In 2025, the Finnish annual main event in the field of educational sciences, the FERA Conference on Education (Kasvatustieteen päivät), will be held at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi. The DELIBERATE research group will be responsible for organizing a thematic group focused on democratic education. In line with the general theme of the conference, the group is titled “Future-Proof Democratic Education”. The sessions will be chaired by consortium researchers Hanna-Maija Huhtala, Julia Jaakkola, and Tuukka Tomperi.
Presentations for the thematic group can be submitted in Finnish or English. More information about abstract submission is available on the event website:
In Finnish: https://www.ulapland.fi/FI/Tapahtumia/Kasvatustieteen-paivat-2025/Abstraktit-ja-julkaisu
In English: https://www.ulapland.fi/EN/Events-University-of-Lapland/FERA-Conference-2025/Abstract-submission-and-publication
Description of the thematic group:
This thematic group addresses current challenges in democratic education/education for democracy from philosophical, pedagogical, and empirical perspectives. Democratic education aims to support commitment to a democratic way of life and to strengthen learners’ capacities to participate in decision-making and societal dialogue. However, researchers and educators in democratic education, like other promoters of democracy, are facing new problems: the future of democracy appears highly uncertain, and the previously assumed global progress toward liberal democracy has not continued victoriously. Around the world, there are examples of regression toward authoritarianism, and even seemingly established and stable democratic systems are faltering. According to indices measuring the state of democracy worldwide, global decline has continued for two decades (Economist 2025; IDEA 2025; V-Dem 2025).
Authoritarian populism also undermines the conditions for a rational and knowledge-based culture of discussion. Affective polarization has intensified, and the political climate in many countries has become inflamed. This has occurred simultaneously with large-scale challenges such as climate change, technological development, increasing migration and displacement, new and ongoing military conflicts, and other similar issues that urgently require cooperation and democratic solutions that citizens perceive as legitimate.
In this situation, education plays a central role in building a more democratic future. What must and what can realistically be done in democratic education to promote democracy? And what kind of education for democracy is sustainable from a long-term, future-oriented perspective? Presentations submitted to the thematic group on future-proof democratic education may address, for example, the philosophical foundations of democratic education, current practices in teaching, pedagogy and curriculum, or the challenges posed by the political culture and climate of discussion.
