Delistathi, C. 2026. Inclusive visions, excluded voices: civic imagination and the limits of democratic education in 1930s Greece. History of Education (HES) Society. Maynooth University, Ireland 13 - 15 Nov 2026
| Title | Inclusive visions, excluded voices: civic imagination and the limits of democratic education in 1930s Greece |
|---|---|
| Authors | Delistathi, C. |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | The paper responds to the conference theme ‘Citizenship, Democracy, and the Purposes of Education’. In 1932, students at the University of Athens founded the Student Educational Association [Φοιτητικός Εκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος], which established an evening secondary school for impoverished working youth excluded from daytime schooling. To realise their vision, student members of the Association mobilised support from politicians, intellectuals and university leaders; however, records suggest that the voices of working youth were absent from these processes. The paper investigates how the Association framed education for working youth and the forms of citizenship and democratic participation it claimed to enable through the school. Drawing on Jenkins et al.’s (2020) concept of civic imagination, it analyses how the students envisioned education, the working youth, themselves, and the state. Based on a close reading of unpublished documents from the University of Athens archives, including organisational records and correspondence, the Association’s school project is situated within broader interwar discourses on social reform. The paper argues that the students framed education not as a democratic right but as a remedy to address an assumed moral and intellectual deficit among the ‘poor’. While they envisioned a more inclusive educational future, their rhetoric about inclusion coexisted with the exclusion of the voices of working youth, while their act of civic imagination remained aligned with dominant discourses on the social and civic role of the ‘poor’. By examining the tension between exclusion and ostensibly inclusive initiatives, the paper challenges us to rethink celebratory accounts of civic engagement and contributes to debates on the limits of democratic education. |
| Keywords | Φοιτητικός Εκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος, Student Educational Association, History of Education in Greece, evening education, education for disadvantaged youth |
| Year | 2026 |
| Conference | History of Education (HES) Society |