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The study reported on here was intended to reveal the existence and direction of education democracy in Indonesia with regard to the regulations, the implementation models, problems, and future prospects. The data were obtained from various written materials of official government policy records, namely, laws, ministerial regulations, curriculum implementation guidebooks, discourses and policy criticisms on the implementation of education democracy in Indonesia published in mass media, articles and research journals. The data were analysed using philosophical-dialogical analysis. The findings indicate that in terms of practice, the regulations related to education democracy in the form of education autonomy still could not be implemented properly because of several constraints such as a lack of teachers' professionalism, poor and less effective management of education and learning systems which are not in line with the administrative prerequisites and principles and spirit of education autonomy. Moreover, through its policies, the government still controlled education nationally resulting in autonomy that should provide maximum freedom to the community to manage education is being eroded, which limits the autonomy of education.

This paper examines how public education can ensure equity and diversity by clarifying the "democratic aspects" that can be captured through school-community collaborative activities in Japan and the U.S. As a result of comparison and analysis, it is indicated that in both Japan and the U.S., these activities are conducted in the context of streamlining educational administration. In addition, the participation in school management of diverse people such as local residents, parents, and children is promoted in order to grasp their needs and achieve deliberation on an equal footing. In contrast to Japan, however, these activities in the U.S. put importance on providing health and educational services to disadvantaged families and children. Furthermore, they aim to change not only schools but also communities. Therefore, this paper suggests that "democratic aspects" encompassed by collaborative activities have multiple layers: (1) "compensatory-type" (status-quo satisfaction -oriented democratic aspects), (2) "participatory-type" (deliberation-oriented democratic aspects), and (3) "transformative-type" (status-quo change-oriented democratic aspects). In order to guarantee equity of education that ensures fairness and inclusion to all children, this paper clarifies the importance of having both activities that distribute educational and welfare services on a curve to disadvantaged children and families (compensatory-type) and activities that involve children themselves in the practice, leading to the transformation and creation of the world (participatory and transformative type). The types of activities described above do not necessarily set the transformative-type as the ultimate goal. The three types interact together and pave the way toward a democratic and equitable education that is open to all and respects the voices of minorities.

Pedagogical methods shape students' grasp of democracy. Cooperative learning, by fostering democratic values in classrooms, empowers students for active civic participation. This approach is seen as ideal, suggesting pre-service teachers using it will hold positive democratic attitudes. This study seeks to determine how attitudes towards democracy and implementing cooperative learning differ among preservice science teachers at various grade levels (n=207), and how these attitudes correlate with each other. Additionally, the study aims to investigate how the relationship between attitudes towards democracy and implementing cooperative learning changes across grade levels. A cross-sectional design was employed. Data was collected using the Collaborative Learning Scale to measure the attitudes towards implementing cooperative learning and Democratic Perceptions and Attitudes Scale to measure democratic attitudes. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers' year of training has no influence on their democratic attitudes and their attitudes towards implementing cooperative learning. However, participants consistently exhibited strong democratic attitudes and attitudes towards implementing cooperative learning, with a non-significant increase across grade levels. These findings suggest a widespread support for democratic principles in future classrooms and a belief in the value of cooperative learning as an instructional approach and their high expectations of success when using this method. Furthermore, there is a strong, positive correlation between democratic attitudes and attitudes towards implementing cooperative learning at all grade levels. This means that pre-service teachers who value democratic principles in the classroom are more likely to view cooperative learning strategies favorably. These findings highlight a strong link between pre-service science teachers' democratic values and their openness to using cooperative learning. The correlation coefficient increases with higher training years. As pre-service science teachers progress through their training program, the focus on democratic education practices might increase.

