Connecting with democracy in secondary education: A Guide to aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy

This Guide offers a conceptual and pedagogical foundation for integrating Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy (AELD) into secondary education, positioning democracy as a lived, relational, and continually evolving process rather than a fixed political system. Drawing on participatory action research from the AECED project, it elaborates key ideas—including democracy-as-becoming, democratic values (freedom, equality/equity, responsiveness), democratic principles (power-sharing, transforming dialogue, holistic learning, relational well-being), democratic sensibility, responsive pedagogy, and the acceptive gaze — and shows how these can shape classroom climates, educator roles, and learning environments. Designed for teachers, school leaders, partners, and policy actors, the Guide provides flexible pathways rather than prescriptions, encouraging multimodal, embodied, and reflective practices that cultivate attentiveness, agency, inclusion, and shared responsibility in the complex developmental landscape of adolescence.