Democratic education and its application to the health field

Abstract

This study presents the Democratic Education proposal applied to the field of health and public health. Whereas the practice of health and public health implicate a large extent of decision-making by individuals, the democratic education proposal seeks to highlight the necessarily ethical dimension involved in such a decision, which it is believed to always be considered as a free and autonomous option for individuals, who have conditions to exercise this freedom. However, so this situation can effectively happen, it is necessary to question whether valid and intrinsically ethical behaviors are always those based, grounded in science and technology. In this context, the main task of the educator who works in the health area shall be to offer all conditions so this freedom of decision-making can be effectively exercised by the individuals. Hence, it is essential to consider diversity and differences, which are uncontested attributes of contemporaneity.