Democracy and Education

Compared to the international mainstream educational agenda, which is widely sustained by a neo-liberal, market-oriented vision, the call for democratic education has been, and still is, as Hoskins notes, part of a secondary narrative (Hoskins, 2008). Nonetheless, due to the current economic and political tensions in multiple areas of the world, this narrative is becoming increasingly more influential within today’s complex educational scenarios. At this point, the central issue to be clarified is the premise that democracy inspires current narratives for democratic education and the value that is assigned to this premise while taking into account the degree and type of commitment it requires.Supra- and trans-national agencies such as the UN and EU propose a political concept of democracy that may be at risk of being understood as fundamentalist and therefore not useful for true educational aims and scopes if not analyzed through a sound process of critique.Accordingly, within the current educational debate, in opposition to a vision of democracy intended as a procedural and political form of civic life and government based on specific norms and rules, as inspired by a neo-liberal frame of reference, a moral and educational vision of democracy is proposed that is intended as a form of associated life and as a collective practice, with references to a Deweyan legacy as well as a frame of reference grounded on critical theory.