Democratic education is a type of formal education that is organized democratically, so that students can manage their own learning and participate in the governance of their school. Democratic education is often specifically emancipatory, with the students' voices being equal to the teacher's. The history of democratic education spans from at least the 17th century. While it is associated with a number of individuals, there has been no central figure, establishment, or nation that advocated democratic education. The term Democratic Education originated with The Democratic School of Hadera, which was founded in 1987 in Israel.

History

Enlightenment era

In 1693,

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...

published ''

Some Thoughts Concerning Education ''Some Thoughts Concerning Education'' is a 1693 treatise on the education of gentlemen written by the English philosopher John Locke. For over a century, it was the most important philosophical work on education in England. It was translated i ...

''. In describing the teaching of children, he declares,

None of the things they are to learn, should ever be made a burthen to them, or impos'd on them as a task. Whatever is so propos'd, presently becomes irksome; the mind takes an aversion to it, though before it were a thing of delight or indifferency. Let a child but be order'd to whip his top at a certain time every day, whether he has or has not a mind to it; let this be but requir'd of him as a duty, wherein he must spend so many hours morning and afternoon, and see whether he will not soon be weary of any play at this rate.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

's book of advice on education, '' Émile'', was first published in 1762. Émile, the imaginary pupil he uses for illustration, was only to learn what he could appreciate as useful. He was to enjoy his lessons, and learn to rely on his own judgement and experience. "The tutor must not lay down precepts, he must let them be discovered," wrote Rousseau, and urged him not make Émile learn science, but let him discover it. He also said that we should not substitute books for personal experience because this does not teach us to reason; it teaches us to use other people's reasoning; it teaches us to believe a great deal but never to know anything.

19th century

While Locke and Rousseau were concerned only with the education of the children of the wealthy, in the 19th century

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

set up a school for peasant children. This was on his own estate at

Yasnaya Polyana Yasnaya Polyana ( rus, Я́сная Поля́на, p=ˈjasnəjə pɐˈlʲanə, literally: "Bright Glade") is a writer's house museum, the former home of the writer Leo Tolstoy. Bartlett, p. 25 It is southwest of Tula, Russia, and from Mosco ...

, 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.

20th century

Dom Sierot

In 1912,

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending m ...

founded Dom Sierot, the Jewish orphanage in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, which was run on democratic lines. In 1940 Dom Sierot was forced to move to the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

and in 1942 Korczak accompanied all his charges to the gas-chambers of the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

Influential democratic schools

A Democratic school is a certain kind of alternative free school with a radical emphasis on students democracy and freedom to learn. SummerhillSchool

The oldest democratic school is

Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia *Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston * Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...

, in

Suffolk, England Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

, founded in 1921. It features voluntary class attendance and a School Meeting with broad powers. The first democratic school in the United States was the Antioch School in Yellow Springs,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. It was founded in 1921 through Antioch College.

Sudbury Valley School The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by a community of people in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. As of 2019, there are several schools that state that they are based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Australia, Belgi ...

, founded in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a pop ...

in 1968, has full democratic governance: The School Meeting manages all aspects of the school, including staff hiring and facilities. A "

Sudbury school A Sudbury school is a type of school, usually for the K-12 age range, where students have complete responsibility for their own education, and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equal citizens. Students use t ...

" 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. It was founded in Israel in 1987 by Yaacov Hecht. It is a public school. The term has been embraced by alternative/open schools all over the world, predominantly following the foundation of IDEC – the

International Democratic Education Conference The International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) is an annual academic and youth conference hosted by a variety of schools and organizations in cities around the world. History IDEC was first held in 1993, and has been held in all su ...

, which was first convened at the democratic school in Hadera.

Free schools movement

In the 1960s, hundreds of "free schools" opened, many based on Summerhill. However

A.S. Neill Alexander Sutherland Neill (17 October 1883 – 23 September 1973) was a Scottish educator and author known for his school, Summerhill, and its philosophy of freedom from adult coercion and community self-governance. Raised in Scotland, Neill ...

, the founder of Summerhill, distanced himself from American Summerhill schools for not successfully implementing the philosophy of "Freedom, not license." Free school movement (including many schools based on Summerhill) became a broad movement in the 1960s and 1970s, but was largely renounced by the 1980s.

Progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''p ...

and Dewey's ideals did influence them, but only indirectly for the most part.

Networks

Networks supporting democratic education include: * The Alternative Education Resource Organization launched in 1989 to create a "student-driven, learner-centered approaches to education." * The annual

, first held in 1993. * The Australasian Democratic Education Community, which held its first conference in 2002. * The European Democratic Education Community was founded in 2008, at the first European Democratic Education Conference. * The Réseau des écoles démocratiques au Québec, or RÉDAQ, was founded in 2012 in order to sponsor the creation of democratic schools in the province of Québec, Canada. * The Alliance for Self-Directed Education launched in 2016 to make Self-Directed Education a normal and accessible option for all families. * Democracy Matters, launched in 2009, is a UK alliance of organisations promoting education for citizenship, participation and practical politics IDEC 2005 named two core beliefs: self-determination and democratic governance. EUDEC has both of these beliefs, and mutual respect is also in their belief statement. IDEN supports schools that self-identify as democratic.

Defining principles

Democratic schools are very diverse but they can all be defined by having two key principles. In other words, it can be said that all democratic schools have these two characteristics in common: 1. Democratic governance: Meetings in which all members of the school community can participate 2. Autonomy for the students to manage their own learning process

Democratic governance

Democratic

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the g ...

implies the active participation of the entire school community, including the children, in the various collective decision-making processes that define the school. This democratic management can be done in several ways. Most democratic schools make decisions based on a

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterconsensus and a small selection of democratic schools use

Sociocracy Sociocracy is a theory of governance that seeks to create psychologically safe environments and productive organizations. It draws on the use of consent, rather than majority voting, in discussion and decision-making by people who have a sha ...

for their governance.

Student autonomy

The level of student

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...

and the means of creating it varies widely from school to school. Democratic schools can have different

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, as there are many ways to guarantee and develop student autonomy in the learning process. There are several approaches and pedagogical devices that can be implemented in line with the principles of democratic education.

Variety

Democratic education, similar to

democratic government Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gove ...

, comes in many different forms. These are some of the areas in which democratic schools differ.

Curriculum

Democratic schools are characterized by involving students in the decision-making process that affects what and how they learn. Democratic schools generally have no mandatory curriculum, considering forced learning to be undemocratic. Some democratic schools officially offer voluntary courses, and many help interested students to prepare for national examinations so they gain qualifications for further study or future employment. Some democratic schools have no official offering of courses, although courses can be offered or requested by school members.

Administrative structure

Democratic schools often have meetings open to all students and staff, where everyone present has a voice and sometimes an equal vote. Some include parents. These school meetings can cover anything from small matters to the appointment or dismissal of staff and the creation or annulment of rules, or to general expenditure and the structure of the school day. At some schools all students are expected to attend these meetings, at others they are voluntary. The main school meeting may also set up sub-committees to deal with particular issues, such as conflict resolution.

Conflict resolution

Within the purview of democratic values, there is wide scope for how conflicts are resolved. There may be a formal system, with due process and the rule of law. There may be rules but no punishments. Other possibilities include, but are not limited to, a consensus process, mediation, and informal dialogue.

Student autonomy

Pedagogical devices that are put into practice in various democratic schools to guarantee and develop students' autonomy in their learning process include: *

Project-Based Learning Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students l ...

: Students learn through an investigation process structured around complex and authentic issues. Students choose the theme, question or objective to direct and create their project until they reach a final output. In this way, they are the protagonists of their own learning process. Projects can be carried out individually or in groups. *

Committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

: Teams formed to help in the organization of the school space, in the completion of routine tasks for the health and maintenance of the community. These groups are usually formed during school meetings, according to the needs of the school community. *

Study group A study group is a small group of people who regularly meet to discuss shared fields of study. These groups can be found in a high school or college/university setting, within companies, occasionally primary/junior school and sometimes middle sch ...

