The influence of participation possibilities in school on democratic values of children

Theoretical Background The stability of democracies significantly depends on the development of democratic values among citizens (Easton, 1975). Childhood has been identified as a crucial phase for political socialization (Rippl, 2015). While democratic values and attitudes have been observed in children, research gaps still persist, particularly regarding their internalization and influencing factors (Abendschön, 2010). Participation opportunities for children and adolescents have been established as a key method to promote values (Himmelmann, 2017). Participation in school and classroom settings positively influences outcomes such as political self-efficacy and competence (Jungkunz, 2023). However, this connection has been scarcely explored for primary school children. Research Questions 1. To what extent does participation within classrooms and beyond foster the internalization of democratic values? Existing research suggests a positive relationship between participation and the development of democratic values. 2. What role do basic values play in this connection? Previous research on basic values has shown strong correlations with political values and attitudes, potentially relevant to this context (Schwartz et al., 2013). Methods To address these questions, a standardized survey was conducted with about 500 third and fourth graders. The survey measured students’ basic values, democratic values, and perceived participation opportunities in class, using the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C; Döring et al., 2010), a self-developed instrument adapted from the “Learning to Live Democracy” study by van Deth et al. (2007) and a scale developed by Gerbeshi & Ertl (2023), covering both classroom-level and broader participatory contexts. Additionally, 20 teachers provided data on their basic values, democratic attitudes, and perspectives on children’s participation opportunities. The data were analyzed using linear multilevel models, with students forming the first level and classrooms (including teacher data) forming the second level. This approach enabled detailed examination of the effects of perceived and actual participation opportunities. Results and Discussion The analysis confirms that children possess democratic values closely linked to their basic values. The findings also reinforce the positive effects of participation opportunities observed in prior studies. Perceived participation opportunities had a highly significant positive effect on the extent to which primary school students expressed democratic values. This effect remained stable even after accounting for additional control variables and predictors. Children who rated their participation opportunities higher exhibited stronger democratic values. The study’s results suggest that fostering participation opportunities in the classroom and emphasizing basic values such as universalism and benevolence are essential for promoting and solidifying democratic attitudes in children.