‘Schools Can Do So Much More!’— Perspectives on Democracy and Education From Youth in Challenging Contexts Across Europe

Boris Jokić, PhD, Nikola Baketa, PhD and Zrinka Ristić Dedić, PhD are the authors of the paper “‘Schools Can Do So Much More!’— Perspectives on Democracy and Education From Youth in Challenging Contexts Across Europe” published in the “European Journal of Education”, which is indexed in Q1 for Education in the Scopus database.

The paper presents results of a qualitative research on the perspectives on democracy and education of young people aged 16 to 18 growing up in challenging contexts across six EU member states: Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. Their perspectives were examined with regard to democracy in general and within schools, and their understanding of democracy revealed three core principles: freedom of choice and expression, equality of opportunity and collaboration. Across all settings, formal education was not seen as the context in which everyday democracy takes place, which in turn clearly affects young people’s democratic voice and agency.

The paper is part of the Horizon Europe project “Critical ChangeLab - Democracy meets arts: Critical change labs for building democratic cultures through creative and narrative practices“ (no. 101094217).

The paper can be accessed at the following link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejed.70899.