Lisa, the initiator of the sociocratic class representative election, explains here what added value sociocracy at school offers young people.

With the sociocratic class representative election, you will learn a new form of decision-making. As a class, you can decide in future which decision-making method is better suited to which situations. Sometimes democratic decision-making is completely sufficient, and sometimes decision-making or voting by consensus could offer you better cohesion.

In preparation for the sociocratic election, it is helpful to think about these questions. Write down your thoughts and then share them with your classmates:

1. how do you feel respected by others? 

2. how do you respect others? 

3. what kind of leader do you want to be in today's world? 

4. write down when you feel empowered by your teacher and when you can follow his/her guidance.

Sociocratic selection is about finding the person(s) who are best suited for a specific role. In the role description, strengths and skills are collected that are important for carrying out the respective tasks and responsibilities well.

We often know far too well what we can't do. Receiving feedback or compliments is also not the greatest strength of our society. Reinforcing strengths and giving each other constructive feedback is a major focus in sociocracy.

To help you form your own opinion about who is well suited to certain roles, it is helpful to consider the following questions. Think about them and then share them with your classmates:

1. What skills do you have? Which ones are you particularly proud of? 

2. What can you contribute to successful teamwork? 

3. What is helpful for giving and receiving feedback? 

4. Write down the skills and talents you value in at least two of your classmates on a sheet of paper.

Having a say can be exhausting, but also important. There are many challenges that we can only solve if we find solutions that everyone can support. As a society, we need to learn how to really live democracy and participation in order to make it sustainable and enjoyable.

Think about the following questions and reflect on how you are already part of democracy, and then share them with your classmates:
 

1. Which project did you enjoy participating in and achieving a goal together with others? 

2. What is helpful, and what is frustrating about the secret ballot? 

3. What is important to you so that we can create a good life for everyone?

During the Child Friendly Community Conference in November 2020, Mari and Charlie from Wondering School (www.wonderingschool.org) gave a talk on sociocracy in schools and then, together with Uniting for Children and Youth, invited a group of youth activists (aged 17-19) to think about sociocracy in their own context.

In this conversation, the young people shared what sociocracy means to them and together created a word cloud summarizing their thoughts.

This encouraging conversation showed us that the ideas of listening to all voices and asking for consent are easy to connect in the minds of young people striving for equality and change in society.