Promoting democracy from childhood: two experiences in primary schools - Democrat

The essential aim of the EU-funded DEMOCRAT project is promoting democracy, especially through the knowledge and practice of democratic values. To this end, it works with primary and secondary schools, promoting educational interventions that strengthen students’ democratic competences, so that they can participate actively and committedly in all areas of life. Students become protagonists of real democratic processes within the school and reflect on their role as members of a pluralistic society.

This article presents two interventions developed in primary schools in Catalonia (Spain) as part of the DEMOCRAT project. Both initiatives provide children with early opportunities to engage in participatory democracy. On the one hand, the project ‘Read Right, Read Rights’ explores children’s rights and duties through reading and democratic discussions, following the principles of dialogic learning (egalitarian dialogue, cultural intelligence, transformation, instrumental dimension, creation of meaning, solidarity and equality). The proposal also encourages the whole educational community to consolidate democratic responsibility

On the other hand, the project to create a Children and Adolescents Council aims to encourage the participation of children and young people inside and outside the school, collaborating and expressing their opinions on issues that affect them in their environment, creating spaces for the different communities to work together, encouraging community commitment in the school and in their environment.

Read Right – Read Rights

The project: context, motivation, and pedagogical approach

At Escola Carrilet, a public infant and primary school in Palafrugell, reading has become more than just an academic skill: it is now a gateway to citizenship. Developed during the 2023–2024 school year with support from the European DEMOCRAT programme, the “Read Right – Read Rights” project integrates literacy development with democratic education, engaging the entire school community — students, teachers, families, and local stakeholders.

The initiative stems from a double diagnosis. On the one hand, the school detected the need to improve pupils’ linguistic competence, particularly reading comprehension. This concern led Carrilet to join the Xarxa de Competència Lectora del Departament d’Educació, a collaborative work space between schools to reinforce reading as the core of learning. On the other hand, the teaching staff wondered how to give practical and transversal content to the ‘democracy’ vector of the new curriculum in Catalonia: how to educate children who are critical, active, respectful and aware of their rights, and how to do so from as early as the age of three?

The response took the form of an ambitious, intergenerational and cross-cutting project that connects children’s rights and duties with the school’s Pla Lector (Reading Plan). Thus, throughout the school year, the 380 pupils at the school – from I3 to 6th grade – worked on texts related to children’s rights through dialogical discussions, cooperative work, classroom assemblies, democratic games and artistic projects, all under an active and participatory learning approach.

The methodology used is based on the conviction that meaningful learning requires giving students a voice. Dialogical discussions, inspired by dialogical learning and critical pedagogy, allow all children – regardless of their age, level or background – to actively participate in conversations around issues such as equality, justice, respect or diversity. This approach not only improves communication and comprehension skills, but also strengthens empathy, argumentation and collective awareness.

The project was conceived with a clear desire to align itself with the official curriculum, based on the democratic competences defined by DEMOCRAT. In this way, the competences, knowledge and textual typologies relevant to each level were carefully selected. Likewise, a democratic competences evaluation system was designed, adapting the model suggested by DEMOCRAT to the different age groups, in order to observe the impact of the project beyond the academic level.

In short, ‘Read Right – Read Rights’ represents an effort to turn reading into a tool for transformation: reading to understand the world, reading to exercise citizenship, and reading to learn to read.

From concept to classroom: activities, challenges, and impact

The implementation of the project has been as rich as it has been diverse. Each class group designed a sequence of activities around children’s rights and duties, using a selection of carefully chosen books as a starting point. These texts, from the Rosa Sensat Foundation’s pedagogical suitcase and other recommendations, served as the basis for the discussions and reflective work.

Some of the most important activities included:

“Who am I?” – a self-awareness and emotional expression activity promoting empathy, respect for differences, and basic rights.
“Discovering Our Rights” – collective reading and analysis of texts related to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The Power of a Song” and “Every Child a Song” – music projects exploring rights through art and sensitivity.
“CarriDrets Game” – a gamified activity helping students understand rights and responsibilities in everyday situations.
“Molta merda!” – a theatrical performance by grade 6 students dealing with dilemmas arising from violations of rights.

