Lived democracy

A focus on lived and learned democracy involves studying how democracy aspects are understood, applied and developed by students and teachers.

Our projects include intercultural education and education for an unpredictable future, both in a democratic Bildung perspective and a capability perspective. Understanding aspects that might be constraints to lived democracy is also important. National school tests are top-down governed, creating a paradoxical situation where teachers’ democratic legitimized autonomy is put at risk. Moreover, a focus on tested learning outcomes favours fact learning more than capacity processes. Teaching in rural communities may present additional challenges to teacher aspects of lived democracy due to limited resources and professional environments.

How to understand lived democracy in education together with conditions for lived democracy requires a range of multidisciplinary approaches: theoretical, political, philosophical and empirical. The epistemology of the projects is rooted in critical pedagogy and embraces critical civic education, critical mathematical education and critical reflection in general. The research area is studied with a variety of methodologies and designs.

The research group has just started developing a new research project on teaching and learning in relation to Fake News. We plan to cooperate with school teachers in Bergen.

We also wish new research members welcome – local, national and international – and from a variety of disciplines.

Ongoing research projects

Head of research group

bilde av Lisa Steffensen

Lisa Steffensen

Associate Professor

This research group is a part of the research program Sustainability, Participation and Diversity.