemendur unnu síðan að lausn viðfangsefnis sameiginlega í einstökum hópum (59% heildartímans sem fór í samvinnu); b) Hópvinna sem kennari sagði fyrir um, en nemendur í einstökum hópum skiptu með sér verkum og unnu síðan að mestu einslega (25%); c) Valfrjáls hópvinna þar sem kennari sagði að nemendur mættu vinna saman í hópum og meirihluti nemenda kaus að gera það (16%). Jafnframt var sjónum beint að hópskipan, hlutverki í hópi, hópstærð og markmiðssetningu. Viðhorfum nemenda til samvinnu er fléttað inn í umfjöllunina.

Student voice to improve schools: Perspectives from students, teachers and leaders in ‘perfect’ conditions

This article explores the use of student voice to contribute to improving schools. Through the gathering of perspectives and experiences of staff and students, it considers how the responses to requirements for both student voice and school improvement interrelate and identifies challenges to be addressed. The research was conducted in Norway because, with its long-standing engagement with children’s well-being and rights expressed through its comprehensive framework of legislation and allocation of resources, it has arguably created ideal conditions for students to be involved in improving schools. Findings revealed some recognition of the centrality of student voice in the enactment of democracy in schools: students and teachers had positive perceptions of student voice, and school leaders were willing to incorporate student voice in school improvement processes. Current uses of student voice were, however, largely restricted to the operations of the student council for a range of reasons. The absence of alternative structures, time constraints and doubts about competence were reported, leading to student voice having little impact on school improvement, even in what might be considered ‘perfect’ conditions.

(Home-)Schools of Democracy? On the Intergenerational Transmission of Civic Engagement

Where do individuals learn civic engagement? While voluntary associations are often seen as the breeding grounds for democratic skills and virtues, many preferences are learned by children in their family and thus passed on between generations. The present paper uses data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2008) for the UK to analyze the intergenerational transmission of civic engagement and political participation preferences. It finds that both voluntary associational count variables as well as frequency and strength measures of doing volunteer work and political party support are correlated between parents and their grown up children (i.e. after leaving the parental household), even when controlling for resources like socio-economic background. The intergenerational transmission is more pronounced with regard to triggering filial civic engagement, but frequency of parental engagement is less strongly transmitted. A robustness analysis suggests that peer influences (as measured by regional levels of civic engagement) do not drive the intergenerational transmission of civic engagement.

A gestão democrática da escola pública em contextos de reformas educacionais locais: Estudo comparado entre Brasil e Espanha

A gestão democrática, como modo de organização da escola pública, pode ser traduzida, em sua historicidade contemporânea, como uma ação coletiva que exige mudanças na estrutura autocrática e hierárquica da unidade escolar. Neste artigo analisamos o processo de construção da legislação sobre gestão escolar democrática em contextos de reformas educacionais locais, tomando por base os casos brasileiro e espanhol. Metodologicamente, entendemos a legislação educacional como documentos que incorporam discursos revestidos de autoridade legítima, especialmente de Estado, que difundem concepções de mundo fruto de disputas por hegemonia no campo das políticas educacionais. Em termos de resultados, nosso estudo aponta que, ao longo do processo de produção de legislação para a gestão escolar democrática, os dois países que investigamos apresentam avanços e recuos em relação tanto à especificação dos atores escolares que deveriam participar nos processos de tomada de decisões sobre as questões escolares, quanto sobre quais seriam as instâncias de participação na gestão escolar.

Permanent formation of tutors: a study inspired in Paulo Freire with teachers of early years of basic education

This article presents the results of a research about permanent formation of teachers of early years of fundamental teaching of a public district school of a city of São Paulo-SP; whose general objective is to analyze scopes and limits of permanent formation of teachers to a pedagogical practice committed to building a democratic school. The theoretical contributions is based on the pedagogy of Paulo Freire (2001, 2013b, 2015, and 2016), Imbernón (2009, 2010), and Saul (2010). The nature of the investigation is qualitative and follows Chizzotti (2005) with bibliographic study, field and documentary research. The results of the research show a strong presence of dimensions of permanent formation; materializing principles as the hearing, the dialog, the participation and the movement of action-reflection-action, demonstrated on documents, interviews done, observations, formation meetings and parent-teaching conference.

