This phenomenological research examines democracy education and the conditions contributing to young students' democratic agency. The dataset includes interview and observation data from a school and educational decision-makers. The findings from the iterative analysis highlight the contradictions between democracy education as an ideal and…

The voices of students of color often are left out of discussions of urban school reform conversations when they should be central to reform efforts. Jonathan Collins suggests looking at democratic reform as an avenue to bring those voices forward. Participatory budgeting, for example, introduces students to the idea that they could decide how…

This article explores how social class, "race," and their intersections manifest in Finnish popular music education (PME) through an exploration of popular music practices in one upper elementary music classroom where I worked as a teacher-researcher. By engaging with systems reflexivity, I illustrate how social class, racialization, and…

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…

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for a more democratic climate in K-12 schools. Administrators and teachers have had to seek out new ways through which to interact. This raises two questions; "What about the quality of interaction and participation in decision-making?" and "Which factors affect the level of…

In line with international trends, the new Norwegian curricula for education have a stronger focus on life mastery, democracy and sustainability compared with previous requirements. Students are to develop competence that promotes health and responsible decision-making. The current study presents a programme implemented in lower secondary school…

In our response to Tilhou's article published last issue, "The Morning Meeting: Fostering a Participatory Democracy Begins with Youth in Public Education," we share and discuss ethnographic data from Morning Meetings in two U.S. elementary classrooms. We detail ways the democratic potential of Morning Meetings is being cultivated in…

Curriculum development is imperative for the overall success of the educational system more so in sustainable development efforts. In the Philippines, the institutionalization of the Madrasah Education Program in public schools provides an opportunity to ensure access to quality and relevant education among Muslim-Filipino learners. The Refined…

Doing the right thing at school involves moral reasoning about right and wrong that interplays with a sense of responsibility as children move towards being active citizens. In the current study, we investigated how 124 Australian children's understanding and reasoning about doing the right thing changed over the early years of primary school (age…

This paper explores the theoretical framework of teaching deliberative democratic leadership by examining teacher deliberative competency from theories of deliberative democracy. The research described the theoretical framework of deliberative democratic leadership as a heuristic in the practice of teaching deliberative democratic leadership.…

The demand for a significant advance in democracy that allows greater civic participation takes place in different countries and historical times. In Catalonia, the process toward self-determination shakes the social and political debate from 2010 to the present day, when the population feels that their rights are being curtailed and begins to…

Young learners need to cultivate new democratic skills and dispositions to fully participate in civic dialogues, but many teachers have yet to integrate suitable experiences into their curricula. These new media skills apply established aspects of citizenship like deliberation, pluralism, and participation towards engagement with various forms of…

Current curricula, which organize initial teacher education programs, include, among their stated purposes, preparing teachers to help their future students to grow as global, participatory, and ethically engaged citizens. However, we know little about how teacher educators prepare their students to be citizens. This article analyses how a group…

This article explains why elementary school children need civic education, identifies common obstacles that frustrate efforts, then describes how the Storypath approach can provide all students with opportunities for powerful civic learning. An actual application in a culturally diverse fourth-grade classroom illustrates how children grappled with…

School governing bodies in England have considerable powers and duties, and their formal role positions them as decision-makers. This article draws on qualitative research in the governing bodies of four maintained schools. Using deliberative democracy as a sensitising concept, the article considers some processes by which decisions are made (or…