IntroductionA democratic school culture has been identified in previous research as a lever for the development of deliberative competences. However, the antecedents of deliberative competence development at school level are less examined. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of student characteristics (age, gender, finality), urban school contexts (location of the school, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the student population) and different dimensions of the perceived democratic school culture (fair support, responsibility, co-decision, discussion, acceptance) on students’ mastery of three deliberative competences: tolerance, curiosity, and empathy.MethodsA multilevel analysis of a survey, completed by 5,165 Dutch-speaking Belgian secondary school students was conducted.ResultsThis study revealed the importance of the perceived fair support from teachers, opportunities to discuss, and acceptance by peers at school for the mastery of deliberative competences. Furthermore, urban schools were discovered to be strong negative predictors of all three competences, although fair support and discussion opportunities appear to partially compensate for this effect.DiscussionThese results highlight the importance of a democratic school culture, especially in urban schools, for developing empathy, tolerance, and curiosity. Moreover, the detailed results of this study could guide urban school teams in shaping democratic learning environments.

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In this study, as part of an intervention program in which students and their teachers participated in a school development project, we examined students’ perceptions of connectedness to their urban school. A photovoice method was employed to map out the multiple emotions associated with the school connectedness experienced by 61 students from four Brussels’ schools. Five different but simultaneously occurring emotional themes were revealed: togetherness, respect, success, readiness for learning, and pride. Moreover, students articulated the drivers that positively affect each of these emotional themes. Together, they provide guidance for creating a fertile ground for democratic practice in urban schools.