Pedagogical Approaches
Democratic Education
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The pedagogical approach that organizes a school democratically, giving students an equal vote alongside staff in the community meetings that set the school's own rules and letting students choose whether and what to study, first put into practice at A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in 1921.
Facts
Disputed
Most Effective ForAdvocates hold that it develops personal responsibility, self-control, continued interest in learning and democratic values in students, though the claim rests on advocates' own accounts rather than independent measurement. 1 Advocates claim these outcomes from their own accounts of the movement; no independent measurement is cited in the source used here. Central QuestionHow much control should students have over their own governance and course of study, and can a school run as a genuine democracy still educate them effectively? 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Developed By
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Democratic education
Wikimedia FoundationDemocratic education page, history sectionQuote, Democratic education page, history section
In 1921, Summerhill was founded as a boarding school and the first school in which students and teachers had an equal vote in nearly all school matters.
1. Wikipedia: Democratic education
Wikimedia FoundationDemocratic education page, lead sectionQuote, Democratic education page, lead section
Democratic education is a type of formal education organized democratically, allowing students to manage their own learning and participate in the governance of their educational environment.
1. Wikipedia: Democratic education
Wikimedia FoundationDemocratic education page, claimed outcomes sectionQuote, Democratic education page, claimed outcomes section
a sense of personal responsibility, self-control, continued interest in learning, and democratic values
Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Sudbury Valley School, Sudbury Valley School article, Government sectionQuote, Associated With: Sudbury Valley School, Sudbury Valley School article, Government section
The corporation is wholly owned and operated by the School Meeting, in which each student and each elected member of the staff has one vote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there independent evidence that democratic education actually works?
Not yet: the benefits usually claimed for it, personal responsibility, self-control, continued interest in learning and democratic values, rest mainly on advocates' and alumni accounts rather than independent, controlled measurement.
Advocates of democratic education, the model first put into practice at A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in 1921, hold that giving students an equal vote in school governance and control over what and whether to study develops personal responsibility, self-control, continued interest in learning and democratic values. The atlas records this claim as debated rather than attested because the supporting evidence comes chiefly from the schools' own advocates and alumni accounts rather than independent, controlled measurement comparing outcomes against conventional schooling.
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