Free school

Terminology

A free school (or free skool) is a decentralized network in which skills, information, and knowledge are shared without hierarchy and the institutional environment of formal schooling. The more open structure of free schools is intended to encourage self-reliance, critical consciousness, personal development, and social responsibility.

An open classroom is a student-centered classroom design format popular in the United States in the 1970s. Since learning cannot be confined to the four walls of a school, the concept of an open classroom, originally meaning a classroom without four walls, has evolved into schools where emphasis on class trips, apprenticeships, and directed exploration allows students to experience learning in a variety of settings as well as achieving a sense of personal accomplishment.

A democratic school is a school that centers on democratic principles and participatory democracy with "full and equal" participation from both students and staff. These learning environments position youth voice as the central actor in the educative process by engaging students in every facet of school operations, including learning, teaching, and leadership. Adult staff support students by offering passive and active facilitation according to students' interest.

History of Free Schools

Free schools have their roots in the anarchist Modern Schools of Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A more recent revival grew out of the democratic school movement. It is, at heart, non-institutional and non-authoritarian. Generally, it is a grassroots effort, a collection of individuals acting collectively and autonomously to create educational opportunities and skill-sharing within their communities.

Free schools often operate outside the market economy in favor of the gift economy. Nevertheless, the meaning of the "free" of free schools is not restricted to monetary cost, and can refer to an emphasis on free speech and open learning.

Free School Tradition in Anarchist Spain

Spanish anarchist Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909) established "modern" or progressive schools in Spain in defiance of an educational system controlled by the church. Fiercely anti-clerical, he believed in "freedom in education," education free from the authority of church and state. Murray Bookchin wrote: "This period [1890s] was the heyday of libertarian schools and pedagogical projects in all areas of the country where Anarchists exercised some degree of influence. Perhaps the best-known effort in this field was Francisco Ferrer's Modern School (Escuela Moderna), a project which exercised a considerable influence on Catalan education and on experimental techniques of teaching generally." (Murray Bookchin, Anarchosyndicalism, The New Ferment)

Free Schools in the UK

The most famous free school is Summerhill School, a boarding school in Suffolk which was founded in 1921 by the Scottish teacher A. S. Neill, whose ideas had been radicalised through teaching in conventional schools. Despite many travails with school-oriented government inspectors, Summerhill survives to this day with more pupils than ever. The school's website describes it thus:

"Summerhill School is a progressive, co-educational, residential school, founded by A. S. Neill in 1921; in his own words, it is a 'free school' though this does not mean, alas, that it is state funded. The freedom Neill was referring to was the personal freedom of the children in his charge. Summerhill is first and foremost a place where children can discover who they are and where their interests lie in the safety of a self-governing, democratic community.

"There are two features of the school which people usually single out as being particularly unusual. The first is that all lessons are optional. Teachers and classes are available at timetabled times, but the children can decide whether to attend or not. This gives them the freedom to make choices about their own lives and means that those children attending lessons are motivated to learn."

"The second particularly unusual feature of the school is the school meeting, at which the school Laws are made or changed. These laws are the rules of the school, made by majority vote in the community meetings; pupils and staff alike having equal votes."

An institution founded on similar principles was Kilquhanity School in the Scottish Borders, founded by John Aitkenhead, which closed during the 1990s.

Sands School, is set just on the southern edge of Dartmoor. It was established in 1987. It is a small private school which receives no public funding, and so is free to be different to state schools. It is democratic, with students and staff having equal say in the running of the school. There is no headmaster, and all matters, from dealing with disagreements, to the employment of staff, are decided in a weekly school meeting.

During the 1970s other short-lived free schools were established in the British inner cities.

Free Schools in Australia

Preshil, established in Melbourne in the 1930's, is based on principles similar to that of Summerhill, although it is non residential, and classes are held at fixed times. It remains unaffiliated with any doctrinal or theological ideology, and is currently experiencing a resurgence for those seeking alternatives to the mainstream government and private schools . Students are involved in, and take responsibility for decisions about their curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and changes to the school environment. Since the 1970's Preshil has operated up to year 12.

The Village School, in Croydon, Victoria is an independent, non-sectarian and non-denominational primary school having no specific affiliations with any other educational establishment or educational system.

Melbourne Community School was established in 1977 by a parents group seeking an independent small school alternative. Formerly known as the Malvern Community School, it now is located in East St Kilda.

Free Schools in the US

Free schools have existed in the U.S. for many years, and enjoyed the "Hippie Movement" of the '70s. Many of the schools created in the '70s closed within the first 10 years, but there are a few notable exceptions. Today, free schools in the U.S. are again enjoying popularity as people become more educated about school choice concepts and look for alternatives to the public school system. The large number of new schools based on the Sudbury Model are a good example of this increased demand. Visit the links below for many schools currently practicing within the US.

