Free Schools Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

- by
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- Education, Labour history, Free Schools, Summerhill School

This paper is about educational policy in England. It explores the Coalition Government's key policies about localism, decentralisation and education, and assesses whether these present opportunities for a radical school to apply for state funding as a Free School. A case study from the independent sector-a democratic school which is run by students as well as teachers-is used as an example. Following this, the conclusion is drawn that the Coalition Government has given mixed messages in terms of its commitment to decentralisation, and that, in fact, they would be challenged by an application for a radical Free School.

- by Max A Hope
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- Democratic Education, Alternative Education, Free Schools

Since the 1980s, schools have been subjected to increased standardization, test-based accountability, and corporate management models, trends often labeled as the global
education reform movement or GERM. One of the key effects of GERM on curriculum and teaching has been the search for low-risk ways to meet learning goals, undermining alternative and experimental pedagogical approaches and risk-taking in the classroom. This seminar will explore histories, ideologies, and practices of alternative education movements. A key aim of the course is to examine the various cultures of learning,
teaching, and curriculum embedded within the diverse landscape of alternative education and the implications for formal and informal education today. Emphasis will be placed on (but not limited too) the liberal/progressive and anarchist/libertarian traditions of alternative education, including movements such as Socialist Sunday Schools, Modern Schools (Ferrer Schools), democratic free schools, as well as the deschooling movement.

Pedagogy is central to geographical knowledge, where Kropotkin’s ‘What Geography Ought to Be’ has significantly shaped the face of contemporary geographical thought. At the same time, anarchists have developed very different political imaginations than Marxists, where the importance of pedagogy has always been of primary importance. Pedagogy accordingly represents one of the key sites of contact where anarchist geographies can continue to inform and revitalize contemporary geographical thought. Anarchists have long been committed to bottom-up, ‘organic’ transformations of societies, subjectivities, and modes of organizing. For anarchists the importance of direct action and prefigurative politics have always taken precedence over concerns about the state, a focus that stems back to Max Stirner’s notion of insurrection in 'The Ego and Its Own' as walking one’s own way, ‘rising up’ above government, religion, and other hierarchies, not necessarily to overthrow them, but to simply disregard these structures by taking control of one’s own individual life and creating alternatives on the ground. Thus, the relevance of pedagogy to anarchist praxis (understood in a broad sense, as in Paulo Freire’s 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed') stems from its ability to guide a new way of thinking about the world and as a space that is able to foster transgression.

- by Simon Springer and +1
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- Critical Theory, Sociology, Political Sociology, Social Movements

Through a militant co-research project with a class in an anarchistic free school, we explore how dispositions from so-called ‘normal’ education infiltrate activities of aspirationally ‘radical’ pedagogy. Grappling with these tensions as a kind of ‘playful work,’ we focus on four themes: the geo- and body-political situatedness of knowledge, space-time, a/effective relationships, and pedagogy and study. Across these themes, we take up and trouble assumptions of modernity/coloniality, as sources of obstacles we experienced in our class and, more broadly, in projects of movement-embedded study. Subscribing to these assumptions both happens through and serves to legitimate the institutions of education, or the processes of making people ‘ready’ for adulthood, work, and governance. As a counter-force, we offer tactics for de-linking from these imaginal trajectories and composing pedagogies of decolonial, communal futures.

- by Eli Meyerhoff
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- Education, Popular Education, Critical Pedagogy, Pedagogy

As countries across the world, particularly those which are part of what Sahlberg (2011) refers to as the 'Global Education Reform Movement', compare, contrast and borrow education policies from one another in an attempt to raise standards and move up the international league tables, many look towards what is happening in the United Kingdom for models of good practice. However, what some international observers fail to recognise is that in relation to education the four component nations within the UK are separate administrative jurisdictions and have very different and distinctive approaches. The most pronounced differences within the UK can be seen when comparing and contrasting the educational trends of Scotland and England. This article explores some of the key differences between the educational developments in the two countries and also identifies where there may be greater commonality than first might be supposed. It concludes by cautioning that in its moves to copy some of England's policies linked to school autonomy, and being prepared to go only so far down this path, Scotland runs the risk of being left stranded in policy terms.

