A1 Journal article (refereed)
Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings (2022)

Lähdesmäki, T. (2022). Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 6(1), Article 100272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100272

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Lähdesmäki, Tuuli

Journal or series: Social Sciences & Humanities Open

ISSN: 2590-2911

eISSN: 2590-2911

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 24/03/2022

Volume: 6

Issue number: 1

Article number: 100272

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100272

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/83572

Abstract

Democratic culture refers to a set of values, attitudes, and practices shared by citizens and institutions, without which democracy cannot exist. Preschools and schools have a core role in teaching and transmitting democratic culture as they offer most children their early encounters with the public realm that provides social environments for democratic culture. The aim of this article is to increase knowledge on democratic education of young children and creative means to implement it. The core questions raised are: How do young children understand their classroom social environment and their own role in it? Which of the children’s understandings of their classroom social environment reflect attributes of democratic culture? The data include 125 children’s drawings and their linguistic explanations of them collected from schools that implemented the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme in Cyprus, Israel, Lithuania, Portugal, and the UK. The method used is data-driven content analysis, including qualitative categorizing of the data, quantification of its core features, and a reflexive interpretation of the contents of the drawings. The study reveals how children aged 5–6 are able to elaborate on the ideas, principles, and practices of democratic culture, including participation, collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, listening, and expressing one’s own opinions. The analysis of the data elicited five thematic categories of how children think about social life in their classroom, approach democratic culture, and understand their role in practising it in school. The categories were based on the children’s approach to rules; suggestions taking the action either alone or as a member of a group; and views of the purpose and beneficiary of this action. The analysis revealed how drawing with peers is a multimodal and dialogic process of learning democratic culture. Children engage in dialogic chains of thinking not only in verbal, but also in visual interaction. Since the ability to participate in a dialogue is seen as a core skill in democratic education, educators should better recognize visual dialogic chains of thinking as a way for students to familiarize themselves with and practise democratic culture.

Keywords: democracy; culture; children (age groups); drawing (artistic creation); dialogue; interaction; meaningfulness; visuality; schools (educational institutions); upbringing; social learning

Free keywords: democratic culture; young children; drawing; meaning-making; dialogue

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2022

JUFO rating: 1