The core objective of this article is to evaluate the progress made in linguistic development over the past three decades, with a specific focus on the role of language and its philosophical underpinnings in reshaping and decolonising South African higher education landscape. Linguistic imperialism as a conceptual framework alongside the Framework for Policy Analysis were employed to inform, guide and support the author's contention that linguistic hegemony is still dominating the discourse within the higher education sector. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilising content analysis for data analysis purposes. The findings of the article reveal that despite 30 years of democracy, the influence of colonial-era language philosophy and western epistemologies persists. It is suggested that comprehensive implementation of language policies could effectively address the transformation and decolonisation agenda. It further advocates for alignment between policy and practice through pragmatic, intentional and transformative initiatives aimed at identifying, interrogating and disrupting the coloniality of power and its western epistemologies, as far as language policy and practice are concerned. In conclusion, the article emphasises the urgent need to counteract existing linguistic imperialism and hegemony embedded within colonial knowledge systems by enacting transformative policies that will prioritise student access, success, linguistic diversity, linguistic justice, epistemic justice and social cohesion within the framework of higher education. Contribution: The aim is to provide guidance to language policy implementers in South African universities by offering an overview of the linguistic advancements achieved between 1994 to 2024.

This research focused on the mechanism of establishing citizen democratic networks to promote political participation in schools under the provincial administrative organization in Mahasarakham. This research aimed to 1) analyze the model of creating a civil-democratic network between universities and schools, and 2) study the process of promoting students' political participation in schools under the provincial administrative organization in Mahasarakham. The qualitative research methods were conducted by document study and then in-depth interviews with the participant observation method. Research instruments were 1) the related documents and research in a reliable database, and 2) four interview questions for each group and the participant observations form. Collected data were analyzed and categorized into critical issues and themes based on the literature. The participants comprised sixty-two interviewees and were divided into four groups: 1) Two representatives of the Office of Education, Religion and Culture of the provincial administrative organization; 2) Twenty school administrators under the provincial administrative organization; 3) Twenty teachers responsible for the civics course, and 4) Twenty high school students. The findings revealed: 1) The model for creating a civic network between universities and schools. There must be a central person in the management position with the authority to command leadership and technical communication between the school and the university. The creation of a network of citizens of democracy will be successful. 2) The process of creating the political participation of students in schools arose from the process of building democratic citizenship through school education and extra-curricular activities. Students can then apply that knowledge in daily life.

In recent years, the profusion of methodologies available to teachers, thanks to the advancement of emerging and converging technologies, has created significant educational opportunities, but it also poses new challenges. Among these is the need to train teachers to exercise solid pedagogical judgment when implementing these approaches in the classrooms. One of the difficulties in making these critical judgments is the introduction of commercial terms into academic discourses, which hinder the thinking and assessment of these advancements from an educational standpoint. Therefore, the objective of this research is to reclaim the educational meaning of certain concepts necessary to contemplate these emerging technical and pedagogical methods in the realm of higher education in the face of the reconfigurations these terms have undergone due to the influence of economic ideas introduced by supranational organizations into the collective educational imagination. With this goal in mind, three documents from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development under the "Horizon 2030" program are first analyzed to identify ideas and concepts that have been integrated into academic discourses. Subsequently, from a hermeneutic-interpretative perspective, the meaning of these terms is revisited from the university philosophy and pedagogy standpoint. The results of this research enable an understanding of the authentic educational significance of words like new, valuable, critical, democratization, active, autonomy, or study, among others, which are essential to approach emerging methodological advances and technological approaches from an educational perspective, detached from economic considerations.

Purpose: To know and study the participation of young students and their voice in decision-making in their schools in a competitive education regulated by excellence. To understand if and how students are involved in the democratic management of schools, given that these young people are involved globally, with an active participation in society. Design: A systematic literature review on student participation in democratic school management, identifying empirical studies from various countries with different theoretical frameworks and methodologies. Findings: There are several democratic practices and experiences of student participation in schools, despite sociocultural barriers in some countries. However, the participatory and democratic discourses identified in schools, including those in educational policy, do not directly impact the possibilities for students to participate in decision-making.

Students' parents are important stakeholders of school leadership. Student mobility and some other problems in a school environment may occur when the expectations of students' parents cannot be met. Hence, I studied the expectations of the parents of secondary school students about the leadership of school principals through focus-group interviews using a phenomenology design. According to the findings, the leadership expectations of parents about school principals were categorised in 4 sub-themes: behaviour, values, skills and competencies, and characteristics. Parents of students expect school principals to prioritise student success, create unity and integrity, ensure open and sincere communication, and student safety and happiness. They also expect values that include managerial competence and problem-solving skills, showing interest and sensitivity, sensitivity to differences, respect for justice and equality, and a democratic attitude. At the same time, parents of students expect school principals to be innovative, visionary, consistent, empathetic, and disciplined -- they want principals to be good role models for students.

