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Dr Rachel Shanks on ‘Education for democracy: political participation and practice in schools’
August 28, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Taylor A08 or on Teams
CISRUL has long had an interest in civic and political education. Dr Rachel Shanks will present a recent article drawing on research that she has conducted in the past decade: ‘Education for democracy: political participation and practice in schools.’
To be successful, education for citizenship must provide students with opportunities to participate in democratic processes in schools. This paper uses data from two previous research studies that conducted a secondary data analysis. The first study compared three different types of schools (traditional, democratic and active learning schools) to learn how they promoted democratic participation. The second study gathered data in secondary schools with the aim of understanding students’ involvement and interest in actively participating in democratic processes. Results showed that teaching methods which encourage self-regulation and active learning tend to promote students’ involvement in decision-making processes. While secondary schools may have the mechanisms in place to involve students in decision making, students perceive this approach as tokenistic and they feel that they have no say at school. Active citizenship and democratic attitudes in schools can give students the chance to participate and learn how to play their part in democratic society beyond and after school. Democratic participation and citizenship in schools calls for a more holistic approach. As well as considering the arenas for participation, educators must examine how teaching methods can be used to promote democratic participation within the school as a learning environment.
