Let’s Talk Politics: Which Individual and Classroom Compositional Characteristics Matter in Classroom Discussions?

Deliberative democratic theory puts discussions at the centre of democracy. Schools are places where young people can practise such discussions. In this paper we argue that these perceptions of deliberation in class are differential for different young people. Individual student characteristics matter when making schools successful in creating an ‘open discussion climate’. Using the ICCS 2009 study, we find that gender, self-efficacy and socio-economic background have an impact on the perception of such a climate. If students evaluate discussion opportunities differently, based on background characteristics, alternate strategies should be developed to get everyone to deliberate. Future research, looking into the quality of discussions, should take this into account, as boys or students with a lower SES might need extra stimulation to perceive the classroom as a place to discuss public matters. Also schools and policy-makers should be aware when deciding which civic education strategy should be followed to obtain the desired results.

Publication year:2017