Spaces and practices of citizen participation. Educational proposals from an intercultural perspective

Abstract

The article presents the doctoral thesis research that has been developed in four spaces for civic participation in the city of Madrid for three years (2015/2017). We believe that citizenship is learned by exercising it and that spaces for participation are citizenship schools. The purpose of the study is to formulate educational proposals for the learning of active citizenship from the analysis of what happens in those spaces. The text is structured around these sections: 1) reflections and premises in relation to participation and education for citizenship; 2) direct background of the research and the continuities that are given in this work; 3) intercultural approach from which we understand citizen participation; 4) ethnographic study conducted through participant observation and interviews directed to 30 key informants. The four case studies and the analysis process are described through the categorical definition; 5) results organized into three major thematic blocks: diversity and complexity, relational vision and educational practices; 6) educational proposals derived from the results and aimed at both education professionals and people involved in spaces for citizen participation