A space of reasons for a democratic school

Abstract

This contribution examines the justifications for a possible link between democracy and school and tries to establish criteria for assuming that a school is democratic or not. These criteria would be embodied in a space of reasons where the teacher would allow a discussion about the activities carried out and would share with his or her students (or even co-construct with them) the criteria of success of these same tasks. To illustrate this reflection, this article presents a collaborative research project carried out in a pre-vocational secondary school in Geneva with French teachers reflecting on the interest and the structuring of end-of-session reviews. These end-of-session reviews are considered here as potentially corresponding to this space of reasons attesting to a learning of democracy and being able to allow these students in difficulty to carry out school learning.