Purpose: This research explores the pivotal role of educational research in supporting democratic civic education amid armed conflict. The study uses the recent experiences in Israel to examine how research can maintain democratic values and foster reconciliation during tumultuous times, aiming to illuminate the transformative capabilities of academic inquiry in crisis contexts. Approach: The research adopts a semi-empirical, exploratory design that evolved from ongoing events. Personal testimonies from a diverse group of seven students were analyzed for overarching theoretical themes. Findings: The analysis reveals that educational research during conflict may act as a critical, transformative tool, highlighting substantial challenges in maintaining civic engagement and democratic education. It underscores the dual role of research in understanding and actively addressing the complexities of armed conflict. Practical implications: The findings stress the need for educational public scholarship and international collaboration to support democratic education, highlighting the crucial role of researchers in shaping educational practices during crises.

Political knowledge and democratic attitudes are recognized in contemporary studies as important dimensions of democratic political culture. Furthermore, knowledge and attitudes can be seen as integral parts of political competence. Unlike other dimensions of political culture such as, for example, political participation, political interest, etc., research on political knowledge and democratic attitudes are more an exception than a rule. This assessment is especially true for Croatia. In this paper, we attempt to address some of these gaps by focusing on the exploration of political competences of Croatian final-year secondary school students. The paper is divided into two major sections. In the first part, we discuss the meaning and importance of political competence for the functioning of democratic political systems. The second part consists of a presentation and discussion of the research results on political knowledge and democratic attitudes of Croatian final-year secondary school students conducted in three time points - 2010, 2015 and 2021. By doing so, we want to detect the levels of political knowledge and democratic attitudes, as well as the possible changes that occurred in these levels during the research period. Finally, we are also interested in the relationship between these two dimensions of political competence.

This paper examines three questions: (1) (How) Is democracy promoted in secondary schools in England? (2) How is the promotion of democracy understood in education and teacher education policy? and (3) To what extent does existing education policy benefit the promotion of democracy in schools in England? To explore these questions, we first discuss the policy landscape surrounding democratic education in England. We then outline our data collection and analysis methods, which comprised (a) the coding of ten different policy documents, including curriculum specifications, teaching standards and inspection frameworks, and (b) the utilisation of an original survey of more than 3000 teachers working in approximately 50% of all secondary schools in England. Together, our data allow us to raise three important points. First, education and teacher education policy neglects to specify 'how' democracy should be promoted and by 'whom'. Second, schools are offering scant provision of democratic education. Third, the majority of teachers feel fundamentally underprepared to teach democracy. We conclude this paper by arguing that, if policymakers do wish to promote democracy, there is a need for a cohesive policy and teacher education approach that guarantees democratic education for all.

The paper is based on the concept of political culture, which is particularly important for the maintenance and functioning of a democratic political system and is closely linked with the political literacy of young people. In this paper research focus is on the two dimensions of political culture -- political values and trust. Specifically, the main research question is: what are the determinants of accepting constitutional values and the trust in political institutions of final year secondary school pupils? The paper use the data provided by research on political literacy of final year secondary school pupils. In order to provide answer to the research question the hierarchical multiple regression is used. In the first step, particular socio-demographic variables (sex, education of mother and education of father) were introduced. In the second step, the type of secondary school education was added. The third group of predictors encompassed the level of religiosity, generalized prejudices and authoritarianism. In the final step political knowledge was included. The introduced model provides certain explanation regarding constitutional values, but fails to explain distrust in political institutions. The phenomenon of low trust in political institutions is discussed in paper.

