Teaching Democracy: Tools and Methods in the Secondary Education

Abstract

Political and Social scientists, since the end of the 20th century, have been concerned about youth’s “withdrawal” from participating in public life. This paper addresses the issue of teaching Civic Education and presents new didactic and interactive tools that can be used in the educational process. Introducing the meaning of Democracy to students takes place in compulsory education but during Secondary Education is taught extensively with the aim of creating responsible and interactive citizens. Therefore, students are exercised in democratic procedures during courses, interactive learning and by electing students’ board into school premises in order to motivate political participation and political understanding. However, an individual is not considered as a citizen only on the election day. To this end, thematic workshops were designed and implemented by using the principle of deliberation in schools in the area of Thessaloniki (Greece), in the context of the course "Contemporary World, Citizen and Democracy" in Secondary Education. The workshops focused on the familiarization with the Greek and European Parliament functions into the school communities by interactive and experiential learning. At the end of this approach, a survey was conducted to students concerning their opinion about deliberation and electoral procedures. In that terms, we aim to develop a structured and interactive Civic Education curriculum that will help shape active and responsible citizens. Our teaching practice is based on mathematical skills and statistical concepts to cultivate further the concepts of democracy and representation