Do school committees in high schools make differences in educational attainment? Evidence from the Republic of Korea

학교 운영 과정에서 학교 구성원의 적극적인 참여가 필요하다는 인식이 높아져감에 따라 학교 내 협의회에 대한 관심 또한 날로 커져가고 있다. 이에 본 연구는 학교 내 협의회와 교육성과 간의 관계를 살피고 학교시책사업에 따라 두 요인 간의 관계가 변화하는 정도를 실증적으로 분석하고자 하였다. 이를 위해서 본 연구는 한국교육고용패널Ⅱ의 1차년도 자료 중 일반고등학교에 재학 중인 고등학교 2학년 학생 코호트를 대상으로 학교 내 협의회와 교육성과 간의 관계를 순서형로짓분석과 중다회귀분석으로 분석하고 교과특화사업, 진로교육사업 등 다양한 학교시책사업들과 학교 내 협의회 간의 상호작용을 살펴보았다. 분석결과, 학교운영위원회의 활성화 정도가 학생들의 학교만족도와 정적인 관계를 맺고 있는 반면, 학부모회의 활성화는 낮은 학교 만족도와 관련됨을 확인하였다. 또한 ‘교육복지우선지원사업’을 운영하는 학교의 경우 학년협의회와 학생들의 학업성취도 간의 관계는 물론, 학교운영위원회 및 교무회의와 학교만족도 간의 관계, 교과협의회와 진로개발역량 간의 관계가 정적으로 유의하게 나타남을 확인하였다. 또한 학년협의회의 활성화와 학생의 진로개발역량 간의 정적인 관계는 진로교육사업을 운영하는 학교들에서 보다 큰 것으로 나타났다. 이런 결과들을 토대로 본 연구는 학교 내 협의회의 실행이 학교 조직의 교육성과를 제고하는 데 기여할 수 있도록 이들의 활동에 대한 지속적인 모니터링이 필요하며, 학교 내 협의회를 활성화하기 위한 노력으로 학교시책사업과의 연계성을 강화하는 것이 좋은 정책적 대안이 될 수 있음을 제언하였다.Growing interests in school democracy and effectiveness call for the influence of school committees on educational attainment. Using a high school cohort of the Korea Education and Employment PanelⅡ (KEEPⅡ), we investigated the relationship between school committees and educational attainments by ordered logistic regression and multi-variate regression. We found that school boards are positively related to higher school satisfaction. On the other hand, parent committees are negatively related to lower school satisfaction. In Addition, our results show that the Education Welfare Priority Support Project and school committees have an positive interaction effect on educational attainment. Furthermore, grade committees and career development program tend to facilitate the positive interaction influence on career development competency. These results imply that it is imperative to monitor the working mechanisms of school committees and to strengthen the interconnectedness of school committees with school policies in order to enhance the influence of school committees.

Prospective Social Studies Teachers’ Views on Democracy and Democratic Teacher Behaviors in Schools

Bu araştırmanın amacı, öğretmen adaylarının demokrasi, okullarda demokrasi ve demokratik öğretmen davranışlarına ilişkin görüşlerini incelemektir. Araştırma nitel araştırma yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın örneklemini Türkiye’nin Batı Karadeniz bölgesindeki bir devlet üniversitesinin Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenliği lisans programında öğrenim gören ve amaçlı örneklem yöntemlerinden kolay ulaşılabilir örneklem yöntemi ile seçilmiş 48 öğretmen adayı oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma grubunda yer alan öğretmen adaylarının 27’si kadın, 21’i erkektir. Öğretmen adaylarının demokrasiye ilişkin görüşlerine göre demokrasi eşitlik, adalet, hak arama ve özgür düşünce gibi evrensel değerlerden oluşan temel hakları; kendi kendini yönetme, yönetime dahil olma, bir karar alma yöntemi, toplum için en insancıl yönetim, tüm toplum için bir gereklilik şeklinde bir yönetim biçimini; bireysel farklılıkları dikkate alma, başkalarının düşüncelerine önem verme ve bütüncül tutum sergileme gibi toplumsal değerleri kapsamaktadır. Öğretmenlerin sergilemesi gereken demokratik davranışlar ise öğrencilere eşit yaklaşımı, adil davranması, tarafsız olması gibi birtakım temel evrensel değerlerle davranışlardır. Sınıf ile ilgili öğretmen davranışları öğretmenin sınıfı yönetirken tüm öğrencilerle etkileşim kurması, sınıf kurallarını ortak oluşturması, öğrencileri dinlemesi gibi davranışlardır. Okullarda öğrencilere kazandırılan demokrasi olgusunun bireye eşitlik, hak arama, adil olma, bağımsız ve özgür olma, sosyal adalet, hoşgörü ve saygı gibi evrensel değerleri edindirdiği; ortak karar alabilme, kendi kararını alabilme, yönetime dahil olabilme ve özgüvenli olabilme gibi birtakım demokratik vatandaş davranışları içeren değerleri kazandırdığı ve eğitim-öğretimde verimlilik, rekabet, özgürlükçü ve sağlık bir ortam sağladığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Saygılı, olumlu, mütevazi, önyargısız, hümanist olmak gibi davranışlar ise öğretmenin kişiliği ile davranışlar arasındadır.

