Tag: Democracy

What Students Say Matters Most schools do not look like a democratic society at all. Imagine a school where democracy is lived on a daily basis, where students have a say in the rules of the school, from the schedule to the dress code or safety policies. These schools exist in the world of democratic […]

Abstract We are in the predicament we are with public education because those in charge have failed to apply one of history’s greatest lessons provided to us by Thomas Kuhn. Paradigms compete and failing paradigms do what they can to keep contenders at bay. There are two education paradigms competing, the dominant autocratic model versus […]

Introduction This essay is for people who steadfastly believe that healthy democracies are dependent upon public education being everybody’s first choice. It is written for those who strive for the open-mindedness John Dewey[1]  describes as follows: “Openminded is the active desire to listen to more sides than one; to give heed to the facts from whatever […]

Three European organisations advocating human rights and freedom in education – ALLI asbl (Luxemboug), Les Enfants d’Abord (France), and Full Human Rights-Experience Education – as well as independent philosopher, Bertrand Stern, have come together to write a letter to the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe. They are concerned […]

“OK You’re certified,” said the friendly twelve-year-old boy. Throughout 25 years of advocating the democratisation of schools I have often feared these words yet when they were finally delivered the context was delightful. I was visiting the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts. The introductory tour took us to the music room. As a one-time […]

These papers are the reports of the first and second stages in the ‘I was a teenage governor’ project, organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research in partnership with the Citizenship Foundation and Derry Hannam – Specialist Consultant in Pupil Participation. This was intended to be used as a practical tool for any school […]

This study from 2001, by Derry Hannam (a now retired state secondary school teacher, deputy/acting headteacher and Ofsted inspector) evaluates the impact of the student participation aspects of the Citizenship Order on standards of education in secondary schools. Hypothesis The investigation set out to test the hypothesis that “in schools that are already taking the […]