The interaction between emotions and politics is evident in democratic education settings. This study contributes to the literature on the role of political emotions in democratic education by shedding light on the significance that the new digital and social media environments have for the manifestation of political emotions in educational contexts. In Finnish schools, political issues are incorporated into the curriculum, and political questions are addressed as part of democratic education and political identities are formed. However, there has been relatively little research on political emotions in schools. This article explores political emotions in democratic education practice through an empirical case study in a Finnish upper secondary school. The data consists of observations in social studies classrooms and interviews with the students and the teachers. The study's key finding underscores the notion that the school environment is profoundly influenced by the contemporary virtual environment, characterized by the proliferation of new technologies and social media. In this study, the integration of virtual and nonvirtual along with public and nonpublic is referred to as "blended space." This blended space is a milieu where emotions and affect emerge, where social alignment and boundaries are formed, where identities are negotiated, and where the political materializes in today’s democratic education classrooms.
An open classroom climate has numerous benefits for school-aged youth, and it plays an important role in school-based democratic and civic education efforts. After highlighting the strengths of Knowles and Chamberlain's review, I add to their contribution by enumerating several implications for contemporary open classroom climate research and practice. I suggest researchers and practitioners: (a) embrace pluralism in open classroom climate pedagogy and instructional contexts; (b) explore mechanisms driving associations between open classroom climate and outcomes of interest; (c) incorporate developmental theory; and (d) better account for contextual-ecological and measurement considerations. I also reflect briefly on open classroom climate research and practice within the current sociopolitical climate. As I work in tandem with the original review, my hope is this response drives interest in and understanding of open classroom climate research and advances the open classroom climate as an essential dimension of democratic education today.
This response to “Heavy on the Solidarity, Light on the Adultism: Adult Supports for Youth Activism” foregrounds the radical actions required to bridge intersecting power differences between youth and adults and engage in true solidarity. The original article proposes four actions that adults can take to foster solidarity with youth activists. We extend this proposal by demonstrating how these actions must be accompanied by role re-mediation and coconspiracy in order to move toward youth-adult solidarity. We draw on the actions of civil rights leader Ella Baker and our own experiences to show how both role re-mediation (adults making space for young people) and coconspiracy (adults taking space from powerful adults or structures) are necessary to bridge the extreme and intersecting power differences between youth and adults.
Here, we explore potential educational strategies in response to the problems of democratic education highlighted in the feature article’s case study. Drawing on deliberative democracy and Deweyan pragmatism, we contend that in settings marked by affective polarization, such as the school examined in the case study, direct conversation over contentious political topics may not be the most effective path toward meaningful educational outcomes. Instead, we propose two alternative approaches: first, fostering dialogue about the social norms that shape the conditions for political deliberation in the classroom; and second, encouraging collaborative inquiry among students who hold opposing perspectives. Both approaches aim to strengthen trust and build a sense of community among students, thereby laying the groundwork for deliberation that could eventually support constructive discussions on divisive political issues.
This response discusses the article “'The Blue Party? No, Wait, Is There Really a Blue Party?' A Study of Young Norwegian Children's Perceptions of Politics," which offers a meaningful contribution to research on children’s political understanding. The study stands out for its focus on the development of political categories and its strong link to subject content rather than generic skills. Its analytical typology—from nonpolitical and pre-political to narrow and broad political understanding—provides both theoretical insight and potential didactic value. The findings challenge assumptions that political education should be postponed until later school years, showing that young children can engage with political issues at varying levels of abstraction. The response raises questions about the normative implications of starting with political actors and calls for approaches that emphasize structures and institutions. While the original article provides a solid empirical foundation, a more explicit discussion of didactic strategies and progression would strengthen its contribution.
This article analyzes and critiques the tendency to frame media literacy as a neutral skill set concentrated on verifying sources, or "spotting the error." While this approach emphasizes cognitive habits of checking for bias and accuracy, it does not adequately prepare students to understand intentional misinformation as a political strategy. Building on Matthew's (2020) response to Curry and Cherner (2019), I propose that limiting media literacy to error correction hides the strategic production and intentional spread of disinformation by powerful organizations, corporations, and media outlets. Rooted in curriculum theory and the work of scholars such as Gramsci, Hall, Habermas, and Chomsky, I argue that civic education needs to move beyond technical skills toward examining power. Misinformation is not an accidental result of poor reasoning but an intentional tool to shape public opinion and protect economic or political interests. Examples from Koch-funded think tanks and PragerU illustrate how misinformation acts as a tool of hegemony.
