In democratically run schools, democracy is viewed as the best form of collective, communal, or societal life and decision-making that has a super important self-value: it is not so much a curriculum as it is in Democratic Education as civic education, not an instruction as it is Democratic Education for democracy, not an educational tool as it is in Democratic Education as a problem-solving method for social problems... [T]here is the recognition by all participants that each student is the final authority for their own education, if not life. 

For dialogue, democracy is a political regime of dialogue. Democracy assures that dialogue is voluntary, non-participation is legitimate, the participants define the topics of dialogue, the ownership of dialogue (and life) belongs to its participants, freedoms, rights, and so on. For democracy, dialogue is critical deliberation... Dialogue can reveal and legitimize the existing and emerging tensions and prevent violence. Dialogue humanizes democracy.  (Excerpts from Matusov, (2023). "Relationships between Democratic Education and Dialogic Education: Conclusion")