: Are formed from themes proposed by students and/or educators. They may be questions or topics that they would like to explore. Each group usually has a facilitator or tutor who guides the study process. * Self-assessment: The student evaluates their own learning process, based on criteria defined together with the educator/tutor. * Mentoring: Each student has a mentor, who can work with each student individually or in groups. The mentoring sessions deal with the goals and aspirations of the student and issues that not only focus on academic performance, but also on the relationship with their peers, educators and family. *

Study guide Study guides can be broad based to facilitate learning in a number of areas, or be resources that foster comprehension of literature, research topics, history, and other subjects. General topics include study and testing strategies; reading, w ...

: A document planned by the educator to be used by the student inside or outside the school space. It aims to assist students in autonomous study, thus favoring the understanding of concepts, resolution of situations, readings, theoretical and practical deepening, among other aspects of the teaching process and learning. * Unschoolingbr>Self-directed Education
Unschooling is an informal learning that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. Unschoolers learn through their natural life experiences including play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, internships and work experience, travel, books, elective classes, family, mentors, and social interaction. Self-directed education is education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner, whether or not those activities were chosen deliberately for the purpose of education.

Other

Finance: Some democratic learning environments are parent-funded, some charity-funded. Schools may have a sliding scale based on family income. Publicly funded democratic schools exist in Canada and Israel. Size: Democratic schools vary in size from a few students to a few hundred. Even an individual

unschooler Unschooling is an informal learning that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. Unschoolers learn through their natural life experiences including play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, ...

can be described as learning democratically, if they are treated with democratic values. Age range: Age mixing is a deliberate policy in some democratic schools. It may include very young children, even babies. Some democratic schools only enroll older students. Location: Democratic education is not limited to any particular setting. Settings for democratic learning communities include in an office building, on city streets, and in a rural area.

Theory

While types of democratic education are as numerous as

types of democracy Types of democracy refers to pluralism of governing structures such as governments ( local through to global) and other constructs like workplaces, families, community associations, and so forth. Types of democracy can cluster around values. Fo ...

, a general definition of democratic education is "an education that democratizes learning itself." The goals of democratic education vary according to the participants, the location, and access to resources. There is no unified body of literature, spanning multiple disciplines, on democratic education. However, there are theories of democratic education from the following perspectives:

Cognitive theory

During the

practice theory Practice theory (or praxeology, theory of social practices) is a body of social theory within anthropology and sociology that explains society and culture as the result of structure and individual agency. Practice theory emerged in the late 20th c ...

movement, there was renewed interest in child development.

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemolo ...

's theory of universal steps in comprehension and general patterns in the acquisition of knowledge was challenged by experiences at democratic schools. "No two kids ever take the same path. Few are remotely similar. Each child is so unique, so exceptional."

Jean Lave Jean Lave is a social anthropologist who theorizes learning as changing participation in on-going changing practice. Her lifework challenges conventional theories of learning and education. Education and career Lave received a Bachelor's from ...

was one of the first and most prominent social anthropologists to discuss cognition within the context of cultural settings presenting a firm argument against the functionalist psychology that many educationalists refer to implicitly. For Lave, learning is a process undergone by an actor within a specific context. The skills or knowledge learned in one process are not generalizable nor reliably transferred to other areas of human action. Her primary focus was on mathematics in context and mathematics education. The broader implications reached by Lave and others who specialize in situated learning are that beyond the argument that certain knowledge is necessary to be a member of society (a Durkheimian argument), knowledge learned in the context of a school is not reliably transferable to other contexts of practice. John Locke argues that children are capable of reasoning at a young age: "It will perhaps be wonder'd, that I mention reasoning with children; and yet I cannot but think that the true way of dealing with them. They understand it as early as they do language; and, if I misobserve not, they love to be treated as rational creatures, sooner than is imagin'd," Rousseau disagreed: "Use force with children and reasoning with men." Humans are innately curious, and democratic education supports the belief that the drive to learn is sufficiently strong to motivate children to become effective adults.

Criticism based on cognitive theory

The human brain is not fully developed until adulthood (around the age of 25). A disadvantage of teenagers being responsible for their own education is that "young brains have both fast-growing synapses and sections that remain unconnected. This leaves teens easily influenced by their environment and more prone to impulsive behavior".

Ethics

Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

can be valued on ethical grounds.

