About the AECED project

AECED (Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy) is a three-year Horizon Europe and UKRI funded research project (2023–2026).

Our ambition is to enhance and transform education for democracy by strengthening the role of aesthetic and embodied learning. We have developed and tested an innovative, research-based pedagogical framework and phase-specific Guides for Practice that support responsive, participatory approaches to democratic learning.

Through participatory action research across multiple European contexts, we have co-created resources that inspire and activate new ways of educating for democracy.

Through participatory action research across multiple European contexts, we are co-creating resources that inspire and activate new ways of educating for democracy.

Project Aims

  1. Design an innovative, evidence-based pedagogical Framework with associated Guides to practice that support responsive, participatory pedagogies.
  2. Test the prototype Framework and Guides through participatory action research across different educational phases and contexts.
  3. Refine the Framework and Guides based on research results.
  4. Disseminate and promote the use of the pedagogical Framework and Guides by ‘trailblazer users’ who will lead educational transformation.

Impact

The AECED project has generated new scientific knowledge and practical insights into aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy (AELD). The project advances the state of the art by developing novel conceptual foundations – particularly the notions of democracy as becoming, the acceptive gaze, and democratic sensibility – that reframe democracy as a lived, relational and embodied practice rather than a purely cognitive domain. These theoretical innovations extend existing research and provide new lenses for understanding democratic learning processes across educational settings.

Potential impacts include strengthening democratic education by embedding embodied, affective and relational dimensions into learning processes; informing policy debates on democratic competences; and offering educators evidence based methods for fostering democratic agency. The findings also open new research pathways in pedagogy, governance innovation, and embodied democratic practice.

To support further uptake, the project identifies key needs including:

  • continued research, including longitudinal studies and cross country comparisons;
  • demonstration and pilot implementations at system level;
  • integration of AELD approaches into curricula, assessment frameworks and professional learning;
  • institutional support and protected time for educator development;
  • internationalisation and further translation of resources;
  • supportive regulatory and quality assurance structures recognising embodied pedagogies.

Overall, the project provides a robust scientific foundation and practical resources for advancing democratic learning as an experiential, embodied and socially relational process.