School governments, representative democracy and the difficulties of democratic education in school

Abstract

This article presents a part of the results of the research carried out on the subject of school democracy, published in the text Government and Justice in the School: Democracy halfway, made by professors A. Alvarez, Monedero, J, Pereira A, and Arcila G. E In particular, this article summarizes the findings about the so-called democratic participation in school and the logic that dominates the conformation of school governments, formed in accordance with the General Law of Education and its Regulatory Decrees, as tools for the promotion of the culture and democratic formation of students. The article shows the continuity between the political culture that dominates the participatory behavior of the adult society and that which characterizes the school institution itself, showing how the approaches and practices of the latter, contrary to the spirit of the Law, can be turning into experiences of training that reproduce non-democratic behaviors and logics.