IALA » IDEC

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:22:39 +0000

The International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) provides some of the most provocative and growing challenges to conventional education and probably some of the most extreme examples of choice. John Loflin has attended all of the recent conferences and filed comprehensive reports on their proceedings. The first conference was in 1993 and most recent was in Vancouver, Canada, August, 2008 and John did his usual thorough report. You can find his previous reports and other information on IDEC at the home website using IDEC as the search term.

Democratic Schools Paper

Wayne Jennings — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:58:30 +0000

Arising from discussions with Politeia, Brazil’s democratic education institute, at the 15th International Democratic Education Conference last summer in Sao Paulo a new work “A History of Democratic Education in American Public Schools” by democracy advocate and IALA member John Harris Loflin is now available.

Supported by IALA, this comprehensive 161 page paper aims at persuading American urban public classrooms and schools to become more democratic. In doing so, he encourages public schools to enter solidly into the 21st century by questioning, rethinking and providing alternatives to 20th century concepts particularly for under-served children and youth.

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 23:47:57 +0000

The 14th International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) was held this past July in Sydney, Australia. 250-300 people from 15 countries attended. The event is relevant to today

Democratic Schools Directory

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:10:44 +0000

“Democratic education is an educational approach grounded in respect for human rights and a broad interpretation
of learning, in which students have the freedom to organize their daily activities, and in which there is equality and democratic decision-making among students and staff.” This definition is from the Directory of Democratic Education just published for $20 by Alternative Educational Resource Organization as an inaugural edition. It lists contact and descriptive information for 175 democratic schools in 28 countries. It includes 15 colleges and universities with programs and 15 organizations supportive of democratic education plus a bibliography and 10 articles by leading practitioners. This is a valuable resource about a little-known choice in education. Most of the schools are private but some are public.

Gene Carter, Executive Director of ASCD says, “…they {schools} should be laboratories of democracy…” Patrick McQuillan of Boston College say, “…most American youth are socialized for adult civic life by an institution that defines them as passive and subordinate and treats them in ways that are anything but democratic.” Perhaps, we should take an interest in the operation of democratic schools to observe their results.

Alternatives in India

Wayne Jennings — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 06:33:43 +0000

John Loflin worked with India educators to succeed with greater numbers of students using the results of research on learning, experiences with alternatives and the promise of democratic schools. This report contains valuable references about brain based learning, individualized learning and other aspects of school reform. The discussions created a powerful rationale for providing alternatives to serve all students in an area of schools serving 9,000 students.

International Democratic Education Conference 2005

Wayne Jennings — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:47:12 +0000

The 13th International Democratic Education Conference was held July 30-August 7 in Berlin, Germany. Over 200 people, ages 15 to 80, from 28 different countries attended.

The theme of the week-long event was

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:33:00 +0000

Member John Loflin attended the IDEC conference last December (2004) in India. His report shows the great interest in alternative schools throughout the world. The next annual IDEC conference will be in Berlin, July 30-August 7, 2005 . The Education Revolution site managed by Jerry Mintz has valuable information about democratic schools including lists and links by country. There are many in the U.S.

Democratic schools generally are small private community based schools where all stakeholders have a voice in decisions. For an example of a public democratic school see the Village School of Northfield.

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 04:42:24 +0000

The 10 day 12th International Democratic Education Conference was recently held in Bhubaneshwar, India with a view to strengthen a global movement that aims to make both teacher and child participants in the process of learning through democratic ideals. Around 400 delegates, including students and adults form 19 nations, attended. The theme was Shanti (peace) in Education. Various workshops about free schools, alternative schools of choice, and democratic schools were held. There was a special effort to bring awareness of the learning alternatives provided by schools and groups working with poor children in marginalized communities in Asia, Africa, and South America.The report by John Loflin provides a good description of the conference and background information.

164 Democratic Schools Worldwide

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 05 Apr 2004 04:29:49 +0000

This list of 164 schools by the Education Revolution Resource Organization includes schools which have described themselves as democratic, or have been described as democratic by researchers. Generally, these schools involve some or all of the characteristics noted on the democratic education homepage. Many are private schools given the reluctance of governments to approve such schools in the public sector. Schools are listed by nation and by states in the U.S.

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 12 Apr 2003 03:00:25 +0000

The conference will be held in the U.S. for the first time in its 11 year history, July 16-24, 2003 at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. The conference is hosted by the Albany Free School in association with AERO, the Alternative Education Resource Organization. Contact Dana Bennis for information at 518-928-1234 or dbennis@idec2003.com or visit Education Revolution.