Practice companion: Living democracy in higher education: A guide to educational activities and pathways for practice in aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy (AELD)

This Practice Companion offers a rich collection of adaptable educational activities and practice pathways that operationalise Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy (AELD) in higher education. Designed as a flexible, inspirational resource rather than a prescriptive manual, it translates the conceptual foundations of the main Guide into short activities, longer sessions, and extended projects that can be integrated into lectures, seminars, workshops, and informal or community-based settings. The activities—ranging from embodied reflexivity exercises (such as practising the acceptive gaze and relational sensing), movement-based explorations of interdependence, visual and narrative methods (drawing, photography, figure-on-the-wall), to audio and audiovisual engagement—support the co-creation of safe learning spaces, plural meaning-making, power-sharing, and holistic learning. Emphasising accessibility, adaptability, and relational attentiveness, the Companion enables educators and students to experience democracy as an embodied, shared, and continually negotiated process within the everyday fabric of academic life.