Democracy and Education:
Histories of Inclusion and Exclusion

Democracy and Education: Histories of Inclusion and Exclusion opens a rich space for examining the relationships between education and democracy. In different times and places,  these seismic forces have been complementary and/or in tension with one another.  Democratic forces have pervaded educational discourses and systems which in turn have shaped, expanded and constrained democratic participation. At a time when democracy appears to be facing many challenges globally, this conference invites participants to critically examine democracy as both a guiding value and a lived practice within education, and to explore the tensions, possibilities, and practices that shape democratic life in educative spaces. The History of Education Society’s longstanding commitment to critical, archival, and interdisciplinary inquiry provides a strong foundation for exploring how ideals of equality, citizenship, and public good have been interpreted, and indeed contested, within educational thought and practice. This theme invites contributors to interrogate the shifting boundaries of who and what has been included in, or excluded from, opportunity, voice, and representation in education, and how these dynamics have shaped lived experience as well as contemporary debates.

Possible avenues for exploration include historical analyses of access to schooling and the curriculum, the development and evolution of civic and moral education, and the role of state, religious, and community actors in defining democratic purpose. Contributors might examine how class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, migration, and language have shaped educational inclusion, or how student activism, teacher agency, and policy reform have challenged exclusionary structures. Cross-disciplinary and intersectional approaches are encouraged to explore and exemplify how such layered dynamics have both structured and challenged the democratic possibilities of education over time.

To support a wide range of submissions, papers may address the conference theme through a consideration of some of the following strands:

• Citizenship, Democracy, and the Purposes of Education

• Intersectionality and Educational (In)Equalities

• Schooling Structures and Democratic Processes

• Democratic educational histories and contemporary policy and practice

• Institutions, Governance, and the Making of Educational Policy

• Voices, Agency, and Activism in Educational Histories

• Global, Transnational, and Comparative Perspectives on Democracy and Education

Together, these strands encourage a vibrant, critical conversation about how education has both upheld and unsettled democratic ideals across time. They are intended as heuristic frameworks rather than fixed categories, and contributors whose work engages the theme in broader or unexpected ways are warmly encouraged to participate.​​​