Cultural theory

Democratic education is consistent with the cultural theory that "learning in school must be continuous with life outside of school" and that children should become active participants in the control and organization of their community. Research on hunter-gatherer societies indicates that free play and exploration were effective transmitters of the societies' culture to children. According to George Dennison, democratic environments are social regulators: Our desire to cultivate friendships, engender respect, and maintain what George Dennison terms 'natural authority' encourages us to act in socially acceptable ways (i.e. culturally informed practices of fairness, honesty, congeniality, etc.).

Criticism based on cultural theory

Children are influenced by many curricula beyond the school curriculum: TV curricula, advertisers' curricula, curricula of religious communities, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, encyclopedias etc. and therefore "one of the most significant tasks any school can undertake is to try to develop in youngsters an awareness of these other curricula and an ability to criticize them…it is utter nonsense to think that by turning children loose in an unplanned and unstructured environment they can be freed in any significant way. Rather, they are thereby abandoned to the blind forces of the hucksters, whose primary concern is neither the children, nor the truth, nor the decent future of ... society."

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...

argues that the transition from primitive to modern societies occurred in part as elders made a conscious decision to transmit what were deemed the most essential elements of their culture to the following generations. He concludes that modern societies are so complex—much more complex than primitive hunter-gatherer societies—and the roles that individuals must fill in society are so varied, that formal mass-education is necessary to instill social solidarity and what he terms 'secular morality'.

Political theory

There are a variety of political components to democratic education. One author identifies those elements as inclusivity and rights, equal participation in

decision-making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...

, and equal encouragement for success. The Institute for Democratic Education's principles of democratic education identifies several political principles, * The interaction between democratic philosophy and education, * Pluralistic education, * School administration by means of democratic procedures, * Education based on respect for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, *

Dialogic Dialogic refers to the use of conversation or shared dialogue to explore the meaning of something. (This is as opposed to monologic which refers to one entity with all the information simply giving it to others without exploration and clarificatio ...

evaluation, * Dialogic relationships, and * Critical social thinking.

Effect on quality of education

The type of political socialization that takes place in democratic schools is strongly related to

deliberative democracy Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional ...

theory. Claus Offe and Ulrich Preuss, two theorists of the political culture of deliberative democracies argue that in its cultural production deliberative democracy requires "an open-ended and continuous learning process in which the roles of both 'teacher' and 'curriculum' are missing. In other words, what is to be learned is a matter that we must settle in the process of learning itself." The political culture of a deliberative democracy and its institutions, they argue, would facilitate more "dialogical forms of making one's voice heard" which would "be achieved within a framework of liberty, within which paternalism is replaced by autonomously adopted self-paternalism, and technocratic elitism by the competent and self-conscious judgment of citizens." As a curricular, administrative and social operation within schools, democratic education is essentially concerned with equipping people to make "real choices about fundamental aspects of their lives" and happens ''within'' and ''for''

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

. It can be "a process where teachers and students work collaboratively to reconstruct curriculum to include everyone."English, L.D. (2002) ''Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education.'' Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p 21. In at least one conception, democratic education teaches students "to participate in consciously reproducing their society, and conscious social reproduction." This role necessitates democratic education happening in a variety of settings and being taught by a variety of people, including "parents, teachers, public officials, and ordinary citizens." Because of this "democratic education begins not only with children who are to be taught but also with citizens who are to be their teachers."

Preparation for life in a democracy

The "strongest, political rationale" for democratic education is that it teaches "the virtues of democratic deliberation for the sake of future citizenship." This type of education is often alluded to in the deliberative democracy literature as fulfilling the necessary and fundamental social and institutional changes necessary to develop a democracy that involves intensive participation in group decision making, negotiation, and social life of consequence.

Civic education

The concept of the hidden curriculum includes the belief that anything taught in an authoritarian setting is implicitly teaching authoritarianism. Thus civic education, if taught in a compulsory setting, undermines its own lessons in democracy. A common belief in democratic schools is that democracy must be experienced to be learned.Greenberg, D. (1992), Education in America – A View from Sudbury Valley
"Democracy Must be Experienced to be Learned."
Retrieved August 13, 2010. This argument conforms to the cognition-in-context research by

Lave ''Lave'' was an ironclad floating battery of the French Navy during the 19th century. She was part of the of floating batteries. In the 1850s, the British and French navies deployed iron-armoured floating batteries as a supplement to the wooden ...

