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Lib Ed - archive of all articles

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January 2012

THE SUMMERHILL IDEA AND THE WORKING CLASS

Bryn Purdy
People say Summerhill methods will only work with children from the wealthy, liberal middle class. Bryn Purdy’s experience proves the opposite.

 

IDEC 2012

The 2012 International Democratic Education Conference is to be held in Puerto Rico at the end of March.

 

OUT OF THE BOX

Tania Hales-Richardson
The Government puts teachers and young people into boxes. How can we escape?

 

FAMILY CLUB DOMASHNIY REBENOK

An interesting new school has been started by Russian immigrants in Sinai, Egypt

 

NEW JOURNALS

Two new journals dealing with alternative education are to be launched in the UK this year.

 

REVIEW

Too much too soon, an OpenEYE publication edited by Richard House

 

September 2011

BRINGING BACK AN OLD IDEA OF NEILL’S

Renee Sandler
A psychotherapist tries rewarding bad behaviour to cure it.

 

LEARNING IN FREEDOM

Simone Kosog
Simone Kosog attended the 2011 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) which was hosted by Sands School, in Devon. Her article about it was originally published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

 

AUTHORITARIAN SCHOOLING: A CATALOGUE OF DAMAGE

David Gribble
A new website, which instead of praising libertarian education, goes into the attack.

 

REDUCED PRICES FOR BOOKS

A chance to pick up some bargains!

 

FUND-RAISING FOR ETON

Just to keep you up-to-date.

 

 

May 2011

Recent Research into Education Based on Children's Rights

Derry Hannam

 

The Ragged University

Alex Dunedin
The Ragged University is a new and rapidly growing initiative in the UK.

 

Pédagogie Nomade

Pédagogie Nomade is a democratically run school in Belgium that is under threat. Here you can read three accounts of the school from students and one from a parent.

 

Land of Treasure

Ola Matyska
Land of Treasure is a free nursery school in Łodz, Poland.

 

An answer to Michael Gove

William Hazlitt

 

 

January 2011

William Booth Primary School Under Threat

A description of a visit to William Booth by David Gribble, and a brief summary of the contested report by Ofsted in January 2011

 

Organic Intelligence, Toy Story and "What did you do in school today?

Mark Bell

An article originally published in the Sudbury Valley School Journal, revealing surprising similarities between Sudbury Valley and Pixar.

 

Dhruba Ghimire

Echo Zang

Dhruba Ghimire is working to improve the lives of Nepali woman through education.

 

Change the Future

Luke Flegg

A brief account of the work already done by Change the Future. a new attempt to make the voice of young people heard. Change the Future is looking for volunteers to help the scheme on its way.

 

The Ballard of Michael Gove

A song for any child-friendly school condemned by Ofsted.

 

 

October 2010

Escaping Education

Gustavo Esteva

A sample article from Turning Points, a book published earlier this year in the USA, which is anthology of responses to four specific questions from thirty five well-known alternative educators. (See the review in this posting).

 

Letter to the Minister of Education in Croatia

Derry Hannam

A letter in support of an application to found a democratic school in Croatia, which should be read by all Ministers of Education everywhere.

 

Children Make the Future in the Shadow of the Past

Christopher Shute

This article, which discusses the implications of the revival of interest in the Bulger case, was originally published in Issue 12 of The Journal of Personalised Education Now.

 

The Free School, Leipzig - a Democratic School?

Rachel Roberts

An ex-student from Sands School describes the development of democracy at a another school.

 

IDEC 2011

An announcement about the 2011 International Democration Education Conference, which is to be held next July in the UK, in Devon.

 

 

May 2010

Die, Die, Die

A comment on the case of the teacher who attacked a pupil with a dumbbell.

 

The Frontline of the Class War?

James Bar Bowen

A reaction to the article ‘Die, Die, Die’ article and the ‘Teachers’ Advice’ article in the January posting.