- by Neal McGowan
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- Governance, Education Policy, England, Curriculum
- by Joshua B . Gardiner
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- Marxism, Functionalism, Neoliberalism, Social Class

בחיבור הנוכחי אני מבקש להצביע על שתי היסטוריות של החינוך המתקיימות זו לצד זו בעת המודרנית. היסטוריה ראשונה היא זו של עיצוב הסובייקט המודרני באמצעות בית הספר המודרני. בתי ספר המודרניים משרתים אידיאולוגיות המשתנות מעת לעת וממקום למקום. בכל פעם שמופיעה אידיאולוגיה הגמונית, בתי הספר נמצאים שם כדי לעצב עבורה את זהות הסובייקט שלה. היסטוריה שניה מלווה כצל את בית הספר המודרני. זוהי היסטוריה של התנגדות להשכלה ככלי המופעל בבתי הספר בשירות עיצוב הסובייקט. ההתנגדות מופיעה בכל פעם כאשר אידיאולוגיה הגמונית נחלשת. ההתנגדות של החינוך ההומניסטי ושל בתי הספר החופשיים אינה מופנה כלפי האידיאולוגיות שמשרת בית הספר אלא כלפי בית הספר עצמו וכלפי מושג ההשכלה, ולכן זוהי "התנגדות" המשרתת את האידיאולוגיה ההגמונית. מכאן ששתי ההיסטוריות משרתות אידיאולוגיות הגמוניות, הראשונה באמצעות חינוך, והשניה באמצעות בורות.

- by Yoad Eliaz
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- Free Schools

Critical pedagogy is understood (and misunderstood) in myriad ways. Most often associated with Paulo Freire’s (1970) problem-posing approach in opposition to the traditional banking method of education, it is also closely connected with neo-Marxist, critical theory–based analyses of education, schooling, and society. Despite popular perception, and the conceptualizations of critical pedagogy by some of its most well-known proponents, there is no single ideological perspective or particular social movement that defines critical pedagogy. The dominant conceptualizations of critical pedagogy are unnecessarily narrow, both politically and philosophically. As a result, a pedagogical approach that is undeniably powerful has been undermined and its impact blunted. Critical pedagogy has become less a process of students investigating the world and constructing personally meaningful understandings that aid them in the struggle to overcome oppression and achieve freedom and more akin to an a priori set of beliefs about the world presented as maps to be followed. In other words, critical pedagogy has met the enemy and he is us, or at least includes us. If critical pedagogy, as process of education, is to achieve its aims, it cannot exempt itself from the same uprooting and examination of its own underlying assumptions, pronouncements, clichés, and received wisdom.

- by E. Wayne Ross
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- Critical Pedagogy, Curriculum Studies, Paulo Freire, Social Justice in Education

Principles of freedom, independence and differentiation are shaping a new education landscape that includes new schools like free, charter and academy schools. Paradoxically, the reforms are justified on the basis of a rights and equalities discourse, yet they lead to greater competition through increased involvement of private interests. Critics of privatised schooling highlight its effects upon social inequalities. Looking to schooling in the fee-paying private sector reveals that there are a few schools whose strong ideological drivers resist competitive social relations. The ideas of Durkheim and Dewey on developing individuality in relation to a social good suggest it is theoretically possible that some of the new state-funded schools will also operate from their own social values to further social equity and make contributions to a more just society. This paper explores such a possibility by comparing newly established free schools in England with existing cases of democratic schooling to theorise how in a deregulated market a school might act upon the social field of schooling to promote social responsibility and minimise commitments to economic drivers, showing also the challenges a school might face in so doing.

- by Ruth Boyask
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- Education, Sociology of Education, Democratic Education, Democratization

Breve riassunto su l´emigrazione di italiani e iberici in America del Sud alla fine del Ottocento e la circolazione delle idee anarchiche in Brasile e Argentina che spinsero la formazione delle prime scuole operaie e libertarie nei due... more

- by Carlo Romani
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- Anarchism, History of Anarchism, Anarchist Pedagogy, Italian emigration
- by Julene Humes
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- Anthroposophy, Early Childhood Education, Waldorf Education, Free Schools

The article considers a new socio-educational phenomenon related to the emergence of new educational institutions, which have appeared in major Polish cities over the past few years. Their emergence is an expression of the parents' desire to create an institution that would educate the children "differently", better than a typical school. The authors of this paper propose to name these institutions " quasi-schools ". The choice is justified by description of its important characteristics, which is a result of preliminary empirical study. The article presents socio-political context of the studied phenomenon. The paper continues to compare the characteristics of quasi-schools with well-known and explored concepts related to alternative schools, such as unrestrained individual development, school democracy and freedom of all school participants.