There is increasing urgency to broaden access to inclusive and culturally sustaining K-12 civic education. Civic education can foster young people's development of their civic identity, which can support a functioning American democracy. Civic education often includes opportunities for learners to develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, but not all learners may see themselves represented in traditional forms of civic education. In this essay, we propose reframing approaches to developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions by focusing on how they can be brought together to support the development of civic identity. First, we describe relevant literature on civic education. We then explain how three aspects of civic education inform learners' development of a civic identity: personal identity and values, mastery of civic knowledge, and creative capacity for civic action. We close with recommendations for how to support civic identity development in K-12 education.

Our main goal is to provide a preliminary, descriptive, and thematic overview of civic education courses in Serbia until 2020 from the perspectives of international political sociology, critical pedagogy and critical curriculum studies. After clarifying pertinent conceptual assumptions of curriculum analysis, we review the methodology employed to examine the curriculum. Firstly, our task is to describe how a civic education course in Serbia looks in relevant educational aspects. Secondly, we explore the role civic education plays in postsocialist and post-conflict Serbian society within the educational system and policies, considering transformative processes and reconciliation goals. Among the main findings, we emphasise the inadequacy of the initial phase of implementation of civic education in Serbia. There is insufficient recognition in the broader public regarding the cosmopolitan and social justice values crucial for generating a democratic political culture.

This article focuses on civic education and the constitution of subjects within a complex landscape of peace and war making in Colombia. Using a genealogical approach to study the manufacturing of citizens, and drawing on a document analysis of policies, curricular guidelines, and teaching resources, this paper evidences an increasing attention to students' skills, conducts, and interpersonal relations, rather than structural inequality and injustice. Through the examination of the "integral citizen," I argue that the development of students as skillful civic subjects has become central to the aspiration of building and sustaining peace and democracy. Such citizens are described as individually embodying the virtues and skills of problem-solving, conflict-management, autonomy, and self-regulation of emotions. This research adds to our understanding of the construction of the ideal citizen in conflict-affected settings, and how education policy intersects with larger efforts for meaningful and sustained change.

This essay explains that periodic examination of the goals of education is essential for educational institutions to ensure they are adequately preparing students to address the challenges of the present and build a better future. It argues that education is an ethical enterprise, and that clear and shared goals provide education institutions with direction and coherence. Rapid societal changes challenge educational institutions to revisit whether their goals are supporting teaching students so they can develop the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions to address them. The article discusses three accelerating existential challenges--challenges to human rights, democratic decline, and climate change--and argues that they require schools, universities, and systems to educate students to understand and be able and committed to address them. These three challenges also influence educational institutions, and the development of institutional strategies can help create synergies among functions and processes in schools and universities to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that can help understand and mitigate climate change and declines in human rights and democracy.

The US-led invasion in 2003 created opportunities for Iraq to establish American-style universities. Drawing on policy borrowing and educational transfer theory and using interviews as the primary method of data collection, this study examines how the American-style universities are rationalized and appropriated by various actors at national, sectoral, and institutional levels. The analysis shows that the rationales for establishing American-style universities in post-2003 Iraq differ by how each was funded and politically and financially supported. The new American-style universities in Iraq in this study represented something for both the USA and for Iraq. For the USA, they are a source of public diplomacy and soft power, and for Iraq, an instrument that promises peacebuilding, social cohesion, transition to democracy, reforming the local higher education system, legitimacy, and probably a tool to 'revolutionize' Iraq's higher education and bring back its glory.

The value of Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) for school and system improvement is widely acknowledged in education research and policy. Still, the question of how learning happens for teachers and education leaders involved in PLNs remains largely unanswered. Moreover, little research exists on the increasing number of international networks for professional learning developed among education systems globally. This case study explores one such network, which we identify as a Global Learning Network (GLN), the ARC Education Project. ARC describes itself as a self-funded network of policymakers, scholars, and system leaders from a range of national and state-level systems with a shared commitment to equity, excellence, wellbeing, inclusion, sustainability, democracy, and human rights. Employing content analysis, we analyze observational notes and materials from ARC summit meetings, joint statements issued by ARC systems, membership records, and other key ARC documents. We draw from Rodway and Farley-Ripple's (2020) application of social network theory to examine this GLN as a relational space, given the challenges of global collaboration. We consider five key components of PLN efficacy: collaboration, sense of purpose, reflective professional inquiry, leadership, and boundary crossing. Specifically, we interrogate how the boundedness of ARC's membership mediates opportunities for the construction of new knowledge in the network. We conclude with implications for professional learning in global networks.

