Teaching deliberative democracy in the secondary classroom
(10 Hours CTLE, TBD 2025)
Citizens' assemblies have addressed complex policy issues around the world and have even become permanent in Paris, Oregon and Belgium. This 10 Credit CTLE (Continuing Teacher and Leader Education) course presented with Democracy Without Elections introduces secondary teachers to the expanding use of lottery (sortition) to bring diverse groups of citizens together to form policy recommendations.
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What will I gain from the experience?The course is interactive and practical: it will provide teachers with model lesson plans for their classroom. You will learn the nuts and bolts of random selection and deliberation, and will join an alumni network to connect you with further resources as a teacher and citizen.
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Cost & LogisticsDates: TBD May 2025
The course is free and includes meals. The workshop will bring around 30 high school teachers to Barnard's Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning in Manhattan
Email [email protected] with any questions. -
Who is teaching the course?Dimitri Courant is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Fung Global Fellow at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS), at Princeton University.
He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Lausanne and the University Paris 8. He is a democracy visiting fellow at the Ash Center, at Harvard Kennedy School. He holds two master’s degrees, in political science from Sciences Po Rennes, and in social sciences from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. -
Deliberative processes and civic lotteries have helped address tough policy issues around the world: in Canada (electoral reform and public transportation planning), in Ireland (abortion and marriage equality). They are increasingly becoming permanent parts of government. But perhaps their biggest impact are on the everyday people who participate. For this reason they serve as excellent schools for democracy. Watch video testimony here. -
A Deeper Dive