. Another common belief, which supports the practice of compulsory classes in civic education, is that passing on democratic values requires an imposed structure. Arguments about how to transmit democracy, and how much and how early to treat children democratically, are made in various literatures concerning student voice, youth participation and other elements of

youth empowerment Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciou ...

. Standard progressive visions of education as collaboration tend to downplay the workings of power in society. If learners are to "develop a democracy," some scholars have argued, they must be provided the tools for transforming the non-democratic aspects of a society. Democracy in this sense involves not just "participation in decision making," a vision ascribed especially to Dewey, but the ability to confront power with solidarity.

Economic theory

Core features of democratic education align with the emerging consensus on 21st century business and management priorities. Such features include increased collaboration, decentralized organization, and radical creativity.

Curriculum theory

While democratic schools don't have an official curriculum, what each student actually does might be considered their own curriculum. Dewey was an early advocate of inquiry education, in which student questions and interests shaped curriculum, a sharp contrast to the "factory model" that began to predominate education during the 20th century as standardization became a guiding principle of many educational practices. Although there was a resurgence of inquiry education in the 1980s and 1990s the standards movement of the 21st century and the attendant school reform movement have squashed most attempts at authentic inquiry-oriented democratic education practices. The standards movement has reified standardized tests in literacy and writing, neglecting science inquiry, the arts, and critical literacy. Democratic schools may not consider only reading, writing and arithmetic to be the real basics for being a successful adult. A.S. Neill said "To hell with arithmetic." Nonetheless, there is a common belief that people will eventually learn "the basics" when they develop internal motivation.Mario Montessori, in conversation with A.S. Neill, Redbook Magazine, Dec 1964, reprinted as "Radical Private Schools" in This Magazine is About Schools 1(1), Apr 1966, p17 Furthermore, an educator implementing inquiry projects will look at the "next steps" in a student's learning and incorporate basic subject matter as needed. This is easier to accomplish in elementary school settings than in secondary school settings, as elementary teachers typically teach all subjects and have large blocks of time that allow for in-depth projects that integrate curriculum from different knowledge domains. Allen Koshewa conducted research that highlighted the tensions between democratic education and the role of teacher control, showing that children in a fifth grade classroom tried to usurp democratic practices by using undue influence to sway others, much as representative democracies often fail to focus on the common good or protect minority interests. He found that class meetings, service education, saturation in the arts, and an emphasis on interpersonal caring helped overcome some of these challenges. Despite the challenges of inquiry education, classrooms that allow students to make choices about curriculum propel students to not only learn about democracy but also to experience it.

In practice

Play

A striking feature of democratic schools is the ubiquity of play. Students of all ages—but especially the younger ones—often spend most of their time either in free play, or playing

game A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

s ( electronic or otherwise). All attempts to limit, control or direct play must be democratically approved before being implemented. Play is seen as activity every bit as worthy as academic pursuits, often even more valuable. Play is considered essential for learning, particularly in fostering creativity.

Reading, writing and arithmetic

Interest in learning to read happens at a wide variety of ages. Progressive educators emphasise students' choice in reading selections, as well as topics for writing. In addition, Stephen Krashen and other proponents of democratic education emphasise the role of libraries in promoting democratic education. Others, such as children's author Judy Blume, have spoken out against censorship as antagonistic to democratic education, while the school reform movement, which gained traction under the federal initiative 'No Child Left Behind' and later under 'Race to the Top' and the Common Core Standards movement, emphasise strict control over curriculum.

Research into democratic education

* 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 schools did not occur in democratic schools. * Three studies done on students of

s 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 The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, incl ...

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 Year 9 NAPLAN for Australian schools in Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation abilities. *

Albany Free School The Free School is the oldest independent, inner-city alternative school in the United States. Founded by Mary Leue in 1969 based on the English Summerhill School philosophy, the free school lets students learn at their own pace. It has no grade ...

, in Albany, United States has treated students with ADHD far better than surrounding schools, giving them enough play time to render medication unnecessary.