- by Marta Wiatr and +1
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- Alternative Education, Parent Involvement, Alternative Schools, Parental Involvement in Education

The aim of this article is to investigate the argument that choice and competition will unleash entrepreneurial innovation in free schools. Free schools were introduced as a subset of the Academies by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government, following the General Election in 2010. The government made it possible for non-state providers to set up their own independent, state-funded schools in order to create more choice, competition and innovation. We conclude that a higher level of substantive innovation is taking place in regards to management practices than in respect of curriculum and pedagogical practices. Innovation in curriculum and pedagogical practices is very limited. Creating a free school offer that seems to differ from other schools appears to be done through marketing and branding rather than innovation. We argue that parents, OFSTED, and the relative isolation of free schools constrain innovation from taking place.

- by Rachel J. Wilde and +1
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- Innovation and Creativity (Business), Free Schools
- by Péter Poór
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- Anarchism, Anarchist Studies, History of Anarchism, Free Schools

IDA SZÁHLENDER IN THE SERVICE OF HUNGARIAN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
(1864-1932)
The aim of the study is to present the role of widow Ida Báthory Nándorné Száhlender
(1864-1932), writer, teacher, filled in Hungarian vocational education, as well as the
antecedents and functioning of the horticultural free school founded by her on the basis of
a German model in 1917. During the comparative analysis of the available primary and
secondary sources we tried to give an insight into the certain stages of a very eventful life,
rich in results. In the first part of our research we tried to reconstruct the family
environment, where two important school founders of the Hungarian vocational education
(Ida Száhlender and Lajos Száhlender) were brought up. In mapping this latter, the
primary source was the reminiscence of Ida Száhlender, published in 1928 and closing
down her teacher career. A further topic of our research was to investigate how Ida
Száhlender thought about female education and their role in society, as well as whether
she managed to realize the aims drawn up also by the representatives of life reform
movements at the beginning of the 1900s in the school organized by her.

- by Adrienn Nagy
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- History of Education, Vocational Education, Free Schools

Кога станува збор за образованието, можеме да го набљудуваме од повеќе аспекти. Доколку го гледаме како процес, во својата најширока смисла, тоа е насочено од една страна, кон пренесување, а од друга страна, усвојување на знаења, вештини, верувања и вредности пренесени преку различни методи од една група на луѓе кон друга.
Доколку пак, го гледаме како институција, образованието (покрај економијата, политиката, семејството и религијата) е еден од главните столбови на општеството кој игра улога во насочување на нашето однесување и има политички и општествени импликации.

- by Ana Todorovska
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- Education, Alternative Education, Free Schools, образование

From its founding in 1967, the Harlem Prep School attracted the attention of educators in New York City and elsewhere for its innovative educational philosophy and process. Harlem Prep was guided by progressive education principles that promoted individual responsibility and dignity, and community engagement. The administrators of the school were inspired by the principles of the Baha'i Faith. Harlem Prep attracted many notable supporters in education, arts & entertainment, politics, and business.

- by Hussein Ahdieh
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- Education, Educational Research, History of Black Popular Culture, Charter schools

Fachartikel: 4’500 Schulfamilien bringen jährlich 70 Millionen Franken auf und unterhalten damit 30 Rudolf Steiner Schulen in der Schweiz. Diese Schulgemeinschaften sind direkt und alleine für das Geldwesen ihrer Schulen verantwortlich.... more

- by Heinz Brodbeck
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- Education, Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Education, Free Schools

What concrete actions might a change-minded teacher take? This is the question driving How to Fix Education. An uncanny anticipation fills the halls of American higher education today. It is the sense that a reckoning is coming. Whether... more

- by Glenn Wallis
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- Philosophy, Education, Marxism, Higher Education

"Expanding school diversity is a strong feature of the current educational policy reforms in England. Alongside more variety in school type is a developing discourse of freedom and autonomy, most clearly articulated through the policy to develop “free schools”. School diversity has tended to fragment society and oftentimes supports practices of competitive individualism, yet there are some schools from outside the mainstream whose strong ideological drivers resist competitive social relations. This paper acknowledges social reproduction and structuration theories in defining structure and agency; however, it also draws upon Durkheim’s theories of social solidarity and Deweyan ideas about individuality to explore the nature of relations between the individual and the social. It draws upon examples of democratic schooling to theorise how in a deregulated market a school might act upon the social field of schooling to promote social responsibility and minimise commitments to economic drivers.
Keywords:"

- by Ruth Boyask
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- Education, Sociology of Education, Democratic Education, Education Policy
- by Francis Farrell
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- Education, Governmentality, Neoliberalism, Foucault and education
- by Robin P A J T Á S Kollektíva
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- Critical Pedagogy, Free Schools, Lectures, Revolutionary Education

The aim of this article is to investigate the argument that choice and competition will unleash entrepreneurial innovation in free schools. Free schools were introduced as a subset of the Academies by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government, following the general election in 2010. The government made it possible for non-state providers to set up their own independent, state-funded schools in order to create more choice, competition and innovation. We conclude that a higher level of substantive innovation is taking place in regards to management practices than in respect of curriculum and pedagogical practices. Innovation in curriculum and pedagogical practices is very limited. Creating a free school offer that seems to differ from other schools appears to be done through marketing and branding rather than innovation. We argue that parents, OFSTED, and the relative isolation of free schools constrain innovation from taking place.