This article explores how issue-based and critically orientated approaches to civic education support the development of political understanding, agency, and voice among primary school children in Wales. Drawing on the principles of critical pedagogy and transformative learning, the study investigates how teachers and pupils engage with political ideas through issue-based inquiry within the framework of the Curriculum for Wales (2022). Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and student focus groups across four diverse Welsh primary schools. Using constructivist grounded theory approach, the analysis identified four interrelated themes: making politics accessible, negotiating discomfort, developing voice and agency, and navigating pedagogical tensions. Findings indicate that primary pupils are capable of engaging thoughtfully with complex political issues when learning is contextualized, dialogic, and scaffolded. Teachers’ capacity to facilitate such learning is shaped by their confidence, professional autonomy, and institutional support. The study highlights both the transformative potential and the practical challenges of embedding political education in primary classrooms. It contributes to international debates on democratic education by demonstrating that meaningful civic learning can begin in the primary years and calls for teacher education and curriculum policy to provide sustained support for critical and issue-based pedagogies that empower children as active participants in democratic life.
The study investigates Norwegian primary school children's immediate responses to “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘politics’?” It examines children’s perceptions of the concept of politics, their emphasis, and how they communicate their perceptions, providing information about children’s political socialization, knowledge, and understanding as well as early conceptual learning. The data come from group interviews with 36 children (20 second-graders and 16 fourth-graders). The study was not longitudinal but emphasized differences in the content of children’s perceptions. The analysis identifies four different categories of children`s perceptions. These vary according to their emphasis, their apparent associative political knowledge, and their ability for political conceptualization. The different categories show what can be described as an observed development in children’s perceptions. Fourth graders’ perceptions appears broader than second graders’. They display more associative political knowledge, extending beyond keyword concepts and political actors. Fourth graders demonstrate understanding of political concepts, capacity for political conceptualization, and the ability to critically think regarding political issues and to argue for/against them. Both age groups show knowledge of foreign political contexts, suggesting that the political socialization context of children in the 21st century might be a lot broader than that of children a few decades ago.
As one of the first communities outside of young children’s private spheres of family, scholars consistently position school as an ideal space for civic education. At its core, civic education helps young children cultivate communities that support broader societal structures and mores. As children negotiate new constellations of people within a place, we wondered, what are some ways in which young children construct their membership in the initial civic communities that schools purport to cultivate? Drawing on data from a yearlong ethnographic study of three classrooms in a Head Start in a large city in Texas, we examine how children use institutional and relational tools to play with ideas of civicness. Ultimately, we argue that membership is a key aspect of children’s civicness and is one way they play with civicness in early childhood classrooms.
This paper explores scholarship relating to an open classroom climate as a fundamental strategy for promoting democratic values and social justice within educational settings. Sixty research studies were identified that found relationships between an open classroom climate and desirable outcomes, such as civic knowledge, political self-efficacy, and support for human rights. These findings come from researchers across fields, countries, and decades. Results are considered within criticisms of deliberative democracy theory with suggestions for teaching and research.
In a world that is growing increasingly politically divisive, it is hard to imagine school structure and leadership leading us to a more democratic and transformative future. Instead, teachers should take action themselves. This begins with seeing themselves as policy actors and rejecting both the neoliberal and far-right ideologies and the related scholar academic and socially efficient educational orientations. Educators should instead adopt a stance of social reconstruction, in which they examine with students the problems of society and socially dream of something better. To more deeply foster this sense of partnership between teacher and learner, educators should seek to enact participatory structures that enable young people to investigate and take action against the problems in their lives. Walking this "double path" on an imperfect trail while trying to build something better is not easy or linear. Educators who engage in such a way could certainly lose their job or worse. Teachers must make decisions about their practice with eyes wide open. It is important to consider things like identity, experience, and other personal factors. But we need teachers who dare to become political actors, are willing to deepen that agency with students, and actually take collective action with young people to make schools more democratic and transformational spaces.
This study explores how kindergarten teachers foster civic engagement in young learners as part of a larger multi-case study on civic education in kindergarten classrooms serving low-income students in the Southeastern United States. Five teachers were interviewed using video elicitation techniques, which involved using video clips to prompt discussion and reflection. Findings indicate that teachers educate for civic engagement within the personally responsible and participatory paradigms of good citizenship (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004) and intuitively align their beliefs and practices with the Educating for American Democracy principles (EAD, 2021). Their efforts include modeling citizenship, fostering collaborative learning and community building, and providing children with limited opportunities for decision-making. However, they face significant challenges, including insufficient instructional time and curriculum constraints, difficulties in creating authentic home-school connections that link civic concepts to students’ daily lives, and gaps in teacher preparation and knowledge. These findings reveal the tension between teachers’ aspirations for fostering civic engagement and the structural and contextual barriers they encounter. The study underscores the importance of expanding support for civic education in early childhood, including professional development, curriculum resources, and strategies for family engagement, to nurture engaged citizenship from a young age.
