Learning for active citizenship: Are Australian youths Discovering Democracy at school?

For democratic societies to sustain, it is important to educate young people for active and democratic citizenship. This article examines the long-term yields of temporary civics and citizenship educational policies with respect to student participation at school as a precursor of political participation in adult life. The focus is on the Australian Discovering Democracy initiative and whether it improved education for active and democratic citizenship at Australian schools and, thus, contributed to actively engaged citizens. Based on the Australian National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship, the analysis suggests that policy initiatives can support schools in the development of experiential civics and citizenship learning in school life, especially if national governments, states and teachers cooperate. The article identifies some gains in improving active and democratic citizenship among secondary school students and concludes that Australian schools laid the foundation of prospectively increasing numbers of active democratic citizens during the past two decades.