Globally, the World Bank's neoliberal agenda has reframed inclusive education through its investment projects and inclusive policies, thus begetting unevenness and social inequalities. Accordingly, in South Africa, the World Bank's neoliberal investment projects and inclusive policies exacerbate the exclusion of learners in schools. The critical theory framework is adopted as a lens to explore the extent to which the World Bank's neoliberal education agenda meets the end goals of democracy and social justice in post-apartheid South Africa. A critical analysis of the World Bank's inclusive education policies points to a neoliberal agenda that fosters liberalisation instead of human rights; a policy that propagates privatisation instead of universal education; learners' emancipation barricaded by investment projects that favour deregulation instead of regulation; and illusive social change due to neoliberal public policies in post-apartheid South African schools. Ultimately, the authors argue that the World Bank's incoherent, inconsistent and ambiguous neoliberal education agenda does not speak to its intended recipients, namely the poor, unprivileged and excluded learners in post-apartheid South African schools. A recommendation thus put forward is that the World Bank should redirect its investment projects and revise its inclusive policies in the quest to spearhead universal and free public education.

This article considers how to approach the task of developing a curriculum for social justice at a time of planetary and systemic crisis, on the basis that both 'human capital development' and passing on 'the best that has been thought and said' from the past are inadequate responses. If our aim is to create the conditions for human survival and greater social justice, we need to radically commit to values of care, solidarity, equality and democracy, and the development of a broad set of critical literacies. Rather than simply hoping and waiting for better policies and systems, can we usefully find purpose and joy and start to prefigure a more socially just world in the here and now?

This paper advocates for the integration of the 'sociological imagination', as proposed by the sociologist C. Wright Mills, into pedagogical practices to foster inclusive and democratic classrooms. Departing from narrow evidence-based approaches, it explores how the sociological imagination connects personal experiences with broader societal structures, enhancing critical thinking and social awareness among students. Practical strategies for implementation across diverse subjects are discussed, emphasising its potential to empower school-age students as agents of social change amidst contemporary challenges.

While the meaning of democracy remains multi-faceted centuries after the concept was first conceived of and subsequently formulated, democratic principles have spread to the extent of bringing about democratisation in all fields of education. Thus, with this study we sought to examine the popular conception of democracy in mathematics-education programmes at South African universities. A qualitative research approach and a case study research design were used in this study. Six mathematics teacher educators and 75 second- to fourth-year mathematics education student teachers from 3 different universities constitute the sample for the study. The findings from the study revealed that participants had a contested notion of democracy, since the majority understood it as involving deliberative participation, a shared decision-making process, as well as freedom of expression. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that participants were aware of what democracy should look like and were willing to live according to democratic tenets. This understanding was, however, greatly influenced by their experiences and way of life in a democratic South Africa.

One of the challenges in substantiating deliberative democracy as a normative theory is the educational challenge of how to cultivate civic virtue, especially mutual respect and civility, in children. The cultivation of civic virtue is not limited to school education, but is also an activity related to family education. However, liberal theorists who advocate the theory of deliberative democracy, based on the dualism of public and private, have limited their discussions to the issue of civic development in the field of public education. This article proposes to understand and compare the many competing theories on public-private dualism, particularly in liberal and feminist spaces. Beginning with an analysis of the work of liberal theorists such as David Archard as well as Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift, and moving on to that of feminist theorists such as Susan Okin, this article examines competing theories on education in school and in the family, to whom the responsibility of education belongs, and where feminist and liberal thought enlighten these debates. This article will clarify the theoretical tendencies and principles of liberal arguments aimed at overcoming the public-private dualism in education, and present a strategy for overcoming the challenges that this theory encompasses by seeking reference points in feminist thought, especially with attention to conception of relational autonomy.

