Teaching about, for and through democracy : Social science didactics in practice in upper primary school

In times of much concern of a decline of democracy worldwide, efforts to strengthen civic competence and awareness of democracy at all levels of society are perhaps more important than ever. School has a unique position and responsibility for democratic education (Young, 2015), aiming to empower young citizens to both comprehend how society functions, as well as to act in society. In democracies, such educational efforts are performed at all levels (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004), starting in primary school. Research efforts concerning teaching and learning of democracy havemainly been focused on older students, and concentrated on concepts and structures important for knowledge about democracy. At the same time, there is a lack of research concerning democratic education that can open up democratic issues and discussions for younger students (Conrad et al., 2024). Hence there is a need to explore educational efforts among young learners towards learning fordemocracy and through democracy. The aim of this study is to identify and probe design principles for teaching year four to six students about democracy, for democracy and through democracy. The study is designed as a teaching intervention. The research raises the following questions: • How do year four to six students respond to teaching about democracy, for democracy and through democracy? • Which design principles seem to promote or impede year four to six students’ ability to understand and act in relation to democratic principles and values?