Enacting the democratic curricular rhetoric in school: The role of teachers in guaranteeing students’ right to participation

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Teachers as Citizens: Reflections from East Asia, Mexico, and the Middle East

Proposal

One of the most important challenges in an inclusive civic education for democracy and human rights is how schools can enact the values and practices that the curriculum aims to promote among students (Levinson, 2012). How can we transit from a democratic rhetoric in classrooms to a vivid experience of democracy in daily school practices? In Mexico, since the curricular reforms in 2007 and 2011, there is a strong rhetoric about democracy and human rights in the program of Civic and Ethical Formation (CEF) for Educación Secundaria (schools working with students between 12 and 15 years old). Yet, while the curriculum envisions an active student in decision-making, conflict solving and the resolution of collective problems in school and broader communities; secondary schools hardly ever offer opportunities to guarantee adolescents’ right to participation (Author, 2013, 2014, 2015a). In this context, the paper focuses on the experiences of two teachers, who are involved in a program to revitalize the Student Societies in Mexico City’s secondary schools. It shows their own struggles to enact in the school life, the rhetoric of democracy, human rights and inclusion that reigns in the curricular domain.
Similar to student councils, the Student Society (SS) is a representative organ of students’ voice. Since 1982, by law, a SS must be constituted in every secondary school at the beginning of the school year. However, SS have mainly become a legal requirement to be fulfilled, rather than being an authentic agency for student participation. Consequently, the education authorities in Mexico City designed a program to revitalize SS.
In keeping with Hansen’s (2017) conception of the researcher as one who bears witness to teachers and teaching, I draw on texts written by two teachers who took part in the SS revitalisation initiative. The paper reports teachers’ own reflections during the program, in order to become someone that accompanies students’ proposals and actions, instead of being the main protagonist; to transit from a focus on controlling adolescents’ discipline, to promoting creativity, inclusion and commitment among them; and to let students be the active citizen that the curriculum envisions, instead of passive supporters of democracy. The paper draws on data from these teachers, and through the lens of Lundy’s (2007) approach to children’s right to participation, and the notion of quality in pupils’ participation in school (Author, 2015b), the paper develops an argument about the contribution of teachers in guaranteeing a more inclusive, autonomous, authentic and efficacious participation of students in this setting.

References
Hansen, D.T. (2017) Bearing witness to teaching and teachers, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 49:1:7-23.
Levinson, M. (2012). No citizen left behind: Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA.
Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), pp. 927-942.
Author (2013).
Author (2014).
Author (2015a).
Author (2015b).



References
Hansen, D.T. (2017) Bearing witness to teaching and teachers, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 49:1:7-23.
Levinson, M. (2012). No citizen left behind: Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA.
Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), pp. 927-942.
Author (2013).
Author (2014).
Author (2015a).
Author (2015b).

Author

• Leonel Perez Exposito, Autonomous Metropolitan University