Educating for Participatory Citizenship in the Social Sciences Classroom: A Practical Experience

Abstract

Within the competences developed in the social sciences classroom in secondary education, one of the most influential in shaping society is social and civic competence. In this context, educating for citizen participation and democracy is one of the main tasks in this stage since it lays the foundations for personal development, and it is the last stage in which competencies are developed globally. This exploratory type of research carries out a qualitative analysis of the results of a didactic intervention whose purpose is this task. It was carried out with a sample of 143 students, chosen by convenience procedure, not probabilistic, under the necessary conditions to participate in the intervention during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years. Its objective is to analyze the training of secondary education students in Spain from the areas of social sciences and philosophy for democratic participation in society. The analysis methodology was qualitative and was carried out with the help of WEBQDA software. The results show an evolution in the knowledge about the concepts of "democracy" and "participation" and the disposition for citizen participation in the students included in the sample.