How children participate in democracy has shifted toward more communicative, networked, and creative models than before. In political science and political theory, however, surprisingly little is understood about what if anything children can contribute to democracy and how they would do so. Traditionally, children have been considered as mere…

Contemporary scholars have called for more diverse conceptions and practices of alternative 'democratic' education to contest the increasingly neoliberal and neoconservative educational systems. The current study responds to this call by exploring how the notion of 'democratic' education can be enriched using the contextual practices of education…

This article explores the role of popular education for migrants in a social movement context. The aim of this study is to explore how migrants' societal involvement is enabled and constrained by participation in study circles organised in a local branch of the Swedish Workers' Educational Association (ABF). The study was designed and conducted in…

Following on from the reflections on 'social action' [Pedler 2020, "On Social Action." "Action Learning: Research and Practice" 17 (1): 1-9., and Pedler 2021, "Action Learning for Social Action Taking Part in Social Change." Abingdon: Routledge], this paper examines how an 'action learning ethos' can provide guidance…

This article focuses on analysing the relations between expressions of historical consciousness and democracy as featured in the 2020 Norwegian Curriculum for Social Studies. In compulsory school in Norway, History is no longer a subject with a specific syllabus. However, there is a fundamental historical perspective running through the…

In a yearlong ethnographic study, we actively participated as members of the national planning committee for fourteen local climate conferences, we examined how citizen participation was imagined and enacted. We introduce a framework for studying the relationship between cognitive engagement, learning, and civic engagement in the public sphere. We…

Democratic school climate, critical reflection, and student participation at school have been linked to the development of civic and political attitudes. The study aims to identify the contribution of these characteristics to the development of civic and political attitudes and their impact on students' participation (civic, political, activist,…

Over the last decade in the context of collapsing trust in major public and private institutions, Chilean society has engaged in massive social mobilizations culminating in 2019 with widespread rioting in rebellion against the neoliberal model. This socio-political crisis raises the general question which this article addresses: How does such a…

Service learning (SL) in higher education has been developed in various forms, mainly in the US, with an emphasis on linking services and learning, universities and communities. Many people view higher education as a means to a career which, in turn, renders education a subject of private interest. Owing to this, SL is expected to encourage civic…

Civic engagement represents a key aspect of a democratic society and is itself a multidimensional construct. Research has shown that the promotion of civic engagement is an important component of civic and citizenship education intended in a broad sense, pertaining to formal, non-formal and informal learning situations. Within a national scenario…

Events of recent years both in the United States and around the globe have highlighted the fragility of democracy. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has prompted educators to seek evidence-based civic engagement methods for helping students understand the invasion and its implications. This paper offers a set of recommendations on how to teach the…

Democracies expect citizens to engage actively in public life by making decisions about political issues that are frequently ambiguous, with strong moral and emotional implications, and often subject to misinformation and manipulation. Strong critical thinking (CT) appears therefore as a crucial component of a reflective democratic citizenship.…

This study analyses how "active democratic participation" is conceptualised by sixteen teacher educators from eight institutions of higher education across four Nordic countries and how these conceptualisations are translated into their own teaching. Teacher educators' strong adherence to a liberal discourse on democratic education may…

This paper presents an evaluation of the information literacies used by community representatives when engaging with participatory budgeting in São Paulo City, Brazil. Using questions established from context-setting interviews with stakeholders, a focus group was held in 2019 with eight participative councillors, with "in situ"…

Sweden is a country with a long history of peace and liberal democracy. In the post war period, history education has been given a core position as a moulder of democratic citizens in Sweden. Since the 1990s, historical consciousness intertwined with democratic values has been used as a scientific grid for shaping citizens, not just in history…