Deliberation in the classroom - on the potential of deliberative ideals for a more civic education

Abstract

This article seeks to answer a very simple question: what is promising about deliberation in school education? For that, it sets out to examine how deliberative democracy can provide new ways to consider educational practices, from a civic perspective. In other words, it seeks to identify the possible and advantageous approaches linking the ideals of deliberative democracy and the educational process. It starts reviewing the idea of public deliberation, presenting it as a proposal to achieve informed, participated and founded decision-making. It could be possible to obtain a more civic and autonomous process of education through an ethical use of discourse (Habermas). In the second part of the article, we will attempt to show how deliberative ideals can be applied, advantageously, in the classroom. To this extent, the autonomy of individuals (students) to participate in reasoning processes of problem solving as well as the ability to receive and accommodate different views and diverse experiences will be emphasized. This perception highlights the need to incorporate deliberative normative ideals in the classroom.