Deliberativ undervisning – en empirisk studie

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, the deliberative turn in democratic theory has influenced the debate on teaching. The proponents of deliberation in education have argued that deliberative teaching both enhances subject knowledge and democratic citizenship among students. In Sweden, both policymakers and scholars have argued for more deliberative teaching in the Swedish education system. However, there is little empirical support for the assumption that deliberative teaching enhances knowledge and democratic citizenship among students. The aim of the thesis is to empirically test this assumption.

The study consists of four field experiments where deliberative teaching is carried out in a Swedish upper secondary school civic course, Samhällskunskap A. In the field experiments the theoretical ideal of deliberative teaching is put into practice. Field experiments are conducted in three different upper secondary school programs, one preparing for ensuing studies and two so-called vocational programs (one female-dominated and one male-dominated). The study also includes a field experiment in an adult education program. The four field experiments are carried out in the same way using two classes in the same school, one with deliberative and one with non-deliberative teaching. After the course the students’ knowledge and democratic values are compared. A total of 274 students and 9 teachers participated in the field experiments.

The results can be summarized as follows: Deliberative teaching is sometimes more but never less productive compared to the alternative non-deliberative teaching. The results show that students in vocational programs in the upper secondary school seem to be the ones most favoured by deliberative teaching. Students in vocational programs that participated in deliberative teaching increased their knowledge, thoughtful opinions, political efficacy, readiness for political participation and conversation skills more than students that had non-deliberative teaching. No such effects are present among students in the program preparing for ensuing studies. The results show that there is potential in deliberative teaching but the results does not support the assumption made in the theoretical deliberative teaching literature assuming a general positive effect of deliberative teaching on knowledge and democratic values among all students.