Youth and democratic elections. A co-generative action research with a group of high school students

Abstract

This article presents the results of a co-generative action-research, whose objective was to evaluate a didactic module designed from the Chilean presidential election of 2017, which was aimed at the development of civic competencies and the encouragement of expectations of future electoral participation of high school students. The research was conducted by establishing a collaborative partnership between the professional research team and a high school teacher, according to Greenwood and Levin's ideas. Specifically, twenty-nine students inquired and debated for four weeks about the proposals of the candidates, as well as the socially live issues associated with them. Subsequently, the students' ideas about the experience were explored through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and a discussion group. Complementarily, classroom observations were conducted, and the participating teacher was interviewed. After that, the information obtained was processed using the qualitative content analysis method. The results point to the effectiveness of the module implemented in the development of citizenship competencies and to the importance students give to the discussion of the social reality in the classroom, in an atmosphere of respect for diverse opinions. In turn, the conclusions identify several strengths and weaknesses to be considered in future applications. Likewise, they highlight the students' active role and the debate on controversial issues in citizenship education and suggest that these elements should be considered in the new Chilean citizenship subject.