Gender(ed) Barriers in Political Participation in Different EU Classrooms

To assess the impact of specific factors on students' involvement in political discussions in the classroom, the Gender Empowerment through Politics in the Classroom (G-EPIC), Horizon/UKRI project conducted classroom observations and focus group interviews with year 9 students aged 13-15 in three European Union member countries (Czechia, Denmark, and Belgium) and the United Kingdom during spring and summer 2023. In this study, gender, understood through the lens of intersectionality, refers to the interconnected (either visible or concealed or unconscious) elements that shape and determine power relations in the classroom.

This paper utilises a qualitative approach to thoroughly investigate the manner in which students with overlapping disadvantaged and marginalised traits, including gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic background, engage in classroom discussions. The emphasis on gender, as viewed through the lens of intersectionality, serves to illustrate the complex interplay of various, either apparent or concealed, factors that contribute to the establishment and perpetuation of power dynamics within the educational environment. Taking into account the multifaceted nature of these dynamics enables a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which they are influenced and sustained, thereby facilitating the development of more effective strategies for addressing and rectifying the imbalances that exist within the classroom. Therefore, this paper aim to investigate the following research questions (RQs): i. What is the effect of power dynamics formed and shaped by socially constructed gender in the school classroom. ii. How does this interplay with the intersection of other characteristics of students (such as race/ethnicity, SES, SEN) on the emergence of barriers in young girls political self-efficacy, in the classroom setting of year 9 (13-14 years old) in four different countries of the European continent?