 

Arvind Gupta, The Toy-maker

Arvind Gupta is an Indian scientist who has developed fascinating ways of teaching science using only the cheapest materials and household rubbish.

 

I Almost Stopped Speaking

Rachel Roberts

A personal story of recovery after a period of despair as a student in a traditional school.

 

The End of the Coole Schule

An account of the achievements and disappointments of Coole Schule, the Austrian movement for student involvement in school decision-making.

 

 

January 2010

The Lycéé Autogéré in Paris

Heike Freire

The Lycée Autogéré de Paris is a self-governing state school that has been running since 1982

 

Democratic Education - Some Notes Towards Defining the Term

Ian Cunningham

A new definition of a loosely used term

 

Harry Potter and the Highbrow Critics

Harry Potter is defended against the critics who accept The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials as serious literature.

 

Teachers' Advice

A selection of startling suggestions from the TES website.

 

 

October 2009

What Do We Mean?

An account of the ideas supported by the Lib Ed collective.

 

ESSA Manifesto for Change

The English Secondary Students Association has been running a competition for videos suggesting improvements to schools. We describe some of the entries.

 

IDEC 2009 Korea

The International Democratic Education Conference planned for Korea met an unexpected problem.

 

EUDEC

ZsaZsa Shea

A description of the new European Democratic Education Community.

 

The Badman Review

Derry Hannam

Is the government review of home education another attempt to control or silence educational diversity?

 

It's a Bit Like Juggling

Alice Finbow

The story of a project for helping unemployed young people to learn circus skills.

 

Consensus or Voting?

An email discussion between Milan Rai and David Gribble

 

 

May 2009

Persn-centered Education

Some extracts from a book on Carl Rogers’ approach to counselling by David Mearns and Brian Thorne, rewritten to illustrate an approach to education.

 

Edge Learner Forum

The remit of the Edge Learner Forums is to promote vocational learning and qualifications and bring them up to an equal status with academic learning. In fact they do much more.

 

Butterflies

Jerry Mintz

An account of a visit to Butterflies, the organisation for street and working children in New Delhi.

 

Neel Bagh - Where the mind is without fear

Amukta Mahapatra

Amukta Mahapatra describes Neel Bagh, founded by David Horsburgh in 1972, the inspiration for many prominent Indian educators.

 

Raising the School-leaving Age

Alan Nettleton

Alan was one of the victims of the raising of the school-leaving age in 1972. His experience has contemporary relevance.

 

Correspondence: The Baumgarten Children’s Home

Robert Hamm on Siegfried Bernfeld, the founder of the Baumgarten Children’s Home.

 

Corrigenda: The Baumgarten Children’s Home: Translation errors

Corrections to the translation of article on the Baumgarten Children’s Home, posted on this site in September 2008.

 

 

January 2009

Activity-based Learning in Chennai

An account of what must be the most widespread liberalisation of education anywhere in the world.

 

Ppupil Voice to Become Law

Positive and negative reactions to the new English Education and Skills Bill

 

A Student Teachers Essay

Lucy Golston

A new student’s response to the demand, “With reference to your subject specialism and your intention to teach, critically evaluate significant experiences that have shaped your learning.”

 

At William Booth We Love Children

Inspiring extracts from the leaflets published by William Booth Nursery and Infant School in Nottingham.

 

What About These Young People?

An anonymous poem from the 1990s.

 

Correspondence: White Lion Street Free School

Nigel Wright responds to Jenny Aster’s article on the White Lion Street Free school, published on this site in May last year, and Jenny Aster replies.

 

 

September 2008

The Baumgarten Children's Home

Sigfried Bernfield

The Kinderheim Baumgarten was a Jewish children's home set up in Vienna after the first world war. Bernfeld's methods would still seem innovative if they were introduced today.

 

Address to the First European Democratic Education Conference

Leonard Turton

 

No Diplomas in Architecture

Anuradha and Krishna, Thulir, Tamil Nadu

The Indian organisation, Shikshantar, runs a campaign against academic qualifications. They have published many relevant stories. This is one of them.

