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Lib Ed - archive of all articles
Click on a title to view the full article.
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.
The 2012 International Democratic Education Conference is to be held in Puerto Rico at the end of March.
Tania Hales-Richardson
The Government puts teachers and young people into boxes. How can we escape?
An interesting new school has been started by Russian immigrants in Sinai, Egypt
Two new journals dealing with alternative education are to be launched in the UK this year.
Too much too soon, an OpenEYE publication edited by Richard House
September 2011
BRINGING BACK AN OLD IDEA OF NEILL’SRenee Sandler
A psychotherapist tries rewarding bad behaviour to cure it.
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.
A chance to pick up some bargains!
Just to keep you up-to-date.
May 2011
Recent Research into Education Based on Children's Rights
Derry Hannam
Alex Dunedin
The Ragged University is a new and rapidly growing initiative in the UK.
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.
Ola Matyska
Land of Treasure is a free nursery school in Łodz, Poland.
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.
Echo Zang
Dhruba Ghimire is working to improve the lives of Nepali woman through education.
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.
A song for any child-friendly school condemned by Ofsted.
October 2010
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.
An announcement about the 2011 International Democration Education Conference, which is to be held next July in the UK, in Devon.
May 2010
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 is an Indian scientist who has developed fascinating ways of teaching science using only the cheapest materials and household rubbish.
Rachel Roberts
A personal story of recovery after a period of despair as a student in a traditional school.
An account of the achievements and disappointments of Coole Schule, the Austrian movement for student involvement in school decision-making.
January 2010
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.
A selection of startling suggestions from the TES website.
October 2009
An account of the ideas supported by the Lib Ed collective.
The English Secondary Students Association has been running a competition for videos suggesting improvements to schools. We describe some of the entries.
The International Democratic Education Conference planned for Korea met an unexpected problem.
ZsaZsa Shea
A description of the new European Democratic Education Community.
Derry Hannam
Is the government review of home education another attempt to control or silence educational diversity?
Alice Finbow
The story of a project for helping unemployed young people to learn circus skills.
An email discussion between Milan Rai and David Gribble
May 2009
Some extracts from a book on Carl Rogers’ approach to counselling by David Mearns and Brian Thorne, rewritten to illustrate an approach to education.
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.
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.
Positive and negative reactions to the new English Education and Skills Bill
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
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.
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
Extract from the NGO alternative report on the UK Implementation of the Convention on the rights of the Child
The speech delivered by Danielle Souness, of Room 13, at the Artworks Conference in Tate Modern, when she was twelve years old
The December newsletter from Hope Flowers School, in Bethlehem.
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.
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
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
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
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
Christine Hélot Why, when bilingualism is so highly valued, are immigrant languages ignored?
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
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.
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
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 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.
Up until 2005 England had no school students' organisation. This is a brief introduction to the recently founded English Secondary Students' Association.
Lib Ed has recently discovered an Indian site with a small library of important downloadable books.
March 2005
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.
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.
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
Jürg Jegge
This article is an extract from Jürg Jegge's book "Dummheit ist lernbar" ("Stupidity is learnable.)
The Doctor Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School
Pat Edwards
(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.
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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