From program to practice: student agency and the pedagogical gap in citizenship education in public secondary schools

Introduction This study aims to examine how citizenship education is translated into everyday classroom practices and how these practices shape students' agency and critical engagement. Although various democratic education programs have been introduced through curricular reforms, their implementation has not necessarily resulted in meaningful participatory experiences for students. Methods This study employed a qualitative interpretive design involving five public senior high schools in Padang City, Indonesia, that had implemented the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project (P5) under the theme Voice of Democracy . Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 24 students and 7 teachers, 10 sessions of non-participant observation, and analysis of school documents, then analyzed using thematic and critical discourse analysis. Results Findings reveal that, at the micro level, classroom practices remain largely dominated by transmissive and hierarchical pedagogical patterns. At the meso level, student agency emerges when learners experience participatory spaces, but such agency remains situational and episodic. At the macro level, a fragmentation exists between educational policies, democratic programs, and pedagogical practices. Discussion While the P5 Voice of Democracy initiative provides opportunities for participation, these have not been fully integrated into regular classroom learning. The study argues that citizenship education should be understood as a multilevel pedagogical ecosystem that connects classroom practices, lived experiences, power relations, and broader institutional structures.