 

My Free School Days

Akira Potter

Akira Potter has been a pupil at two free schools in Japan, and at Summerhill. He describes his experiences.

 

The Limits of Community: A Libertarian View

Peter Higginson

 

Limitless and Intersecting Communities and a View of Liberty

James (Bar) Bowen

A response to Peter Higginson's article

 

 

May 2008

The Primary Review: Emerging Perspectives on Childhood

Robin Alexander's keynote lecture at the conference on Childhood, Wellbeing and Primary Education organised by the General Teaching Council for England

 

Children's Rights in the UK

Extract from the NGO alternative report on the UK Implementation of the Convention on the rights of the Child

 

Please Learn to Work With Us

The speech delivered by Danielle Souness, of Room 13, at the Artworks Conference in Tate Modern, when she was twelve years old

 

A Newsletter From Palestine

The December newsletter from Hope Flowers School, in Bethlehem.

 

White Lion Free School

Jenny Aster

An ex-pupil tells of her own experiences at the school and describes the effect it had on her life

 

Austrian school students settle the score

Coole Schule , the Austrian association of school students, gives up on politics.

 

Why Don't Students in Democratic Schools Do More?

An email correspondence between Luke Flegg, an ex-pupil of Sands School, and Moe Zimmerman, staff member at the Tutorial School, New Mexico.

 

 

January 2008

Education According to Tolstoy

Extracts from Tolstoy's writing about his school at Yasnaya Polyana.

 

Children hold local governments accountable

CWC's report on the first public children's meetings in Karnataka.

 

School Councils – School Improvement: the view of the research team

The view of the research team.

 

School Councils – School Improvement: the view of the project manager

The view of the project manager.

 

Brain Research and Learning in School

An extract from the prospectus of the proposed Netzwerkschule in Berlin.

 

NASUWT and Student Voice

Comments on the NASUWT's position statement in which it justifies its anxiety about current development of student voice in British schools.

 

 

September 2007

Alexander Naumovich Tubelsky (1940 – 2007)

This obituary for the great Russian teacher is translated from his school's website

 

School Number 734 - The Moscow School of Self-Determination

An account of Tubelsky's school

 

Risinghill Revisited

A new book is planned by ex-students of Michael Duane's celebrated school

 

Government Interference: The Tale of Boorobin Sudbury School in Queensland

Booroobin, a small Sudbury school in Australia, joins the list of free schools threatened by government action

 

Beating them at their own game: A free school meets the exam system

Kapriole, a free school in Baden Württemberg, takes its first exams

 

 

June 2007

Fighting back: Joy, social justice and the necessity of hope

Mark Curtis

A teacher at Bishops Park College, in Clacton, writes about the inspiration he has found there

 

Democratic Education with Five-year-olds

Jerry Mintz

A new experience for someone used to introducing democratic meetings to older groups

 

Twelve Reasons not to set Homework

Leonard Turton

 

We must not take sides

Peter Staffa A group of German teachers visit Israel and Palestine, as part of the Building Bridges programme

 

 

 

February 2007

Naming the New Totalitarianism

Michael Fielding An examination of leadership, personalisation and high performance schooling

 

How We Are Making Learning Better At George Mitchell

Sylvia Lim

A year-eight pupil at George Mitchell School in Leyton describes some of the innovations there

 

Practical Anarchism: U3A, the Unlikely Bakuninists

Martyn Everett

The University of the Third Age, established to offer further education to the over forty-fives, is healthily anti-authoritarian

 

97% TO 3%

A model of an educational philosophy adapted, with permission, from a diagram by Lynne Smith

 

Open Learning: An introduction to the work of Falko Peschel

Falko Peschel is an educational theorist who worked for four years in a primary school, putting his theories into practice. In his class, children really wanted to learn.

 

 

November 2006

Bilingualism

Christine Hélot Why, when bilingualism is so highly valued, are immigrant languages ignored?