Education in a democratic society

As English aristocracy was giving way to democracy,

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

investigated popular education in France and other countries to determine what form of education suited a democratic age. Arnold wrote that "the spirit of democracy" is part of "human nature itself", which engages in "the effort to affirm one's own essence...to develop one's own existence fully and freely." During the industrial age,

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...

argued that children should not all be given the same pre-determined curriculum. In Democracy and Education he develops a philosophy of education based on democracy. He argues that while children should be active participants in the creation of their education, and while children must experience democracy to learn democracy, they need adult guidance to develop into responsible adults. Amy Gutmann argues in Democratic Education that in a democratic society, there is a role for everyone in the education of children. These roles are best agreed upon through

. The journal Democracy and Education investigates "the conceptual foundations, social policies, institutional structures, and teaching/learning practices associated with democratic education." By "democratic education" they mean "educating youth...for active participation in a democratic society." Yaacov Hecht claims that the Democratic Education, being an education that prepares for life in a democratic culture, it is the missing piece in the intricate puzzle which is the democratic state.

Training programs

Israel's Institute for Democratic Education and Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv collaborate to offer a Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) degree with a Specialization Certificate in Democratic Education. Student teaching placements are in both regular schools and democratic schools.

Legal issues

United Nations

United Nations agreements both support and place restrictions on education options, including democratic education: Article 26(3) of the United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...

states that "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." While this in itself may allow parents the right to choose democratic education, Articles 28 and 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child place requirements on educational programs: Primary education is compulsory, all aspects of each student must be developed to their full potential, and education must include the development of respect for things such as national values and the natural environment, in a spirit of friendship among all peoples. Furthermore, while Article 12(1) of the Convention mandates that children be able to have input on all matters that affect them, their input will have limited weight, "due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."

Summerhill

In 1999, Summerhill received a 'notice of complaint' over its policy of non-compulsory lessons, a procedure which would usually have led to closure; Summerhill contested the notice and went before a special educational tribunal. Summerhill was represented by a noted human rights lawyer,

Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.

QC. The government's case soon collapsed, and a settlement was offered. This offer was discussed and agreed at a formal school meeting which had been hastily convened in the courtroom from a quorum of pupils and teachers who were present in court. The settlement guaranteed that future inspections of Summerhill would be consistent with Summerhill's educational philosophy.

Theorists

Joseph Agassi Joseph Agassi (; he, יוסף אגסי; born May 7, 1927 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli academic with contributions in logic, scientific method, and philosophy. He studied under Karl Popper and taught at the London School of Economics. Agassi ...

– Israeli philosopher and proponent of democracy * Michael Apple – Social scientist, democratic education scholar, University of Wisconsin–Madison *

– Wrote about education in an age of democracy * Sreyashi Jhumki Basu – Researcher at New York University and author of Democratic Science Teaching *

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence ...

– Anthropologist, social theorist, College de France * George Dennison – American writer, author *

– Social scientist, progressive education theorist, University of Chicago *

– Sociologist, functionalist education theorist *

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

– Post-modern philosopher, University of California, Berkeley * Peter Gray – Psychologist, democratic education scholar, Boston College * Daniel Greenberg – One of the founders of the Sudbury Valley School * Amy Gutmann – Political scientist, democratic education scholar, President of the University of Pennsylvania * Yaacov Hecht – founder of the school in Hadera, the first in the world to be called a democratic school, and founder of IDEC. * John Holt – Critic of conventional education and proponent of un-schooling, which can be also done at home *

Ivan Illich Ivan Dominic Illich ( , ; 4 September 1926 – 2 December 2002) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic. His 1971 book ''Deschooling Society'' criticises modern society's institutional approach to edu ...

– Philosopher, priest, author of "Deschooling Society" * Lawrence Kohlberg – Professor, pioneer in moral and democratic education * Homer Lane – Democratic education pioneer, founder of the Ford Republic (1907–12) and the Little Commonwealth (1913–17) * Deborah Meier – Founder of democratic schools in New York and Boston, writer *

– Democratic education pioneer, founder of the Summerhill School * Claus Offe – Political Scientist, theorist of deliberative democratic culture, Hertie School of Governance *

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the ...

