Lizamarie Campoamor-Olegario, Ph.D.

University of the Philippines

College of Education
Division of Curriculum and Instruction
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
• Greek words
• demos = people
• kratos = power
• demokratia = rule of the people
• “the government of people, by people and
for people”
• President Abraham Lincoln
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
Main Features of Democracy (Alshurman, 2015)
• equality
• social and political participation
• freedom of decision via voting
• the demise of violence method in the realization of social and
political goals
• the practice of compromise
• the elementary value of human as a human being and
• a free atmosphere to ensure this value
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
Based on two assumptions (Henderson):
• the infinite value and worth of human
personality
• belief that men are capable of managing
their own affairs in such a way as to
promote the welfare of all and that,
therefore, they should have the freedom to
do so
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
• a set of principles and concepts about freedom
• institutionalization of freedom

Freedom is characterized by recognizing one’s intrinsic

dignity and absolute rights in a society (Crick, 2002)
• type of government
• way of life – “a determining influence in every major
area of life” (Bode)
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
• free to practice religion of his choice
• free to choose spouse of her choice
• free to select the form of education they wish to achieve
• minorities are given equal right of participating in politics and
influence society
• minorities are provided with complete protection against
violation and assault
• woman is presented with equal rights and opportunities as a
man
The best way to create awareness about
democracy is to incorporate democratic
education and administration in educational
institutes
• Lappé (2006)
WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
• an educational ideal in which democracy is
both a goal and a method of instruction
brings democratic values to education
WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Functional Ethical Values (UNESCO, 1995)
1) Freedom and respect for human dignity expressed by human
rights
• Difficult to teach
• Human rights express imperfectly the complexity and wealth
of human dignity.
• Human rights are highly diversified and contain opposing
social rationales
• The teacher needs a great deal of knowledge and to be very
free oneself to be capable of producing experiences of
liberation.
WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Functional Ethical Values (UNESCO, 1995)
2) organized dialogue (debate)
• a decision making process of implementation
• covers respect for truth common to all
(in the most believable form)
• tolerance
• and the ongoing quest for objective processes of negotiation
• it calls for ceaseless vigilance, restoring confidence in its
effectiveness and awareness of its necessity, rather than
taking the easy way of simply applying administrative
measures (UNESCO, 1995)
WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Functional Ethical Values (UNESCO, 1995)
3) Exemplariness
• the concrete form of respect for creativity
• The ability to practise what one preaches and prove one's
ideas in action.
• new experiments in participation, interpersonal relations and
dialogue, and be in advance of the rest of society
• we are all responsible for famine, war, unemployment and
poverty
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Best Realized Through the Following Processes
(Hecth, 2010)

1) making democratic principles a part of school life;

2) accepting that the learners are sophisticated;
3) accepting that inner motivation is the starting point of
learning;
4) supporting the learner’s self-discipline and
responsibility;
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Best Realized Through the Following Processes
(Hecth, 2010)

5) encouraging the learner to create his/her own learning

strategies and accepting that the learner can plan his/her
own learning;
6) promoting supporting self-evaluation;
7) including content in the curriculum related to
democracy; and
8) creating a teacher-student relationship based on dialog
during this educational process and its applications
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
How can freedom be taught?
The right to freedom of expression is the right - not only
granted, but awakened, encouraged and guided, if
necessary - of every pupil to set the world to rights in
class, to think about major values, to question the
foundations of science, the arts, religion, life in society,
and also the quality of the teaching he or she receives.
• UNESCO (2015)
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF DEMOCRATIC
EDUCATION?
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Main Aim: to produce democratic citizens who can not only
understand objectively the plethora of social, political, economic
and cultural problems but also form their own independent
judgment on these complicated problems.
• spirit of tolerance
• courage of convictions
• passion for social justice and social service
• power of judgment, scientific thinking and weighing the right and
the wrong
• social minded human beings
• for a fully developed person
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Secondary Education Commission (1952-53)
1) Democratic Citizenship:
(a) Clear Thinking
- power of discrimination of truth from falsehood.
(b) Clearness in Speech and Writing
- for better exchange of ideas among people
(c) Art of Living with the Community
- discipline, co-operation, social sensitiveness and tolerance.
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Secondary Education Commission (1952-53)
(d) Sense of True Patriotism:
(i) A sincere appreciation of the social and cultural
achievements of one’s country,
(ii) a readiness to recognize its weaknesses frankly,
(iii) a resolve to serve it to the best of one’s ability and
(iv) to subordinate one’s interests to the broader national
interests.
(e) Development of Sense of World Citizenship
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Secondary Education Commission (1952-53)
2) Improvement of Vocational Efficiency:
creation of right attitude to work, promotion of technical
skills and efficiency
3) Development of Personality
discovering of hidden talents, cultivating rich interests in art,
literature and culture necessary for self-expression and
assigning a place of honour to the subjects like art, craft,
music, dance and hobbies in the curriculum.
4) Training in Leadership
leadership in social, political, economic, industrial or cultural
fields
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?

