Democratic Education

Democratic Education or Democratic Schooling is a method of education which stresses the needs of the student as an autonomous individual who should learn at their own pace without the guidance of forced lectures, attendance, classes, grading, tests and homework.

History

Although practices resembling democratic education have been around for a long time, it only began to be developed as a self-aware, consistent and international philosophy during the Enlightenment. John Locke and Jean-Jacque Rosseau were the main writers on this subject, but 

19th century

While Locke and Rousseau were concerned only with the education of the children of the wealthy, in the 19th century Leo Tolstoy set up a school for peasant children. This was on his own estate at Yasnaya Polyana,↵ Russia, in the late 19th century. He tells us that the school evolved ↵freely from principles introduced by teachers and pupils; that in spite ↵of the preponderating influence of the teacher, the pupil had always had↵ the right not to come to school, or, having come, not to listen to the ↵teacher, and that the teacher had the right not to admit a pupil, and ↵was able to use all the influence he could muster to win over the ↵community, where the children were always in the majority.^[8][9]

20th century

Dom Sierot

In 1912, Janusz Korczak founded Dom Sierot, the Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, which was run on democratic lines until 1940, when he accompanied all his charges to the gas-chambers of the Treblinka extermination camp.^[10][11][12]

Influential democratic schools

Main building of the Summerhill School

The oldest democratic school that still exists is Summerhill, in Suffolk, England, founded in 1921. It features voluntary class attendance and a School Meeting with broad powers.

Sudbury Valley School, founded in Framingham, Massachusetts↵ in 1968, has full democratic governance: The School Meeting manages all↵ aspects of the school, including staff hiring and facilities.^[13]  A "Sudbury school" is now a general class of school modeled after this original.

The term Democratic Education originates from The Democratic School of Hadera, the first school in the world called a democratic school.^[14]↵It was founded in Israel in 1987 by Yaacov Hecht. It is a public school.^[15]↵The term has been embraced by alternative/open schools all over the world, predominantly following the foundation of IDEC – the International Democratic Education Conference, which was first convened at the democratic school in Hadera.^[16]

Free schools movement

In the 1960s, hundreds of "free schools" opened, many based on Summerhill.^[17] However A.S. Neill,↵ the founder of Summerhill, distanced himself from American Summerhill ↵schools for not successfully implementing the philosophy of "Freedom, ↵not license."^[18]↵Free school movement (including many schools based on Summerhill^[19]) became a broad movement in the 1960s and 1970s, but was largely renounced by the 1980s. Progressive education and Dewey's ideals did influence them, but only indirectly for the most part.^[20]

Overview

Democratic Education still provides a facility known as a school with facilities such as classrooms, a library, green space, a playground and sometimes other things like a swimming pool and cafeteria. But there are no tests, homework, grading, lecture-style classrooms or even compulsory attendance. Children may work by themselves or in groups to learn about what interests them, having access to teachers who act as gentle guides and students are given all the time they need to play, explore and learn at their own pace, leaving the school when they are ready.

Effectiveness

Research into democratic education is limited owing to a lack of popular knowledge of the practice and lack of government and corporate support. Despite this, several major studies have been done:

• A study of 12 schools in the United Kingdom by a former school inspector indicates that democratic schooling produces greater motivation to learn and self-esteem among students.
• A study done in Israel indicates that the decline in interest in science that occurs regularly in conventional (Prussian) schools did not occur in democratic schools.
• A study of 12 schools in the United Kingdom by a former school inspector indicates that democratic schooling produces greater motivation to learn and self-esteem among students.
• Three studies done on students of Sudbury Schools in the United States of America indicate that students "have been highly successful in their higher education (for those who chose that route) and careers. They have gone on to all walks of life that are valued in our society and report that they feel advantaged because of the sense of personal responsibility, self-control, continued interest in learning, and democratic values they acquired at Sudbury Valley."
• Sands School in the United Kingdom was inspected in 2013 by Ofsted was found to be ‘Good’ overall with a number of ‘Outstanding’ features. No area of the provision was found to be less than "good’ and all of the Statutory regulations (the school "Standards") were met in full. This is the same outcome as the previous inspection in 2010. Ofsted observed that taking part in decision-making process developed "exceptional qualities of thoughtfulness and the ability to offer balanced arguments". Good pupil achievements were found to be a "consequence of the democratic structures". Personal development was deemed to be "outstanding" because of the exceptional impact of the democratic principles. The inspector was particularly impressed with pupils’ behaviour, noting that "lessons took place in an atmosphere of mutual respect" and that "visitors were greeted with interest and impeccable manners".

• Alia College in Melbourne, Australia was in the top 5 for Australian schools in Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation abilities.
• Albany Free School, in Albany, United States of America has treated students with ADHD far better than surrounding schools, giving them enough play time to render medication unnecessary.

Notable Theorists

• Alfie Kohn
• A.S. Neill
• Colin Ward
• Emma Goldman
• Everett Reimer
• Franciso Ferrer Guardia
• George Dennison
• Herbert Read
• Ivan Illich
• Janusz Korczak
• Jean-Jacques Rosseau
• John Dewey
• John Locke
• Josiah Warren
• Leo Tolstoy
• Louise Michel
• Max Stirner
• Mikhail Bakunin
• Paul Goodman
• Sebastien Faure
• William Godwin
• Yaacov Hecht

See Also

• List of Democratic Schools
• Democratic Assemblies
• Democratic Workplaces
• Democratic Militias
• Libertarian Parenting