Purpose: This paper aims to illustrate, by means of a content analysis of 278 weekly School Meeting minutes, the ways in which student voice is actualized in one democratic free school in Germany. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a qualitative content analysis methodology of 278 weekly School Meetings minutes. Findings: This paper uses…

In our response to Tilhou's article published last issue, "The Morning Meeting: Fostering a Participatory Democracy Begins with Youth in Public Education," we share and discuss ethnographic data from Morning Meetings in two U.S. elementary classrooms. We detail ways the democratic potential of Morning Meetings is being cultivated in…

There is a faltering sense of democracy in America's current political climate due to polarized opinions about leadership's decisions and antagonistic political parties. John Dewey (1916) proposed that education is the place to foster democracy, as schools can provide a platform to actively engage students in authentic democratic experiences that…

In this article the author examines the response of the Labour leadership to the Conservative-led Government's policies for restructuring and re-agenting the school system. His focus is on the role of local authorities and local democracy. He identifies two contradictory dynamics in Labour's current thinking. One promises to enhance local…

This article critically examines the Labour Party's policies for local school systems, focusing on its proposals for regional Directors of School Standards, for academies and free schools, and for local democracy, and offers an alternative approach.

Free schools are new state-funded but privately-run schools set up under the academies legislation. Free schools represent the most overtly market-oriented policy within the Conservative-led Coalition government's school reform programme in England and have provoked intense controversy, centering on issues of pupil attainment, social equality,…

Summerhill is a world-renowned school in England where pupils decide when and what they will learn. The school was established in 1921 by A. S. Neill, who was named by the Times Educational Supplement in 1999 as one of the twelve most influential educators of the 20th Century. Known as "the oldest children's democracy in the world,"…

This article presents Fairhaven School, located in a still-bucolic area near Washington, which operates in a way that would baffle many educators, much less the public. Known as a "free school," Fairhaven offers students a radical alternative to the demands of traditional education since it was founded in 1998. In this article, the author…

John Holt was a key figure in the free school movement. His belief that school procedures worked against children's natural ways of learning came from his own experiences. Recognizing that genuine democracy can only happen within a genuine community, he felt that social institutions, particularly education, must nourish experiences of belonging,…

Describes the views of A. S. Neill on democracy in school administration. Explains the reasoning behind Neill's arrangement of community-based decision making. Questions how democratic England's Summerhill School was in view of Neill's authority. Suggests giving children the right to participate in community government as an educationally…

This revised and expanded version of the 1960 classic "Summerhill," edited by Albert Lamb, portrays Summerhill School throughout its development. The book reveals A. S. Neill's fundamental belief in the self-regulated school in which children make their own rules and determine for themselves how much they will study. Neill's commitment…

Growing social and economic inequalities and political impotency are the sources of functional illiteracy. The current educational emphasis on basic skills will not resolve these problems. Students must harness their collective forces to replace corporate control with democratic power. (Author/GC)

Describes Sudbury Valley School (Framingham, Massachusetts), established in 1965 as an alternative to public education. Discusses the educational philosophy of the democratic school, which stresses the importance of children being free and learning how to govern themselves; daily activities at the school; and how the school has achieved fiscal as…