Very rarely do you find people disagreeing on ends: that we want schools to inculcate independent learning, critical thinking individuals, not drone-like rote-learners with a penchant for multiple-choice questions. Yet when it comes to means, the most obvious tool in the box – allowing children some freedom of choice, a hand in the proceedings – is repeatedly shunned by policy-makers.
In our last post about our research project in primary schools, Dan and I talked about the way education is largely justified to kids in terms of its economic value, and the dangers – as well as philosophical inconsistencies – of that paradigm. This time, we’re going to talk about the dangers of one-dimensional…
Kids are being taught that education is of instrumental – and economic – value only Our last blog post talked about how Dan and I decided to begin a research project in primary schools, based around asking kids what they think of school. As you get into the swing of interview-based research, you…
This is the first of a series of articles by Freya Aquarone and her research partner Dan. We knew Freya when she was at Summerhill and she was particularly close to Leonard in Class 2. She took leading roles in some of the impressive plays that were put on there. She and Dan have visited…
This is the same post that Dani Rius wrote for us last week in Catalan. He offers us his vision of Summerhill School, from the initial charm and delight, through a difficult period of adaptation to a settled consideration of what it might mean for children and adults. The learning we read about here takes…
Dani was a houseparent in the Cottage at Summerhill School for a year. He now works in a school near where he lives in St Pol, just a little to the north of Barcelona and keeps in contact with many Summerhill kids. The experience of working at the school was important for him in defining…
Peter Foti discusses Robert’s Rules, a way of organising democratic meetings.
Guest post by Robert Alcock of Abrazo House that describes the difficulties of setting up a Democratic School. The first of a series.
