Student school elections and political engagement: A cradle of democracy?

Saha, Lawrence J.; Print, Murray

doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2010.05.004

Cited by 34 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, engaging pupils to have a say and participate in school democratic procedures and practices has to be taken seriously as an educational project. For example, Saha and Print (2010) found that having voted in school elections was positive as it related to feeling prepared to vote as an adult, to being committed to vote at age 18, to political knowledge and participation in peaceful activism. An open classroom climate is a climate in which pupils feel free to openly disagree with their teachers about political and social issues in class and in which teachers respect pupils' opinions and encourage pupils to express themselves in class, encourage them to discuss political and social issues about which people have different opinions and present several ideas concerning an issue when explaining it in class (see Fjeldstad & Mikkelsen, 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's experiences of democracy, participation, and trust in school

Thornberg

Elvstrand

2012

International Journal of Educational Research

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The aim of this paper is to investigate children's views and experiences of democracy and pupil participation in relation to everyday school life, and to let their voices be heard on these issues. The data for this paper was derived from two ethnographic research projects conducted in three elementary schools in Sweden. In the classes investigated at two of the three schools, the adults are those who make decisions about school and classroom rules. Pupils are seldom given any opportunity to create, modify or repeal formal rules through open negotiations. In contrast, at the third school, children's influence and their ability to have a say are an important explicit goal for the teachers. Nevertheless, as well as in the two other schools, even in this school with the declared goal of working with democracy in this way, we found obstacles and limitations that counteracted school democracy: (a) discontinuity, (b) the long-term interaction pattern of teacher power and pupil subordination in the school organisation, which in turned encouraged and educated compliance with authority rather than deliberative democratic participation, (c) naive trust in teachers, (d) the school process of suppressing children's voices, and (e) unfair inconsistencies constructed by teachers .

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's experiences of democracy, participation, and trust in school

Thornberg

Elvstrand

2012

International Journal of Educational Research

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“…Other scholars claim that school experiences promote the development of engaged citizens, suggesting that schools are important in preparing students for participation in democratic societies (Verba et al, 1995;Hahn, 1998;Patrick, 1999;Torney-Purta et al, 2001;Keeter et al, 2002;Kirlin, 2002;Galston, 2003;Hart et al, 2007;Saha and Print, 2010;Geboers et al, 2013).…”

Section: Education For Active and Democratic Citizenship And The Rolementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning for active citizenship: Are Australian youths Discovering Democracy at school?

Reichert

2016

Education, Citizenship and Social

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For democratic societies to sustain, it is important to educate young people for active and democratic citizenship. This article examines the long-term yields of temporary civics and citizenship educational policies with respect to student participation at school as a precursor of political participation in adult life. The focus is on the Australian Discovering Democracy initiative and whether it improved education for active and democratic citizenship at Australian schools and, thus, contributed to actively engaged citizens. Based on the Australian National Assessment Program -Civics and Citizenship, the analysis suggests that policy initiatives can support schools in the development of experiential civics and citizenship learning in school life, especially if national governments, states and teachers cooperate. The article identifies some gains in improving active and democratic citizenship among secondary school students and concludes that Australian schools laid the foundation of prospectively increasing numbers of active democratic citizens during the past two decades.

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“…et al, 2010;Ruitenberg, 2010). Students in power roles reported a greater understanding of and appreciation for the legislative process and found the simulation to be a more worthwhile experience than did students in non-power roles (Saha & Print, 2010). Student activism has made an important contribution to the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%