Place-based education makes a compelling case that the pedagogy of colleges and universities must be re-imagined to be more relevant and engaged. This article argues for a specific approach to place-based education--what has been termed "deliberative pedagogy"--offering an emerging practical philosophy that applies insights from deliberative dialogue towards teaching and learning. The author provides principles and practices, along with examples of this method of civic education. It makes a hopeful case for having democratic practices in education undergirding the connection between anchor institutions and the broader civic mission of higher education.

This article is an ethnography of a student protest against a Finnish university's plans to give up 25 percent of its campus buildings until 2030. The Finnish universities faced financial deficits primarily due to education cuts implemented by Finland's right-wing government between 2015 and 2019. To balance the budget, Tampere University proposed surrendering some of its buildings, including the Linna, the home of social sciences, and the main library. The students organized the We Will Not Give Up the Linna Building movement (WWGU) to oppose the university's decision. This article is an ethnography of the movement's resistance and outcomes and analyzes what the student activists learned and how they changed during the protest wave in 2021. Our analysis uncovered six key insights the student activists learned on democracy, social media in activism, activism's temporality and persistence, the role of emotions in activism, and the university's power structures. The study contributes to a general understanding of the student protest movement, the social transformations that student activists undergo, and how they learn to perceive democracy, develop political imagination, and understand power structures.

The "1919 Report" of the British Ministry of Reconstruction's Adult Education Committee, produced as the First World War was ending, reflects the optimism of its committee about the possibilities for a more socially just and democratic society and its concern to find an alternative to economic deprivation and disenfranchisement. Its central thesis is that adult education is "a permanent national necessity" for an active informed democracy, which should, therefore, be both "universal and lifelong". Despite the report's lukewarm initial reception, its influence on the development of adult education over a century in Britain and in other anglophone countries has been marked. As R. D. Waller argued in 1956, it "is probably the most significant single contribution made to the literature of adult education", certainly in the United Kingdom. It may well also be the first major national report on adult education published anywhere to be grounded in a comprehensive survey of existing provision. This article examines the context of its creation, its core arguments and their strengths and deficiencies, as well as its reception and subsequent impact. The article ends with a consideration of the report's contemporary relevance and how its core ideas of voluntarism and co-construction of knowledge can support democratic renewal through education.

As democracies have deteriorated worldwide, understanding preservice teachers' perceptions regarding teaching about the 2020 US presidential election helps teacher educators better guide them to make informed and intentional pedagogical decisions for democratic education. Through a survey study, we found that early childhood and elementary preservice social studies teachers did not express a strong degree of comfort teaching about the presidential election and were most comfortable teaching about matters of literacy and of political agreement.

The monologues presented in this article represent a particular Bakhtinian analysis of a transcript of a passionate, dramatic, and conflictual General Assembly meeting held in the first democratic school in Norway, the Experimental Gymnasium of Oslo (EGO), only two months after the school was opened, on November 2nd, 1967. In the meeting, they confronted each other with deep disagreements in their vision of the school and ways to govern it. The Bakhtinian assumption is that a dialogic analysis of any dialogue takes entering into dialogic relationships with the original participants in the analyzed dialogue (Matusov, Marjanovic-Shane, & Gradovski, 2019; Matusov, Marjanovic-Shane, Kullenberg, & Curtis, 2019). By taking the floor in the Soul-Searching Assembly, the students confronted each other fully from the bottom of their hearts and minds. Their ideas were embodied intentions, motives, reasons, and desires--what Bakhtin called the person-ideas (Bakhtin, 1999). I constructed four person-ideas based on the transcript of the Soul-searching assembly. In that process of dialogic abstraction, I attempted to distill specific points of view without depersonalizing them into abstract ideas thorn out of the living moment of their lives. The analysis through the construction of the four person-ideas complements a vignette I wrote based on the same transcript (Marjanovic-Shane, 2023b). It is both a distinctive kind of dialogic analysis, and it also helps me prepare the data regarding the students' ideas for a further conceptual analysis, where I explore the students' ideological positions, beliefs, and worldviews. That conceptual analysis is published in a separate article of this special issue (Marjanovic-Shane, 2023a).

