Education for democracy: a review of studies examining the effect of education on levels and distributions of democratic competences

Growing concerns about democratic backsliding have renewed interest in how education fosters democratic competences. Existing reviews have summarized parts of this relationship, but this scoping review is, to our knowledge, the first to comprehensively cover all key educational dimensions and democratic competences. We also extend previous work by examining not only how education is associated with levels of democratic competences but also how it relates to inequalities in these competences. Following PRISMA-Scoping Review guidelines, we systematically identified and screened 4000 records and included 359 empirical studies published between 2001 and 2024 across seven educational domains: curriculum, participatory pedagogy, school democratic ethos, teacher training, assessment, educational attainment, and system characteristics. Studies were charted by design, population, country, and the direction of findings on five democratic competences, knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and behavior. Overall, 60% of studies report positive findings and 20% null findings, while 45% of those addressing inequality suggest compensatory outcomes and 30% accelerating outcomes. Three key findings emerge. First, findings from educational strategies such as participatory pedagogy, citizenship education curricula, and longer compulsory schooling suggest “win–win” effects, by simultaneously being related to higher democratic competences and lower inequalities. Second, findings from system features such as early tracking and high school autonomy suggest “null–lose” effects, showing limited overall benefit while co-occurring with exacerbated inequality. Third, research on teacher training, assessment, as well as the domains of skills and values remains limited, underscoring the need for more rigorous and comparative designs. Overall, the findings suggest that inclusive, participatory, and equity-oriented educational approaches are most consistently linked to democratic competences and the mitigation of inequalities, offering guidance for policymakers seeking to strengthen democracy through education.