Touch is problematic in most schools. Summerhill is different. Sometimes it seems like a troop of monkeys, but there are safeguards to ensure that touch does not become something it shouldn’t. In this post I ask if something can be learnt from the way things are done at Summerhill.
Suicide, self-harm and depression are huge problems for our schools. What is the solution? Continuing to deprive children of their childhood by an absurd reverence for schoolwork seems to be counter-productive.
Do you know what is good for children? You are wrong! I have heard people say things like, “children love structure” or “routine is good for children” or, on the other side, “children need to be left alone” and “freedom is the best tonic for children.” I don’t believe any of this because I don’t…
Zoë Readhead, the principal of Summerhill School, loves horses. In this post I talk about how her love of horses has had a beneficial effect on the school.
What is the Big Question in education. In this post I look at the way our lives are changing and will continue to change. If we think education can follow the same tired old model we are fooling ourselves.
Play is the sap and essence of childhood. And if there is one dark evil in this messed up modern world we have invented, it is the way we have taken free play away from children. We allow the evil octopus of school work to dominate more and more of their lives. We give them…
This week we have been busy. The blog post on Examinations struck a chord with many people. I’d love to hear what you think! Jason went to La Cantonera in Gran Canaria. It seemed like a great deal to be on the Canary Islands in March but the weather turned out to be wet, windy…
Examinations are the triumph of small minds over vitality. Summerhill School has always offered examinations but tries to limit their stultifying effect. In this post I shall describe how examinations work at Summerhill and suggest how this could be a model for other schools in their attempts to promote freedom. Many readers of this blog…
Getting older is not the same as gaining maturity: we have all known teachers who are less mature than their students, for example. Age divisions in schools are an attempt to impose a system on a natural process. In schools with year groups this system is a mechanical one, as though the children were machine…
Creativity is a buzz word in education these days. Just plug the word into Google and see what comes up. You might have to scroll down past Sir Ken Robinson, but you will find that there is great interest in stimulating creativity in children. It is not just education. There are experts in creative business,…