In addition to these proposals, dynamics were designed for the playground, such as cooperative and inclusive games, or more structured spaces for deliberation through classroom assemblies. All of this was developed under collectively constructed rules of coexistence that were visible in all the classrooms.

One of the keys to success was the involvement of the teaching staff, who received specific training in democratic education thanks to the support of the DEMOCRAT team and the training offered by the XCL. This learning resulted in the adaptation of the project to the different educational stages and in the revision of the Pla Lector with a democratic perspective.

However, the process also presented challenges. The most significant of these was the partial replacement of the teaching staff, which meant that additional efforts had to be devoted to internal cohesion. The need for more time to systematise the evaluation was also identified, as it was not possible to carry out all the planned measurements.

Despite this, the results have been remarkable. In terms of reading, the internal evaluations show a clear improvement in reading comprehension. In terms of democracy, a positive evolution was observed in the attitudes of respect, participation and active listening. Pupils expressed feeling more listened to and valued, especially in the initial cycles. At higher levels, more complex concerns were detected, such as the need for more spaces for expression among peers or the desire to influence collective decisions.

The Democratic Responsible Citizenship (DRC) competencies assessment, designed with age-appropriate forms and visual resources, collected valuable data on how children experience respect, justice, participation and mutual care, both at school and at home. This information was used to draw up improvement plans adapted to each group and to detect cases requiring specific emotional accompaniment. Thus, the data provided helped teachers to reflect on their intervention in the classroom, helping them to improve and better adapt to the needs of the pupils.

Conclusions and lessons learned

Throughout the course, ‘Read Right – Read Rights’ has consolidated its value as an inclusive, transformative and transferable project. Its main strength lies in its ability to align academic objectives (reading competence) with civic objectives (democratic competence), based on such a powerful and accessible tool as reading.

The project has shown that working on rights and duties from an early age is not only possible, but necessary. The fact that students feel listened to, safe, respected and able to express what they think and feel is the first step towards building an inclusive school and a fairer society. As can be seen from the work in the classroom, when spaces for egalitarian dialogue are created and children’s voices are trusted, processes of personal, social and cultural transformation are generated.

Among the key lessons learned, the following stand out:

The importance of unifying methodological criteria and sharing good practices among teachers.
The value of networking with other centres and institutions.
The need for specific teacher training in democratic competences, which are still not very present in the usual training offer.
The usefulness of creating one’s own resources (for example, a ‘toolbox’ with materials and dynamics) to facilitate the sustained implementation of the project.

With a view to transfer to other contexts, this project offers an adaptable model that can be developed at different educational levels, subjects and environments. The essential thing is to maintain the dialogical approach, the protagonism of the students and the connection with the curriculum and the local environment.

At Escola Carrilet, the journey does not stop here. The school intends to continue consolidating the project.

In the words of one of the teachers involved: “If a child learns to say what he or she thinks, to listen with respect and to care for others, he or she is learning to be a citizen. And that, in the end, is also learning to live”.

Children’s Council of Salomó

The project: context, motivation, and pedagogical approach

The Josep Nin school is a rural school located in the small town of Salomó, which has approximately 500 inhabitants, with a high percentage of immigrant population. More than half of the school’s families are of foreign origin, which makes communication with the families and their participation in the life of the school and the municipality sometimes difficult. In order to respond to this difficulty and encourage participation in the life of the school and the municipality, the creation of a Children’s and Adolescents’ Council is therefore presented as a key tool and an element of social cohesion.

The Children’s and Adolescents’ Councils are instruments within the reach of children and young people, enabling them to exercise their right to citizenship with child participation as a fundamental right, to become involved and to act with the aim of transforming their own city or town. In this sense, participation is an opportunity for children to deepen their understanding of democratic values and to put forward proposals to local authorities in decisions that directly affect their life at school and in the municipality.