Schools of Democracy

In the late 20th century, a wave of democratic transformation swept away dictatorships of the right and left across Europe, Africa and much of Asia; and for the first time in human history most citizens lived under governments they had chosen in free elections. Liberal democracy, characterized by multiparty elections, individual liberties, free enterprise and independent trade unions, seemed poised to dominate the future, but today populist movements challenge the liberal consensus and global public opinion surveys indicate a loss of faith in democratic values. The rapid decline in labor union membership across the developed world may be a contributing factor. Social scientists have documented the function of labor unions as “schools” of democracy where working-class high school graduates learn crucial civic skills, boosting their political participation and reducing the gap between socioeconomic classes. This may explain why AFL President Samuel Gompers’s observation, that “there never yet existed coincident with each other autocracy in the shop and democracy in political life” remains true 125 years later, and highlights a major threat to democracy today.

Mock elections as a way to cultivate democratic development and a democratic school culture

Over the last decades, many European Union countries have invested in strengthening participatory learning in citizenship education policy and practice. This survey study provides insight into how high school teachers in the Netherlands advance critical democratic citizenship and a democratic school culture in the context of mock elections. A quarter of the schools that organized mock elections in 2017 participated in the study. Analysis reveals that attention for critical, valuerelated teacher aims and teacher aims directed at strengthening a democratic school culture is still limited in mock election-related education. It also shows that half of the participating schools offer less than one hour of mock electionrelated educational activities, and that one-third of the teachers would like to offer additional educational activities.

Educating Publics in the Greater Community

Democratic public schooling prepares for and models collective selfgovernance in a complex society where the people are subject to various forms of governmental power. The common or public school is the main way democratic nations prepare their people for participation, yet in modern versions democracy is contested through school curriculum and governance practices. Examples are state-funded selfgoverning schools, which appear to support democracy, yet are shaped by a neoliberal ideal of school autonomy. Proposed new models of school governance that attempt to build in collectivity may still limit democratic participation. The influence of entities outside of nations challenges the view that a national system of schooling is sufficient to inform public opinion. A better education for democracy would consider how public opinion is formed, and how public opinion might be formed within a complex society. Developing a deeper and more expansive concept of the public is one place to start.

The Heart of the Citizenship Education and Revival of New Schools in Europe

Our present time is characterised by many contradictions and the aspect of uncertainty indicates a sense of our deep loss of values. Education is the traditional space, in which generations create meanings and adults prefigure the future. Despite the idea of liquid modernity, which dominates our existence, we are convinced that we inherit meaningful testimonies of schools born in the spirit of the Reform from the pedagogic culture of the last two centuries. Schools, such as Dalton, Jena Plan, Decroly and Freinet, are still alive and bringing us a new message of citizenship education coherent with the impulse of their founders. Following our field study to investigate the reality of the Schools of Method in the areas of the Flanders and Brussels we were able to draw a solid concept of community. In the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we assume that the modern western culture reaches its task to convert the dispute into tolerance. Citizenship education wishes to overcome any separations and indicates the road to peace and harmony. It is not by chance that Reform Schools are now reaffirming the original impulse. They are transforming the contradictions of our postmodern society into the management of daily education. Headmasters and teachers are seriously opting for movement and variety of the curriculum against school stereotypes of the disciplines. Children become protagonists of the reformation, using the methodology of dialogue, development and discovery. Teachers and parents appear to be fundamental parts of the process, and learning democracy in school begins with the practice of a council of pupils: discussing, deciding, doing. The external world actively enters schools to shape life. History is composed of the biographies of senior citizens, mainly grandfathers, and languages are matter of pride for children from families with migrant backgrounds.

Praying on Friday, voting on Sunday? Mosque attendance and voter turnout in three West European democracies

ABSTRACTSeveral studies have demonstrated a positive association between regular church attendance and turning out to vote in established democracies. This paper examines whether the relationship holds for Muslims who regularly attend religious services. Using an original dataset of Muslim-origin citizens in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, I find that regular mosque attendance is indeed associated with higher likelihood to vote in national elections in Germany and the United Kingdom, while among Dutch Muslims turnout is positively associated with individual religiosity. I find evidence that the proposed association between regular mosque attendance and voting is mediated through the acquisition of relevant political information and stronger associational involvement. The paper provides an individual-level analysis complementing studies of country-level institutional particularities and group-level characteristics that are conducive to higher levels of turnout among Muslims. The findings dispel the myth that mosques are sites of civic alienation and self-segregation, but can, in fact, play the role of ‘schools of democracy’.