Swedish schools have a democratic mission to instill democratic values and knowledge in students. When they graduate, students are meant to be democratically competent citizens. In upper secondary school, this mission is executed in the social studies classroom. This is the only context in which Swedish schools actively try to influence students’ democratic competence. At the same time, not all students take the same amount of social studies courses. The purpose of this thesis is to study the association between social studies and students democratic competence, and the possible limits of such a relationship. Does social science courses really predict democratic competence, even when taking other factors into account? And if the goal is democratic competence, how much social studies is enough? Since democratic competence is connected to voting-behaviour and trust in government it might be a problem if students are given unequal access to the courses where it is created. I hypothesized that social studies predicts democratic competence, and that there is a point during courses at which that relationship weakens. To test the hypothesis, a cross-sectional, quantitative survey study was conducted, using established instruments of measurement. The data was analyzed using regression models and analysis of variance, and results indicate that social studies predict democratic competence, and that students need to take three courses of social studies before the association with democratic competence weakens. Since most students take only one course of social studies during their time at upper secondary school, implications for the future of the democratic mission is discussed.

Party-political involvement of young citizens is decreasing. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (2002) believes that democracy is a balance between individual freedom and collective safety. But today, collective safety is being abandoned as a defensible value. At the same time, the school has a democratic mission that rests on both of these opposing moral traditions; individualism and collectivism. Have the collective values been undermined in favor of increased individual freedom even within the school system? The purpose is to investigate the link between individualization and democratic competence of secondary school students. The theoretical approach is based mainly on Bauman's theory of the individualized society. Central concepts are individualism, collectivism and democratic competence. The method is a quantitative survey conducted at two secondary schools in southern Sweden of 168 high school students who study a program with a social science profile. The result indicates a connection between individualization and system confidence, as well as some variations based on gender, grade, domestic or foreign background, parents education level and political activity.

The study aims to investigate student participation as a tool for democratic development in secondary school from a student perspective. Furthermore, students' perceptions of the school's work with student participation in formal and informal contexts are also investigated, with basis in the teaching structure. The results are based on interviews conducted with students who all attend the same class in their last year of high school. Subsequently, an analysis is made based mainly on three different theories: democracy, curricula and sociocultural theory. The result shows that students feel that they are able to practice student participation but the amount of influence they get differs between individuals depending on devotion and commitment. Moreover, the result indicates that there is a problem regarding both formal and informal influence where communication is poor, leading to conflict in class. The result also shows that the teacher as a professional actor is a key component in the development of students' democratic competence in terms of support and guidance in teaching. / Studien syftar till att undersöka elevinflytande som ett verktyg för demokratisk utveckling i gymnasieskolan ur ett elevperspektiv. Vidare undersöks elevers uppfattningar kring skolans arbete med elevinflytande i formella och informella kontexter med grund i undervisningens struktur. Resultatet grundar sig på intervjuer genomförda med elever som samtliga går i samma klass och studerar i årskurs tre på gymnasiet. Detta med en efterföljande analys med grund i främst demokrati-, läroplans- och sociokulturell teori. Resultatet visar att eleverna upplever att de får vara med och påverka men inflytandet skiljer mellan individer beroende på delaktighet och engagemang. Vidare pekar resultatet på att det finns en problematik gällande både formellt och informellt inflytande där kommunikationen är bristande vilket leder till konflikt i klassen. Det framgår även i resultatet att läraren som professionell aktör är en viktig komponent i utvecklingen av elevers demokratiska kompetens vad gäller stöd och vägledning i undervisningen.

Skolan som demokratisk och pedagogisk arena har till uppgift att, via en blandning av demokratiuppdraget och kunskapsuppdraget utveckla elevers demokratiska kompetens. Detta i syfte att skapa aktiva och engagerade samhällsmedborgare som kan fortsätta att utveckla och driva Sverige och världen framåt. Det här examensarbetet behandlar klassrådet i relation till skolans demokratiska uppdrag, och undersöker därigenom hur lärare i årskurs 1 – 3 uppfattar, tolkar och genomför, dels skolans demokratiska uppdrag och dels klassrådet. Genom att anta en kvalitativ forskningsansats har det varit möjligt att synliggöra lärares olika, men även gemensamma uppfattning av demokratiuppdraget och klassrådet. Dessutom har det, via intervjuer och observationer, varit möjligt att undersöka om lärare genom sin tolkning samt sitt agerande vid klassrådssituationer skapar möjligheter för elever att utveckla demokratisk kompetens. Studien inspireras av ett pragmatiskt perspektiv på lärande, där John Dewey finns som medskapare. Via resultaten går det att påstå, att klassrådet som formell arena har möjlighet att bidra med kunskap om vad demokrati är och innebär, men även att klassrådet har möjlighet att bidra med elevers utveckling av demokratisk kompetens. / The Swedish school, functioning as a democratic and pedagogical arena, aims to develop pupils’ democratic competence, through a combination of the democratic mission as well as the educational mission. This in order to form active and committed members of society, who subsequently may contribute to the development of the Swedish, and of the global society. This master thesis addresses the class council in relation to the democratic mission of the school, and examines accordingly how teachers in grade 1-3 perceive, interpret and implement, partly the democratic mission and partly the class council. Through a qualitative research approach, it has been made possible to make teachers’ different, but also common, perceptions of the democratic mission, as well as of the class council, visible. Furthermore, it has, through interviews and observations, been made possible to examine if teachers’ perception as well as their role in situations surrounding the class council create opportunities for pupils to develop democratic competence. The thesis is conducted from a pragmatic perspective on teaching, of which John Dewey is one of the co-founders. Based on the analytical result, it is possible to claim that the class council, as a formal arena, in fact provides opportunities to contribute to both knowledge about what democracy is and involves, and to pupils’ development of democratic competence.