Level up democracy &
strengthen youth leadership
with the sociocratic election of class representatives
An inspiration how the class representative election can be an appreciative and empowering experience for the whole class, and you find the most suitable pupils for the class representative team!
Learning goals
Collaboration &
Co-Creation
Respectful & inclusive communication
Development of leadership skills
Tolerance & appreciation for diversity
Flexibility & ability to change opinions
Get an idea about the open election guide and how to create a more open and inclusive teaching enviroment with the sociocratic election in our classroom.
About the project and the authors
The open election of class representatives online learning path was created by Lisa Praeg, Office for collaborative Culture and partners. It is supported and funded by the European Union and runs under the Agreement Number: 2022-2-AT01-KA210-VET-000096210 and Project name "Strengthen youth leadership – Sociocratic open election of class representatives".
The content of this website is based on the handbook "We nominate!", which was financed and created during the Wirkstätten der Utopie and published for the first time by the association Tage der Utopie in Austria. Lisa Praeg is the person behind the idea. The experiences of practicing and teaching sociocratic open elections in schools since 2017 have been integrated into this online course. The purpose of this initiative is to raise awareness of the diversity of decision-making methods and to disseminate specific methods for practicing collaboration in schools.
Introduction to the sociocratic election
A sociocratic election is not a vote — it requires more attention and consideration than just filling out a ballot.
Sociocracy is best described as "ruling together". In the sociocratic election the majority does not decide. For all those involved, determining sociocratically who could be class representative means to think, to weigh and to argue deliberately over several stages, until the suitable person is found. If all students are ready to engage in the procedures and steps associated with this process, they will be rewarded with several important insights.
Insights
"Until I was eleven, my school used consent-based decision-making. At my new school, I experienced secret majority voting and was surprised that only the most popular students were elected, often failing to represent the class fairly. In sociocratic elections, everyone understands the reasons behind nominations, and the best person for the role is chosen, without frustration or exclusion. Every school should know this method—once practiced, elections become easy and fair for everyone."
Consent has been obtained from the parents/guardians for the publication of the picture and the statement.
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Carlos Valverde
pupil, Spanien
Sociocratic decisions are not made by majority vote, but by the "no objection principle" (also "consent principle"). This means that all participants are heard equally and included in the decisions. In contrast to democratic ones, nobody can be overruled in sociocratic elections.
Essentially, it is an open nomination; decisions are only valid if no one has an objection in the context of a previously agreed-upon goal. The goal is to find a person who is the most suitable to the agreed-upon role description.
All voices are heard. The mutual feedback and the sense of responsibility of each individual involved play a central role. Sociocratic elections are therefore characterized by a high degree of acceptance and sustainability.
Experience shows that it is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized groups, where the trust between the chosen individuals and the respective group plays an important role or where it is important to find the most capable person for a particular role.
If you only have a short time frame of 2 hours then we do not recommend to perform the whole process but spend the available time on the preparation and defining the role description sociocratically and then proceed with the secret ballot voting.