ERIC Number: EJ1286150
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0272
EISSN: N/A
Practicing Democracy in the Playground: Turning Political Conflict into Educational Friction
Parra, Saro Lozano; Bakker, Cok; van Liere, Lucien
Journal of Curriculum Studies, v53 n1 p32-46 2021
Research shows that teachers and educators struggle to act when conflict appears in the classroom. This article argues that (political) conflict should not be avoided or eradicated. Teachers should enable conflict and attend to their pupils in the process, in order to enable further understanding of each other and their differences, as part of living together in a plural and diverse society. Scholars and educators often take a deliberative approach to citizen education by focusing on problem solving and consensus seeking. This article explores how conflict can be educational if we accept that antagonisms are inherent parts of human relations. The aim of this paper is not to propose moral boundaries to conflicts. Instead, it wants to contribute to a shift from teaching citizenship as conflict-free space towards learning democracy, in which educational conflict, or "friction," is seen as an important part of the political education of pupils. This paper uses democratic theory, narrative theory, and the cultural-historical theory of play as described by Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, to construct analytical tools to further understand conflict in the classroom.
Descriptors: Conflict, Political Attitudes, Citizenship Education, Problem Solving, Conflict Resolution, Educational Philosophy, Teaching Methods, Diversity, Learning Processes, Game Theory, Playgrounds, Foreign Countries, Learning Theories, Secondary School Students
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A