The democratic transformation of the school culture: A fair response to the needs of students in disadvantage areas

Abstract

The article establishes the need for a profound transformation in the school culture in order to provide a response to reality and current challenges. The transformation should occur from a democratic perspective of justice. The paper describes the new educational and social settings. It establishes parallelisms between vulnerability and risk of conflict, and between curricular justice and educational social inclusion. It denounces that an important cause of school failure is the cultural confrontation (school culture and culture experienced by the vulnerable students or those at risk of exclusion). It defends an inclusive and participative school culture. And it establishes, as the overriding hypothesis, a democratic school culture and a school and curriculum that are also democratic and participative.