The Albany Free School was established in Albany, NY in 1969 and unlike many similar U.S. schools of the time, still operates today. The Free School's founder, Mary Leue, corresponded with Summerhill founder A.S. Neil about her plan to take his experiment of radical freedoms to a different demographic, the inner city. Mary went on to create The Free School in Albany's urban south end with the idea of making these freedoms and democratic principles accessible to children of the poor.

Grassroots Free School in Tallahassee, Florida has enjoyed a long and successful history. Founded by Pat Seery, the school still operates today. In the 1970s, the school operated out of the club house of an abandoned, 40-acre golf club. Grassroots was sculpted very closely from the Summerhill school. The school was a favorite not only of hippies, but of liberal-thinking families that had grown tired of Southern paternalism. Also, the Natural Bridge School in Tallahassee held many of the same principles, and was a frequent high-school extension of the Grassroots experience.

Open Classrooms

Today, classrooms that are physically open are rare, as many schools that were built when the idea of open education was translated by educational bureaucracy to mean "without walls" have long since put up partitions. However, in many places, the open philosophy as an instructional technique continues to thrive, though it is frequently not labeled as such. In schools where open education was not a top-down initiative, but a bottom-up phenomenon, they met with success. Piedmont Open/IB Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, was started as one of the original two magnet middle schools in Charlotte in the 1970's. While the other magnet (a "traditional" school) has closed, Piedmont is still functioning as a modified open school thirty years later, all the time housed in a traditional physical plant.

Open schools must keep an informed parent and student body and especially a committed faculty. If one places a traditional teacher into an open environment, success is elusive. The lack of structure, physical (walls) or pedagogical (choice), can readily be blamed. Conversely, a committed open teacher with a supportive administration can create an open classroom in any school setting. Teachers who today require student input in the process of deciding how to master a given topic are indeed running open classrooms, whether or not they use the "open" label.

Democratic Schools

A tenet of democratic schools is giving students the power to choose what to do with their time. There are no required classes, and sometimes there is no requirement to take classes at all. Students are free to choose an activity that they desire, or feel the need to do. They are free to continue activities for as long or short a time as they see fit. In this way they learn both self-discipline and self initiation. They also gain the advantage of the increases in both learning speed and learning retention that accompany engagement in an activity that one is passionate about. The students at these schools are responsible for and empowered to direct their own education from a very young age.

The oldest surviving democratic school, Summerhill School in England, was founded in 1921 by A.S. Neill. Summerhill is a private school that receives no public funds. Kirkdale School was another A.S.Neill inspired "free" day school that existed between 1964 and the 1980s. Sands School, also in England and also a private school, was established in 1987. In the United States, well known successful examples include the Sudbury Valley School, The Circle School, and The Highland School.

At least 100 schools around the world identify themselves as "democratic schools" today, in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States. Since 1993 there has been an International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) which is held in a different country each year ^[1].

"Free Skool" Movement

Beyond schools that offer democratic reforms to the educational system, radical experiments in non-hierarchical education with anarchist roots have given rise to temporal and permanent free schools. They are often termed "free skools" to distinguish them from what supporters view as an oppressive and institutional educational industry. Temporal free skools offering skill-shares and training have become a regular part of large radical gatherings and actions. More permanent skools in cities large and small have popped up across North America offering a wide range of workshops, classes, and skill-shares.

Free Skool Santa Cruz in California is perhaps typical of a new batch of free schools that are explicitly rooted in an anarchist tradition of collectivism, autonomy, and self-reliance, and feature informal, non-authoritarian learning outside of the monetary economy. From the Free Skool Santa Cruz website: "More than just an opportunity to learn, we see Free Skool as a direct challenge to dominant institutions and hierarchical relationships. Part of creating a new world is resistance to the old one, to the relentless commodification of everything, including learning and the way we relate to each other."

These are on-going, informal learning networks, that focus on skill-sharing among adults as well as children. The boundaries between students, teachers, and organizers are consciously blurred, with some free skools claiming, "we are all teachers, and we are all students." Free skool "classes" are often autonomous workshops held in informal settings in homes, cafes, and community centers. Free skools typically offer a monthly or quarterly-produced free skool calendar.

Currently Active Free Schools in North America

Canada

USA

Currently Active Free Schools in the UK

Currently Active Free Schools in Australia

References
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↑ [1] International Democratic Educational Conference 2006 retrieved January 5, 2007 from IDEC 2006

External links

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[1] [1] International Democratic Educational Conference 2006 retrieved January 5, 2007 from IDEC 2006

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