This article is the first of four articles exploring democratic schools co-founded by teenage students in Norway and Sweden. Our larger project explores the relationship between democracy in education and educational dialogism. Both democracy in education and educational dialogism are partially rooted in the idea that education should be a personal meaning-making practice where the participants can create and organize their lives in ways that make sense to them and explore their interests, values, and desires. We describe the processes of founding two schools--one in Oslo, Norway, and the other in Gothenburg, Sweden--in which students practiced the right to democratic governance. We describe the process of the founding of these schools against the background of the students' movements in the late 1960s and the 1970s and the social and political conditions in Norway and Sweden at that time. We explore the students' perspectives on the possibility, desirability, and legitimacy of the students' voices in ethical-ontological dialogues in which the participants jointly examine their relationships with the world, with others, and with themselves. Further, we explore the forms of democratic school governance that Norwegian and Swedish students created and identified tensions that appeared between the legitimacy of individual students' rights to ownership of their learning, teachers' ownership of teaching, and the conventional normative educational policies in Norway and Sweden.

This essay provides a grounded critical discussion of why a professor might limit their undergraduate students' sovereignty of educational decision-making to promote an opportunity for a democratic dialogic culture in the class situated in a conventional university. On the one hand, both democracy and dialogue require voluntary participation by the students in their education and dialogue and their sovereignty over collective decision-making and educational reasoning. On the other hand, this participation is based on the students' socialization in a special culture which might often be at odds with their sovereignty. It is difficult for many students to freely choose democracy and dialogue in education when they are embedded in a conventional educational institution based on Kantian educational paternalism and foisted education. Also, the students are often culturally unfamiliar with such concepts as "democracy," "dialogue," and "self-education," let alone their practical implications. To address these contradictions, I introduce the notion of the "teacher as a benevolent dictator." I discuss, problematize, and analyze the forms of this benevolent dictatorship, its potential pitfalls, and promises.

Curriculum development is imperative for the overall success of the educational system more so in sustainable development efforts. In the Philippines, the institutionalization of the Madrasah Education Program in public schools provides an opportunity to ensure access to quality and relevant education among Muslim-Filipino learners. The Refined Elementary Madrasah Curriculum serves as the foundation for creating instructional decisions to actualize educational outcomes. However, since the program's inception in 2004, there are various concerns, especially in terms of the elements of the curriculum. There is a dearth of professional literature on the curriculum development practices of Madrasah Education in the Philippines, especially in the planning phase. Thus, the study sought to discuss and explore the naturalistic model as an alternative to planning the Refined Elementary Madrasah Curriculum. This study employed a literature review and used a theoretical synthesis. The analysis revealed that there is a need to democratize curriculum planning initiatives. Furthermore, the implications of the naturalistic model in terms of the platform as anchored to 'Education in Islamic Perspective' as the point of inception in the planning process is unprecedented. The concept of democratization has highlighted the narratives of relevant stakeholders as part of the deliberation to form a holistic consensus. In curriculum design, decision points must be achieved to include deliberate plans for implementation and evaluation. In conclusion, the challenge to ensuring sustainable development in Madrasah Education Program is how to formulate genuine consensus from various stakeholders and create decision points that are relevant to the Philippine context. [Note: The publication year (2022) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year for this article is 2023.]

The purpose of this study is to examine whether vocational graduate competitive advantage is associated with servant leadership, participative leadership, democratic leadership, and graduate competence. It also aims to examine the extent to which graduate competency acts as a moderator. A structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to analyze the study data. The study adopted the quantitative survey design to examine responses from school principals, staff, teachers, and students at a vocational school in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The study results show that servant leadership and participative leadership positively and significantly affect vocational graduates' competitive advantage. Graduate competence strengthens the relationship between leadership styles (serving, participatory, and democratic leadership) and vocational graduate competitive advantage. These findings revealed that the competitiveness of vocational school graduates in East Kalimantan can achieve optimal results if vocational school leaders are able to anticipate and track organizational changes through their authority to build structures, people, technology, and mechanisms that can create a new and more productive culture. Such findings could help Indonesian policymakers increase vocational school graduates with a competitive advantage to compete in the industrial world.