 

The Didenheim Project

Christine Hélot and Andrea Young

An account of a school in Alsace where languages are taught in a different way.

 

Austria's Coole Schule Association

Austria's "Coole Schule" association is run by a fourteen-year-old who has already organised two national conferences

 

Movement and Development: The Young Artists of Circus Kaos

Ruth Schleicher

 

The Consequences of Preventing Children from Working

An open letter from Damodar Acharya, the Executive Director of the Indian organisation, The Concerned for Working Children (CWC).

 

 

June 2006

Children in the Driver's Seat

P. J. Lolichen

Children in southern India do their own research into access and transport, and demand action.

 

Ethical Issues in Children's Research

Adapted from reflections in the report by P. J. Lolichen

 

Learning How and What we Like or Learning for What We Care For?

Eric Schneider detects a lack of ecological concern among democratic educators.

 

One Reporter, Two Articles

Two versions of an article about Brooklyn Free School, which give very different impressions.

 

The Janusz Korczak International Youth Meeting 2007

Gérard Kahn

Janusz Korczak is remembered as a hero, but how can we make sure his message as an educator is not forgotten?

 

 

January 2006

Club House Democracy

Leonard Turton describes his delightful and important work within a state school in Canada.

 

Seliba Sa Boithuto: The Ideas Behind It

Gerard Mathot describes how Seliba Sa Boithutu grew from his own schooling and his early experiences as a teacher and a trainer of teachers.

 

The Value of the Things They Learn

Martin Roberts

A new teacher at Sands School describes his impressions.

 

Saying No to Certificates and Degrees

Shikshantar, an Indian instute for rethinking education and development, has published a number of comments on the undesirability of relying on certificates and degrees. We quote some extracts.

 

IDEC

IDEC stands for International Democratic Education Conference. It has been happening for twelve years now, and you ought to know about it.

 

 

 

July 2005

Janusz Korczak - An Introduction

Joop Berding An introduction to the work of the Polish educator, Janusz Korczak.

 

The Charter of the Modern School

A translation of the charter of the Freinet movement in France.

 

Seliba Sa Boithuto: A place of learning that is not a school

An account of a learning centre in Lesotho where students decide what, when, how and how much they need to learn.

 

What is ESSA?

Up until 2005 England had no school students' organisation. This is a brief introduction to the recently founded English Secondary Students' Association.

 

Books Online

Lib Ed has recently discovered an Indian site with a small library of important downloadable books.

 

 

March 2005

Room 13

David Gribble

Room 13 is a pupil-run studio in a primary school in Scotland. It has exhibited at Tate Modern, but it is remarkable for much more than its art.

 

Summerhill: Possibly the most inspected school in the world

Matthew Appleton

A former Summerhill houseparent, writes about his impressions of the school.

 

Breaking an Oath

Maria Kopta

This account is by a young Austrian who was educated entirely by her parents, in Austria and Turkey. When she was considering a career, she took a placement in a school.

 

The Other Extreme

Have you ever wondered what it is really like at Eton? Some of the privileges are described here.

 

The Three Hundred and Sixty-five Day School Holiday

Ricardo Semmler runs a business in Brazil where everyone decides what work to do, when to do it and how much they will get paid. He has written a book about it called The Seven-day Week-end . Now they have started a school.

 

 

February 2005

The Brutality of School

Jürg Jegge

This article is an extract from Jürg Jegge's book "Dummheit ist lernbar" ("Stupidity is learnable.)

 

Chicago Hope

The Doctor Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School

 

Hut Building at Tamariki

Pat Edwards

 

KRÄTZÄ KinderRÄchTsZÄnker

(Children's rights fighters)

Krätzä is a group of people in Berlin who are concerned about children's rights, and are working for fundamental changes in society.

 

I Don't Want to Be a Narc

Roxanne writes "...This isn't really related to sharing educational ideas, but as a first year teacher I thought I'd share a bad thing that happened today at school..."

 

Bonaventure – an Alternative School in France

 

 

 

 

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