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Democracy-as-becoming in early years and primary education: aesthetic, embodied, and digital pedagogical ecologies
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
In a context of growing democratic fragility, education is increasingly called upon to cultivate democratic participation, relational responsibility, and civic engagement. However, dominant approaches to education for democracy continue to privilege cognitive knowledge and procedural participation, often overlooking the embodied, affective, and relational dimensions through which
democracy is first encountered and lived. This paper advances the concept of democracy-as-becoming to examine democratic learning in Early Years and Primary Education, where democratic relations are enacted through everyday pedagogical encounters rather than transmitted as abstract knowledge. The study draws on a transnational Participatory Action Research (PAR) programme conducted within the Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy-as-Becoming (AECED) project across multiple European contexts.
Focusing on four cases in Portugal and Croatia, the paper presents a crosscase analytical synthesis of professional learning processes in which educators participated as co-researchers. These cases combined aesthetic, embodied, narrative, and digital pedagogical practices across online and faceto-face professional learning environments. Data included reflective writings, online discussions, observation notes, and visual and narrative artefacts generated through iterative PAR cycles. The analysis identifies three interrelated pedagogical ecologies—embodied, aesthetic–narrative, and digital/hybrid—through which democratic becoming is enabled, negotiated,
and constrained. Across these ecologies, democratic learning emerged through relational grounding, co-creation, and embodied participation, while also being shaped by institutional conditions and perceptions of pedagogical risk. The paper contributes a data-informed conceptual model of democratic becoming grounded in cross-case analysis, highlighting how democratic
sensibility develops through the interaction of relational, embodied, professional, and institutional dimensions. It concludes by discussing implications for teacher education, curriculum design, and research on democratic education, emphasising the need to recognise aesthetic and embodied pedagogies as core infrastructures of democratic life.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
democratic education early childhood education embodied learning participatory action research primary education teacher professional learning
Contexto Educativo
Citação
Neves, C., Pažur, M., Oliveira, J., Abrantes, P., Abelha, M., Almeida, A.P. & Aladrović Slovacek, K. (2026) Democracy-as-becoming in early years and primary education: aesthetic, embodied, and digital pedagogical ecologies. Frontiers Education. 11:1799195. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2026.1799195
Editora
Frontiers