This chapter addresses the micro level functional relationships between democracy and
education. The functional relationship between education and democracy at the macro level was dealt
with in Chapter 2 and it was pointed out that the objective of the internalization of knowledge and
awareness of democracy by all citizens cannot be achieved independent of the administrational and
economic policies of the state. At the micro level, the same objective cannot be realized independent of
the attitudes and behaviors of the teachers and the climate of classroom environments.
While the macro level education-democracy relationship emphasizes the objective of “providing every
citizen with knowledge and awareness of democracy”, the principal aim of the micro level relationship
is “the reflection of this knowledge and awareness onto real life and their transformation into behavior”.
This transformation requires a democratic climate and appropriate conditions for action in educational
environments. To create these conditions, classroom environments should have an atmosphere of trust
and freedom, as well as democratic communication and interaction.
In the creation of such an atmosphere, the teacher supports independent and scientific thought, involves
the student in the process of producing knowledge, creates supportive milieu, facilitates access to
information, applies firm disciplinary policies, keeps avenues of claiming rights open, provides
opportunities for participating in the decision-making process, shares responsibilities with the student
and creates a collaborative classroom environment that sustains the “us” feeling.
Keywords: Democratic culture, classroom climate, freedom, trust, independent thinking.
