Adolescents’ Perspectives on Developing Attitudes Concerning Democracy in the Netherlands

• In Event: Democratic Citizenship in Education Paper Session 1

Abstract

Voluntary organizations and schools are expected to enable adolescents to develop democratic attitudes. In this paper, we describe the results of our interview study with forty adolescents from the eighth grade on their experiences with respect to aspects of democracy within such contexts. The degree to which these adolescents take part in discussion and decision making, and feel encouraged to be socially engaged differs to a large extent. These differences exist between adolescents, as well as between contexts. Some adolescents experience democracy on a regular basis while others rarely have the opportunity. Voicing one’s opinion is encouraged in some schools and voluntary organizations, but not in others.

Authors

• Hessel Nieuwelink, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

• Femke Geijsel, University of Amsterdam

• Geert Ten Dam, University of Amsterdam

• Paul Dekker, University of Tilburg