Percepciones docentes sobre prácticas democráticas en centros educativos de Portugal y España

Abstract

Schools are privileged contexts to learn democracy through practice, therefore the objective of the article is to know and characterize the democratic practices developed in Portuguese and Spanish schools based on teachers' statements. Based on the analysis of 51 interviews, the article presents the teachers' perceptions about practices that they recognize to be based on democratic principles. For both countries, the results suggest three different categories of democratic practices: i) practices aiming to promote openness to dialogue and student participation in decision-making; ii) practices based on coexistence and interpersonal relations, both in the classroom and at school; iii) practices aimed at learning the norms, procedures and values ​​characteristic of a democratic society. The data show that teachers in Spain and Portugal recognize a wide range of educational practices, initiatives and experiences based on principles of democracy and social justice in their schools.