Magister Educationis - MEd / Schools played an important role during apartheid in shaping the mindsets of learners. In contemporary South Africa schools can now play a similar role in promoting democratic values in order to build a more just, humane and democratic society in a democratic South Africa. Through democratic citizenship, democratic schools can be created. Apple and Beane (1999, p. 10) state that democratic schools are the result of specific attempts by educators to put arrangements in place that will bring democracy to life. These arrangements and opportunities involve the production of democratic structures and processes through which life in a school is carried out and the creation of a curriculum that will allow young people the opportunity to experience the nature of democracy.