Student voice and participatory self-governance at a German democratic free school: a content analysis

Purpose

This paper aims to illustrate, by means of a content analysis of 278 weekly School Meeting minutes, the ways in which student voice is actualized in one democratic free school in Germany.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a qualitative content analysis methodology of 278 weekly School Meetings minutes.

Findings

This paper uses Fielding’s (2012) patterns of partnership typology to illustrate what counts as student voice and participation in a democratic free school.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations included being reliant on translations of German texts, some missing minutes from the entire set, the lack of a single author for the minutes (and thus degree of detail differs) and the fact that the School Meeting minutes make reference to other meetings for various sub-committees for which no minutes exist, and thus, findings on the degree of student voice may be limited. And because this is a study of one school, generalizability may be difficult. Future research into these sub-committee meetings would prove helpful as well as content analyses of other democratic free schools’ meeting minutes.

Originality/value

This study can help people more deeply understand what goes on in democratic free schools and what student voice and participation can mean within this context.