Rhetorical Citizenship and
Democratic Education
in the Baltic Sea Region

Democracy across the Baltic Sea region faces mounting pressures from polarization, disinformation, and declining civic trust, leaving young people uncertain about meaningful participation and teachers without concrete strategies for schools’ democratic mission. This conference highlights the civic potential of rhetorical education in secondary schooling, focusing on how argument literacy and deliberative agency are cultivated in classrooms, particularly through language instruction. Bringing together researchers, teachers, and policy actors, it offers an interdisciplinary forum to examine how rhetorical competencies are mobilised in policy, curriculum, and practice. The Baltic Sea region provides a crucial context for this dialogue, where differing national approaches invite comparative analysis and mutual learning.