Democracy will become successful only, if

the citizens are intellectually advanced and
educated. In democracy, the opinion of the
people influences government policies.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Curriculum:
• flexible
• cater to the diverse tastes and temperaments, aptitudes and abilities,
needs and interests of the pupils
• Suit the changing needs of the times
• broad-based
• includes totality of experiences that a pupil receives
• take into account the local conditions and environmental
demands
• not be separated into fragmented parts
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Methods of Teaching:
• de-emphasize excessive mechanization and indoctrination
• encourage pupil’s participation in teaching learning process
• provide ample scope to think and reflect
• host of modern and dynamic methods of teaching: learning by
doing, the laboratory and experimental method, project method,
Montessori method, problem-based learning
• emphasis given on pupil’s active participation, initiative, enquiry,
interests, judgment power and independent thinking
• Teacher guides, directs and encourages pupils to explore the
vast repertoire of knowledge
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Role of Teacher in a Democracy:
• Success of a democracy depends largely on the teacher
• has to manipulate the environment and make use of all
opportunities
• to enrich and experience of the pupils and to ensure their all-round
development of personality
• not a dictator or autocrat, but a philosopher, stage-setter, guide
and a vigilant supervisor
• provides ample freedom, love and sympathy to pupils
• objective—free from any form of prejudices and favoritism
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Discipline in Democracy:
• consists in the control by the rational self
• not external, rather internal, inner and thus self-
imposed
• based on the pillars of love, sympathy, co-
operation and human relationship
• Self discipline is the essence or core of
democratic living
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
School Administration and Management in a Democracy:
• teachers should be given ample freedom in
• framing or planning the policy of the school
• organizing activities
• preparing curriculum
• selecting methods of teaching
• conducting research
• making innovations in teaching and education
• should eschew extreme concentration of power, the unshared
responsibility, regimentation of authority and unrestrained
freedom.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?
Role of School:
• Equality of treatment and opportunity should be the rule
of the institution.
• “Schools ought to stress the duties and
responsibilities of individual citizens. They ought to
train pupils in a spirit of cheerful willing and
effective service. They should teach citizenship
directly. Everywhere there should be a spirit of
team work. School is a prepared environment in
which child may best blossom” (Ross, 2013).
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION?

Unless teachers become pioneers of

learning, imaginative enough to place
together what is known and what is to be
experienced, we cannot say that our
institutions of learning have advanced.
• John Dewey
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
• The curriculum has failed to address the needs of the
students
• Inadequacy of training for teachers
• Economic and political priorities of the government
officials
• The pathological nature of Philippine bureaucracy
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
• “There is hardly any socio-political awareness in
the minds of graduates. The first thing they have
in mind is to seek employment.” (Estioko, 1994)
• We must first locate the Filipino identity before
we can come up with a valid Philosophy of
Education that could be applicable for Filipinos
(Quito, 2005)
• There is a need to understand our history.
DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
• fragmented knowledge maintains divisions
• Interdisciplinarity is also a major intellectual
challenge, a factor in the culture of democracy. It
is the ability to embrace issues in all their true
complexity, and that complexity alone can
involve us in practice. (UNESCO, 2015)
“The devotion of democracy to education
is a familiar fact. A government resting
upon popular suffrage cannot be
successful unless those who govern and
obey their governors are educated”
• John Dewey