Perception of Democracy in Education during Latvia’s Independence Restoration, 1988–1995

Democracy is under threat due to the massive dissemination and accessibility of information, increasing misinformation and false reporting. Any democratic society is based on participatory democracy and a dialogue between the people and their elected representatives. Youth involvement in the political processes is low – political participation in Latvia has declined over the last 20 years. The article aims to understand the transformation of the concept of democracy to gain insight into the interpretation of democracy in education in Latvia during the restoration of state independence from 1988 to 1995. The research question is how democracy was interpreted in education in Latvia during the transition period to the restoration of state independence from 1988 to 1995. Critical discourse analysis was used in this article by analysing educational periodicals and systematic literature analysis on interpreting the concept of democratic education. Findings reveal that in 1988, democracy in education was interpreted as a tool to guarantee the end of the ideology of the Soviet Union and as a symbol of freedom, whereas, from 1991 up to 1995, democracy emerged as not only a theoretical but also a practical system of governance in education with four active actors: teacher, child, family and society, of which the child was the central component.