The Future of Education
Epistemic Asymmetry in Adolescent Democratic Deliberation: Teacher Facilitation, Participatory System Design, and Initial Role Reconfiguration Insights from the SAUFEX Interdemocracy Pilot
Onno Hansen-Staszyński, DROG group (The Netherlands)
Beata Staszynska-Hansen, Citizen Project Foundation (Poland)
Abstract
This conceptual paper examines the rationale and preliminary pilot outcomes of the educational dimension of the Horizon-funded EU project SAUFEX, which seeks to democratize and decentralize decision-making processes related to Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). It argues that the inclusion of non-state experts alone is insufficient for democratization, as meaningful responsiveness to citizens and implementability of policies require structured public participation beyond expert advisory mechanisms. Drawing on diverse theories, the paper conceptualizes the conditions under which broad participation can contribute to resilience rather than devolve into illiberal or purely procedural forms of democracy. It contends that educational institutions provide a uniquely suitable environment for approximating these conditions, both logistically and normatively, through synchronized participation, cognitive diversity, and early democratic socialization. The paper presents Interdemocracy as a didactical framework through which adolescents can participate in structured consultation while developing citizen skills. A core challenge in adolescent democratic deliberation is epistemic asymmetry between teachers and students, which risks distorting authentic student participation. In response, Interdemocracy reconceptualizes the teacher’s role from epistemic lead to non-epistemic facilitator of procedural integrity, student self-realization, and student self-correction.
Keywords: facilitation, democratic deliberation, participation, epistemic asymmetry, autopoiesis
