Participedia Special Issue

Published March 2025

Democratic pedagogies: What are they and why
do we need them?

The Participedia Special Issue on Democratic Pedagogies was published in the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy in March 2025. Editors of the special issue include Paul Emiljanowicz, Melissa Levin, Jesi Carson, Julien Landry, Bettina von Lieres & Chandrima Chakraborty. This article is the introduction to the special issue, co-authored by the same group. 

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Cover artwork by Madhuvanthi Mohan, aka Something Sketchy︎︎︎

Abstract

In contexts of escalating political repression, democratic back-sliding, and structural inequality, this special issue explores how democratic pedagogies can serve as tools for resistance, imagination, co-creation and transformation. Grounded in love, joy, and justice, the contributions challenge dominant educational norms that commodify knowledge and silence dissent, advancing instead pedagogies rooted in relationality, reciprocity, decoloniality, and self-governance. Contributors theorize and practice education as a collective, political act, one that navigates and contests hierarchies of race, gender, class, and colonial power, while fostering inclusive, co-created learning spaces within and beyond the “classroom”. The issue is organized around three thematic pillars: democratic pedagogies as praxis; community-engaged reimaginings of the “classroom”; and experimental, participatory designs for democratic learning. Together, these works illuminate how pedagogy can enable self-governance, center marginalized knowledges, and cultivate
collective agency. Emphasizing intersectionality, plurality, and creativity, this issue asks what it means to democratize education under conditions of uncertainty and how pedagogica spaces can be reclaimed as sites of world-making. Through diverse methodologies and grounded practices, it contribute to an urgent dialogue on how democratic pedagogies can confront authoritarianism and fascism, while building more just, inclusive, and transformative educational futures. We conclud the introduction by offering recommendations for how you can co-design, foster collaboration, and enact democratic pedagogies in your own contexts.

Citation

Paul Emiljanowicz, Melissa Levin, Jesi Carson, Julien Landry, Bettina von Lieres & Chandrima Chakraborty (23 Jul 2025): Democratic pedagogies: What are they and why do we need them?, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, DOI:
10.1080/15505170.2025.2517044