Titel: Democracy between theory and practice - A qualitative study on how deliberative democracy in the early school years is practiced

Author: Narine Krikourian

Supervisor: Johanna Pettersson

The aim of this study is to examine how class council meetings occur in grades 1 and 3.  To achieve the aim, have three questions been formulated:

• What does the class council's structure and pupils conversations look like during class council meetings?
• How are decisions taken during class council meetings and what dose pupils participation look like?
• What similarities and differences can be found between each year’s course in the practice of deliberative conversations?

This study is qualitative and based on four observations in two different classrooms in grades 1 and 3.

The theoretical frame work of the study is based on Forsberg's (2011) six criterias for deliberative teaching, and Wegerif and Mercer's (2001) seven basic laws for effective collaboration in the classroom. The results of the study show that both Forsberg's (2011) criteria for deliberative teaching and Wegerif and Mercers (2001) seven basic laws for effective collaboration in the classroom were partly met. The results have also shown that there are both similarities and differences between how students practice deliberative conversation.

Keyword: Deliberative democracy, class council, conversation, argumentation

Nyckelord: Deliberativ demokrati, klassråd, samtal, argumentation