2018

These are difficult times for democracy: on the one hand, Neoliberalism is reducing democracy to a mere consumer product and, on the other, the current social and political situation is minimizing people’s rights for the sake of security, leading to situations of inequality and social injustice. In view of these circumstances, the concern before us is how education can contribute to improving democracy in schools. As a result, in this monographic issue we have brought together different authors who, from different views on democratic education, have focused their ideas on two polysemous and controversial concepts with points of convergence: the voice of students and student participation.
The research that has served as the basis for the articles that are presented herein has shown that the most democratic centres are those that create possible conditions (regarding decision-making, climate and inclusion) to promote a more genuine student participation.
The studies carried out have led to cooperation with international researchers in different seminars and symposia, which has resulted in the seven articles collected in this issue. First, "Fostering Democratic Student Participation In schools: Is it Possible?" by Núria Simó-Gil and Jordi Feu conceptualizes student participation and relates it to democracy in schools. The second article, Kyriaki Messiou’s “Using Primary School Children’s Voices to Promote Inclusive Education”, reflects on how students’ voices might be the key to inclusive education practices in primary school. In the third paper, Michael Fielding proposes a critical consideration of the voice of students that addresses teachers from the perspective of Radical Democracy in schools. “Democracy and Participation: The (Silenced) Voice of Pupils” by Jordi Feu and Albert Torrent, and Antoni Tort’s “Student Participation in Democratic Secondary Schools” examine the implications for those schools that commit to student-driven educational practices. The last two papers, “Democracy and Children’s Right to Self-expression in Lower Secondary School” by Anna Babicka-Wirkus and “Learning Citizenship through the Participation of Four Young Girls: Limits and Possibilities” by Alba Parareda, establish links among democratic education, children’s rights and citizenship. Indeed, democratic education will come to be with the implication of students or it will not be at all.

Coordinator
Núria Simó-Gil