Exploring teacher competences for establishing an ‘open classroom climate’ in primary education

Teachers have a crucial role in establishing an ‘open classroom climate’ (OCC) that enables open discussions on societal issues. Recent research has mainly measured OCC through individual students’ perceptions. This study explores the teacher competences that foster an OCC for effective citizenship education. Thematic analysis of interviews with eighteen primary school teachers reveals that how and which competences can contribute to an OCC varies by teacher, context and process. In sum, most teachers feel competent to create an OCC and perceive their classroom as democratic, involving students only in practical and organizational matters and not, for example, in curricular matters.