- by Peter Taylor-Gooby
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- Sociology, Social Work, Social Policy, Innovation and Creativity (Business)

In 2018, academies accounted for 72% of all English secondary schools, compared to 6% in 2009 (National Audit Office, 2018). English academy schooling conforms to marketizing trends in international education reform, but Conservative politicians have also attempted to promote particular moral values. This article analyses the tensions between neoliberalism and neoconservatism and applies this analysis to a concrete debate taking place within the Conservative Party in the 2000s and 2010s. It uses arguments made by an illustrative group of Conservative politicians to explore and analyse the tension between these two reform trends. The aim of this article is twofold. Firstly, it will present the key arguments which were marshalled by a selection of thinkers affiliated with the Conservative Party in favour of educational reform. It will do this by analysing Conservative articulations of the failure of state education; the role of the consumer and the relationship between democracy and the market. Secondly, it will explore the degree to which marketizing and traditionalist impulses in education reform should be considered complimentary or contradictory. I will conclude by arguing that the parent-consumer functions as a vanishing mediator between neoliberal and neoconservative ideological positions.

- by Tom Hoctor
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- Neoliberalism, Conservative Party, Marketization, Neoconservatism

Le Jeu de Peindre (or Painting-Play) is yet to become mainstream and like all epoch-changing ideas, recognition and acceptance may take time. But parallels can clearly be drawn with more familiar paradigms such as art education, learning through play and learning for well-being and global citizenship. This essay attempts to build a bridge towards a broader collective understanding of the potential of Painting-Play in a lifelong journey of learning and unlearning.

- by Lucy Shaw
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- Play Therapy, Democratic Education, Art Therapy, Global Citizenship

The Free School of Robin Goodfellow is a pedagogical initiative launched in 2014, the aim of which is to present an alternative – theoretical as well as practical – to the existing system of education. Since its foundation, the free school has been seeking to be a pioneer in the area of education, trying to put into practice the principles of an anti-authoritarian and communitarian education on the basis of a radical critique of society, supporting a revolutionary transformation of social relations.
The authors of this essay have been among the founders of the free school, who summarize the key thoughts of their lectures and papers presented and published during the last several years. They also describe the programs organized by the free school, which range from shadow-plays to the modelling of processes that form the surface of the Earth. They also reflect on the difficulties – both objective and subjective – which have hindered the development of their pedagogical attempt, and hope to provide help for all those who are dissatisfied with the present educational system, while being open to a radical critique of capitalism and ready to act for a change.

- by Robin P A J T Á S Kollektíva and +1
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- Critical Pedagogy, Anarchist Studies, Communism, Anarchist Philosophy of Education

This article is a critical poststructuralist analysis of Conservative
led free school policy in England focussing on claims made by the
New Schools Network and in the 2010 White Paper that free school
provision promotes social justice. The article presents an empirical
study of an alternative provision free school as a lens through which
these claims can be interrogated. Drawing from Foucault’s concept
of governmentality the article analyses the narratives of teachers
working in the school in order to gain insights into the microphysics
of the policy rationalities mobilised within the discursive site of the
free school and claims that such provision promotes social justice.
The teachers interviewed demonstrate a strong alignment to free
school policy discourse, but also a blurring of pastoral and disciplinary
rationalities expressed in terms of the rehabilitation of students on the
educational boundaries of the “normal”. The article concludes that the
school is a tactical move within neoliberal education policy in which
the state responsibilises a new polity of actors, including teachers,
sponsors and communities contracting out its interventions in order
to govern the ungovernable. The article calls for further empirical
research of free school provision in order to contest neoliberal
discourses which obfuscate complex systemic failure and the social
reality of intergenerational unemployment and disadvantage.

- by Francis Farrell and +2
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- Governmentality, Neoliberalism, Foucault and education, Free Schools

Presentation at Diversiteit collective free school Enschede 'Analysing the Results of the Kraakverbod and Looking Back at Hidden Histories of Squatting in Rotterdam' with E.T.C. Dee If we analyse the recent government evaluation of the... more

- by E.T.C. Dee
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- History, Sociology, Criminology, Criminal Law
- by Michael Kenny
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- Social Movements, Non-profit Management, DIY culture, Autonomous spaces