– Philosopher at the London School of Economics *

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

– Philosopher, author of ''On Education'' and founder of Beacon House School

Citations

* Apple, M. (1993) ''Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age.'' Routledge. * Blume Judy. (2013) https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/09/judy-blume-banned-books/ * Bourdieu, Pierre. (1984) ''Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste''. London: Routledge. * Bourdieu, Pierre and Jean-Claude Passeron. (1990) ''Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture''. Theory, Culture and Society Series. Sage. * Carlson, D. and Apple, M.W. (1998) ''Power, Knowledge, Pedagogy: The Meaning of Democratic Education in Unsettling Times.'' Westview Press. * Carr, W. and Hartnett, A. (1996) ''Education and the Struggle for Democracy: The politics of educational ideas.'' Open University Press. * Dennison, George. (1999) ''The Lives of Children: The Story of the First Street School''. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers. * Dewey, John. (1916) ''Democracy and Education''. New York: Macmillan. * Dewey, John. (1997) ''Experience and Education''. New York: Touchstone. * Durkheim, Émile. (2002) ''Moral Education''. Mineola, NY: Dover. * Foucault, Michel. (1991) ''Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison''. New York: Random House. * Gatto, John Taylor. (1992) ''Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Education''. Philadelphia, PA: New Society. * Giroux, H. A. (1989) Schooling for Democracy: Critical pedagogy in the modern age.'' Routledge. * Gutmann, A. (1999) ''Democratic Education.'' Princeton University Press. * Habermas, Jürgen. (1997) "Popular Sovereignty as Procedure' "Deliberative Democracy". Bohman, James and William Rehg, eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. * Hecht, Yaacov. (2011) ''Democratic Education – A Beginning of a Story'' * Held, David. (2006) ''Models of Democracy''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Jensen, Knud and Walker, Stephen eds. (1989) "Towards Democratic Schooling: European Experiences". Open University Press * Kahn, Robert L. and Daniel Katz. (1978) ''The Social Psychology of Organizations''. New York: John Wiley and Sons. * Kelly, A. V. (1995) ''Education and Democracy: Principles and practices.'' Paul Chapman Publishers. * Knoester, M. (2012) ''Democratic Education in Practice: Inside the Mission Hill School.'' Teachers College Press. * Koshewa, Allen (1999). ''Discipline and Democracy: Teachers on Trial''. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. * Krashen, Stephen. (2014). The Common Core: A Disaster for Libraries, A Disaster for Language Arts, a Disaster for American Education. "Knowledge Quest" 42(3): 37–45. * Manin, Bernard. "On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation" Elly Stein and Jane Mansbridge, trans. Political Theory. Vol. 15, No. 3, Aug. 1987: 338–368. * Miller, Ron. (2002) "Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy After the 1960s". SUNY Press * Neill, A. S. (1995) ''Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood''. Ed. Albert Lamb. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. * Sadofsky, Mimsy and Daniel Greenberg. (1994) ''Kingdom of Childhood: Growing up at Sudbury Valley School''. Hanna Greenberg, interviewer. Framingham, MA: Sudbury Valley School Press. * Schutz, Aaron. (2010). ''Social Class, Social Action, and Education: The Failure of Progressive Democracy.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan
introduction
* Short, Kathy, Jerome Harste, and Carolyn Burke. (1996) ''Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers, 2nd Edition''. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

External links

Peter Gray @ Psychology Today

European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC)

Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA)

Democracy Education and the Canadian Voting Age
{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Education Education reform Experiential learning Alternative education Applied learning School types Pedagogy Democracy Group decision-making

History

Enlightenment era

19th century

20th century

Dom Sierot

Influential democratic schools

Free schools movement

Networks

Defining principles

Democratic governance

Student autonomy

Variety

Curriculum

Administrative structure

Conflict resolution

Student autonomy

Other

Theory

Cognitive theory

Criticism based on cognitive theory

Ethics

Cultural theory

Criticism based on cultural theory

Political theory

Effect on quality of education

Preparation for life in a democracy

Civic education

Economic theory

Curriculum theory

In practice

Play

Reading, writing and arithmetic

Research into democratic education

Education in a democratic society

Training programs

Legal issues

United Nations

Summerhill

Theorists

See also

Citations

External links