Education's Role in Protecting Democracy
Somehow, quite quickly, democracy in the USA, once the world’s paradigm for that political system, is shuddering. Sadder still, much of it might have been prevented should education around democracy and its importance have been promoted.
Children should experience democracy firsthand in the early years of education, communities must be encouraged to ensure democracy is generational.
Better civics education will enable young people to become more informed voters in the future and education experts are calling for schools to include democracy in their curriculum and extra-curricular activities for students.
Associate Professor Jorge Knijnik from Western Sydney University says, "There is an urgent need to develop media literacy programs for educators. Democracy isn’t just about politics - it’s a way of life that must be nurtured, protected, and renewed through education with each generation. A strong democracy goes beyond the ballot box. It thrives when people have multiple ways to actively participate in shaping their communities.
"Young people have endless access to information, but real democracy requires creating spaces where they don’t just talk about change, they live it."
Educators can gain valuable insights from ongoing media literacy programs to critically engage with how the media portrays broad topics such as education and democracy.
"These funded professional learning programs will support teachers, and the students they teach, with skills to critically analyse media narratives, enabling them to be aware, navigate and challenge dominant discourses around citizenship and democratic values.”
Schools can foster participatory councils where older students can debate, propose solutions, and experience the realities of civic leadership.
"Authentic leadership opportunities in schools can be made accessible to all students, not just those handpicked within rigid structures. Every student must have a voice in shaping their school, whether through assemblies, councils, or collaborative projects that tackle real-world challenges,” he says.
"Digital literacy must be integrated into democratic education, ensuring students engage with media critically rather than passively absorbing its narratives."
Associate Professor Joel Windle from University of South Australia, thinks that, "We need mechanisms to encourage politicians and reporters to move beyond set-piece announcements and repetition of speaking points.
"It is important for young people to have experiences participating in democratic decision-making processes in schools and other organisations for them to become informed voters in federal elections.
"Such involvement is also important for them to realise that voting is just one way of participating as a citizen, and that there are many other important ways to make your voice heard."
As well as trying to educate young people, we need mechanisms to encourage politicians and reporters to move beyond set-piece announcements and repetition of speaking points so that voters and young people have more valuable information upon which to base decisions.
"There are key roles for teachers and parents in teaching young people to be critical consumers of media at election time. In schools, critical literacy is a long-standing approach to critically interpreting texts that can be brought to bear on election material, including misinformation,” he says.
"A useful approach in schools is to support students to be media producers, through activities such as making podcasts.
"This gives them the experience of activities such as researching reliable information, collecting multiple perspectives, and providing an honest account of an issue.
"Finally, young people who are highly technologically literate are in a stronger position than many adults and can educate their parents and others about topics such as deepfakes."
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