Abstract:

Educational institutions have significant roles to adopt the next generation to the principles of democracy. It is known that universities have a role in the maintenance and development of democratic societies, thus it is necessary to reveal whether the principles of democracy adopted by universities or not. The purpose of this research is to explore the perceptions of university students on the concepts like “democratic educator”, “democratic classroom”, and “democratic school”. Phenomenological approach one of the qualitative research design was used in the research. Data were collected through a questionnaire composed of open-ended questions and focus group interviews. Seventy-two university students from Cankiri Karatekin University were participated in this study. The data were collected during the fall semester of 2012/13 academic year. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis and content analysis. According to the findings, the university students describe democratic educator as an educator who behaves all individuals equally, does not make discrimination in relation to academic success and socio-economic status of students. Similarly, the students claimed that the most important characteristics of democratic school and democratic classroom are equality, indiscrimination, freedom of expression, tolerance, respect, and justice. Some of the university students stated that democratic school is only an ideal; it is not possible to realize

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