Other primary school pupils and 5 teachers also took part in this initiative, which was aimed at pupils in the upper cycle of the school and the first two years of ESO.

Through this space for participation, which is the Council for Children and Adolescents, the main objectives of the Josep Nin School are as follows:

Create a valid and stable structure for children’s participation and communication with municipal authorities.
Encourage collective work for the common and community good.
To develop strategies for working on participatory democracy.
To ensure that children have the possibility of expressing and deciding how they want their village, their immediate environment, their school and in general everything that surrounds them as they are part of it.
To get adults to recognise children’s rights, valuing and taking their opinions into account in a real way, listening to them and putting some of their proposals into practice, as long as they are real and well-founded.

From there, the structure of what will be the Children’s Council starts to be drawn, from the competences to be worked on, the objectives, the evaluation and the development of all the learning sessions.

The methodology that supports the intervention is based on competence-based, cooperative and active learning, putting into practice socio-educational skills and competences such as communication, responsibility and teamwork. These competences are trained through concrete activities, such as: Debates and Assemblies, Community Projects, Meetings with representatives of the City Council or other institutions.

The project takes into account the new official curriculum of Catalonia, especially with regard to the vector of democratic citizenship and global awareness. Thus, the Children’s Council is integrated into various areas of the school curriculum and enables the development of social competences, the improvement of communication skills, empathy and awareness and commitment to the common good.

With these competences in mind, through the Children’s Council, pupils can improve language skills by participating in debates, writing proposals, and addressing issues related to their environment and proposing improvements.

Cultivating values such as solidarity, justice and respect for the rights of all members of the community can also be done through collaboration, conflict resolution and social responsibility.

Promoting democracy, from theory to practice: activities, challenges, and impact

The implementation of the proposal has followed a line of work with both school and secondary school pupils, which has been perfectly planned through sessions held in the classroom during the first term of the school year. In the second term, the Children’s Council is constituted in an event at the Town Hall of the municipality, and then regular meetings are held to present the pupils’ proposals and receive an assessment of their viability.

In the learning sessions, students have been able to know, understand and reflect on topics such as, for example, the values of a democratic society, the rights and duties of children and human rights. Although theoretical knowledge is very necessary, it is in practice that democracy is learnt, as the path is learnt by walking.

Therefore, skills such as participation and deliberation are learned through practical activities such as debates and assemblies, community projects, meetings with representatives of the municipality or other institutions. As for the most outstanding activities that have been carried out during the process of creating the Children’s Council, it is worth mentioning:

Classroom Parliament – a simulation of group decision-making, where students proposed, debated, and committed to democratic values.
Rights Traffic Light – students used coloured cards to express opinions on various scenarios, exploring diversity, decision-making, and responsibility.
Council Elections – students nominated and voted for representatives with teacher support.
Town Improvement Proposals – students diagnosed issues and proposed improvements (e.g., sports facilities, environmental care, civic behaviour).
First Plenary Session at Town Hall – students presented their ideas to the mayor and council members.

Through this educational initiative, the children have learned how democratic institutions work, developed critical thinking, the ability to work in teams, and a sense of justice and social responsibility. In order to assess the level of achievement of these competencies, a democratic competencies assessment system has been designed, using questionnaires adapted to the model proposed by DEMOCRAT. Although the usefulness of this assessment tool is recognised, the content is quite complicated and the terminology is difficult for students to understand, which is why it was necessary for teachers to accompany them in carrying it out. The evaluation was complemented with self-evaluations by the students and the reflections contributed by the teaching staff.

From the results of the evaluation, which focused on the DEMOCRAT competences ‘participation in solidarity, deliberation, critical judgement and resilience’, as a whole and in certain aspects more than in others, the pupils expressed a clear “yes” in relation to ‘feeling part of the group or community’, ‘detecting injustices’, ‘respecting opinions’ and ‘knowledge of human rights and children’s rights’. Even so, a large proportion of students feel that their own opinions are not taken into account.

