Conference Program

The contemporary educational landscape stands at a crossroads where multiple crises converge to challenge foundational assumptions about schooling's democratic purposes. Political disaffection spreads across established democracies as citizens withdraw from civic participation. Algorithmic governance increasingly mediates access to information and opportunity through opaque systems escaping public accountability. What philosopher Luciano Floridi terms "onlife existence"the blending of analog and digital experience reshapes how young people encounter knowledge and construct identities, particularly as artificial intelligence permeates learning environments. These intersecting developments demand urgent reconsideration of how schools cultivate both democratic competence and critical thinking. Operating within a critical-interpretivist paradigm, this investigation rejects claims to value-neutral inquiry while embracing the position that educational knowledge emerges from specific historical conditions and power relations rather than objective certainties. This stance enables examination of how pedagogical practices either interrupt or reproduce existing social arrangements. The central argument holds that democratic education constitutes an ontological condition of meaningful learning rather than merely instrumental preparation for future citizenship. This framing synthesises three theoretical traditions: critical theory, illuminating how educational institutions reproduce or challenge hegemonic structures; post-foundational political thought, questioning essentialist conceptions of democracy while embracing contingency; and epistemic justice frameworks, examining how knowledge practices systematically include or marginalize diverse voices. The methodological approach employs theoretical synthesis, weaving conceptual insights across disciplinary boundaries through critical engagement with philosophical, sociological, and educational literature. This methodology aims not to measure effects but to generate new configurations of meaning reframing how democratic education might be practiced within schools. The analysis unfolds across three interconnected registers: how pedagogical architectures spatial arrangements, curricular rhythms, and interaction norms cultivate or foreclose capacities for collective judgment through shared knowledge construction; the epistemic challenges learners face in digitally mediated spheres where traditional markers of truth undergo constant renegotiation; and structural asymmetries distorting access to democratic educational experiences, questioning whether innovation frameworks address historical injustices. Analysis reveals that institutional design fundamentally shapes democratic capacity development. Dialogic methodologies enabling cooperation toward shared goals prove particularly effective for fostering critical thinking and democratic dispositions, requiring students to navigate disagreement and assume responsibility for collective outcomes. However, current innovation frameworks often overlook persistent structural asymmetries, potentially extending democratic experiences primarily to privileged populations. The paper advances democratic education as provisional enactment of political life within schools’ sites where coexistence is perpetually reworked through encounter and conflict rather than passive transmission of civic content. Recommendations include curriculum redesign prioritising collaborative problem-solving of complex issues; teacher preparation emphasising facilitation of democratic experimentation; and assessment practices valuing shared knowledge construction over individual performance. As theoretical synthesis, findings remain provisional and context-sensitive, requiring empirical validation across diverse settings while remaining attentive to non-Western educational philosophies. Fundamentally, reclaiming education's democratic vocation requires embracing innovative pedagogies that cultivate thinking skills and civic confidence through lived democratic experience recognizing that schools become democratic not by teaching about democracy but by enacting it.

Key words: School innovation; democratic competence; critical thinking; dialogic pedagogy; civic agency