In these fraught, divisive times, K-12 educators have an opportunity to make a profound contribution to students' academic, intellectual, and civic maturity by giving civil, purposeful discussion the priority it deserves. With reading and writing, discussion is a co-equal leg of the tripod of literacy. By engaging in frequent discussions of challenging academic content, students could learn to listen (not just wait for their chance to talk), to offer their thoughts with an open mind, to fairly consider multiple perspectives, and to agree to respectfully disagree. They could carry these vital abilities with them into adulthood, which would prepare them to become more contributive citizens, better neighbors, and more productive employees. In fact, employers rank communication and interactional acumen among their highest priorities. This article makes the case for civil, rational argument in the classroom, describes how any teacher can conduct such discussions, and highlights schools where these discussions have led to both high engagement and significant academic gains.

According to Randi Weingarten, attacks on public education are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended to destroy it. Over the last three years, legislators in 45 states proposed hundreds of laws placing public schools at the center of culture wars: laws seeking to ban books from school libraries; laws restricting what teachers can teach and students can learn--particularly about race, gender, LGBTQ issues, current events, and American history; and laws attacking kids who are transgender. Students and staff should feel welcome, safe, and respected in school--but the culture wars are fueling hostility and fear. This article is based on Randi Weingarten's speech at the National Press Club in March 2023, in which she provides four strategies for powerful public education: expanding community schools, scaling experiential learning, addressing staff shortages, and deepening the partnership between families and educators.

This study aims to develop an instrument that measures democratic attitudes levels in primary school students in third and fourth grades. This study involved 591 students (302 for exploratory factor analysis, 289 for confirmatory factor analysis) enrolled in the 3rd and 4th grades. A literature review was conducted to prepare the scale items, and a pool of 32 items was created. A face and content validity assessment was performed by taking the opinions of four educators who are experts in classroom education and social studies education. A construct validity test was conducted on 302 students. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in a scale with three dimensions and 15 items. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with a group of 289 students using the scale. Based on the confirmatory factor analysis, the 15-item and 3- dimensional structure of the scale was compatible with the collected data. According to the results, the reliability coefficient of the scale was .85. Thus, the scale can be considered a valid and reliable tool for measuring democratic attitudes among primary school students in third and fourth grades.

The influence of algorithms on society is increasing due to their growing presence in all areas of daily life. Although we are not always aware of it, they sometimes usurp the identity of other social actors. The main purpose of this article is to address the meta-research on the field of artificial intelligence and communication from a holistic perspective that allows us to analyze the state of academic research, as well as the possible effects on these areas and on the democratic system. To this end, we carried out a systematized review of recent literature using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The subject analyzed is changing and novel: it includes the impact and interaction of algorithms, bots, automated processes, and artificial intelligence mechanisms in journalism and communication, as well as their effects on democracy. The results show expanding scientific production, mostly in English, based on theoretical discussion or focused on the perception of communication professionals. The object of study is centered mostly on journalism and democracy, and to a lesser degree on ethics or education. Studies indicate great interest in the effects of the use of algorithms on journalism and democracy, but the answers are still uncertain and the challenges for the coming years are significant.

In 2017, a new core curriculum was implemented in Norwegian primary and secondary education, replacing the core curriculum from 1997. While the concept of "danning" is present in both curricula, its meaning and use seem to change. The concept of "danning" has a played a significant role in Norwegian society and educational history. Danning has been linked to the establishment of Norwegian democracy, in which education plays an important role. Since the 19th century, the meaning of the concept has been subject to change, corresponding to historical changes, yet the word itself continues to be part of the Norwegian educational rhetoric and national curriculum. This means that conversations about "danning" may not be fruitful because the participants attach different meanings to the same concept. Thus, a study of how "danning" has been used and how it is used today is warranted. Through an analysis of two Norwegian curricula, from 1997 and 2017, we find changes in the perception of "danning" and in its role as an educational concept in Norwegian education. We argue that "danning" goes from being understood as a result-oriented, social and democratic concept in 1997 to being seen as an individualistic process in pursuit of certain personal characteristics, without its former social component, in 2017. This indicates a fragmentation of "danning."