However, in other aspects of citizenship competence such as ‘helping others’, ‘coming up with ideas and solving problems to make things work better’, they very often answer only -Sometimes-. This shows that these aspects are not so well achieved.

Values such as fairness and equality are upheld by most students, but there is no consensus that these values help to solve problems. Most say that they need help to solve their problems and generally help others when they have problems.

As far as critical thinking is concerned, as is normal given the age of the pupils, a large proportion need help to know whether the information they receive is reliable or not.

On the other hand, only a proportion of pupils have developed critical thinking in terms of information received through TV, radio, internet or social networks, and they often need help to see whether it is reliable or not, which is normal considering the age of the pupils, but what is worrying is that a quarter of pupils do not have the habit of checking the information they receive either.

Lessons learnt

Initially, the initial research on Children’s Councils throughout the country and especially the visit to the El Carrilet school in Palafrugell to learn about other experiences was a source of inspiration for the Josep Nin school, so much so that in the future they plan to form part of a support network between councils to exchange experiences and good practices.

In general, the experience has been very positive and has satisfied teachers, pupils, the management team and also the families. It has also had great involvement from the City Council. Even so, for student participation to be more effective, the involvement of all teachers is necessary. Adults, like children, need training, participatory teaching tools and resources to support and safely carry out the project and promote democratic values at school and in society.

The results of this initiative are very stimulating in terms of the involvement of the pupils, who have been highly motivated at all times and happy to participate and explain their experience of the Children and Adolescents Council to both the City Council and the rest of their peers. This shows that developing proactive models, where children and adolescents lead, decide and work on issues that are significant for them, is part of a democratic and transformative educational experience.

However, the process also presents some uncertainties. On the one hand, there is some concern about the results of the pupils’ proposals in the Children’s Council, with regard to their effectiveness, continuity and resolution in the future. As for the continuity of the pupils who are now part of the Council, and who will change level, a positive response is expected and that they will continue to be involved in the next academic year.

It is also necessary for the Council to have a voice in the municipality and a formal response from the City Council on an ongoing basis. The meetings with the municipal bodies are very formal and it is necessary for everyone to come together. Participants must feel comfortable to present their ideas and feel listened to. It is a collective learning process in that local councils also have to get used to making policy by allowing the children and young people of the municipality to have their say on things that also affect them and to take their points of view into account.

In short, the aim of the Children and Adolescents Council is to give a voice to children and adolescents, whatever their background, in order to encourage the active participation of pupils in making decisions that directly affect their lives.

Conclusions

The two initiatives developed under the DEMOCRAT project at Carrilet and Josep Nin schools show that democratic education is not only possible but necessary from an early age. Both have succeeded in creating meaningful spaces for participation, critical reflection, and democratic practice rooted in everyday school life.

“Read Right – Read Rights” demonstrated how reading can be a powerful tool for fostering democratic values and literacy while strengthening community bonds. Dialogic gatherings, cooperative games, creative activities, and formative assessment combined to provide a holistic learning experience. Teacher and family involvement, curriculum alignment, and methodological support were key to its success.

The Children’s Council of Salomó highlighted the value of stable structures that amplify children’s voices in community life, especially in culturally diverse contexts. Despite challenges, the Council generated enthusiasm, a sense of belonging, and valuable learning experiences.

Shared lessons include:

The importance of connecting theory to students’ real lives through meaningful participatory experiences.
The power of active, dialogic, and cooperative methods that give students voice and agency.
The need to involve the entire educational community — teachers, families, local authorities — in building a democratic school culture.

These experiences are inspiring and can be transferable to other centres and contexts. Through the different final deliverables, DEMOCRAT will offer the opportunity to learn more about the transferable elements of these and other projects to strengthen responsible democratic citizenship.

Note: The DEMOCRAT team would like to thank the teachers of Escola Carrilet and Escola Josep Nin for their dedication and creativity. This article is based on materials prepared by the schools and the follow-up conducted by the DEMOCRAT national team in Spain.