Tag Archives: alternative education

Year 2018 — Volume 12 — Issue 23

Dreaming Of Dissent: Rochdale College And The Failed Dream Of Communal Education
Pages: 1-18

Abstract
The paper looks at experimental alternative education systems to explore different approaches to pedagogical theories of post-secondary education. The paper focuses on the story of Rochdale College, an experimental free-form college and communal housing project associated with the University of Toronto between 1968 and 1975. The aims, theories and methods of Rochdale College are contextualized by an examination of two theorists on alternative education: John Dewey and Paul Goodman. The theories of Dewey and Goodman are explored through a brief examination of two experimental colleges that preceded Rochdale: The Experimental College (at Tufts University from 1927-32) and Black Mountain College in North Carolina (active from 1933- 57). Ideas regarding alternative forms of education were integrated into socio-political ideas from the 1960s counterculture movement in America and Canada, and a major test site for a form of counterculture education was the controversial experiment called Rochdale College. The paper explores ideas of what an alternative post-secondary education system has looked like in the past, in order to pose questions about the ways it could take shape in the future.
Sean STEELE

v12231

A/R/Tography Of Life Learning: A Historical Perspective On Children’s Lived Experience And Eco-Cultural Sustainability Of Childhood Before The Advent Of Compulsory Schooling In Tibet
Pages: 19-55

Abstract
In this paper, I describe and explore a cultural and historical context of children’s lived experience prior to the advent of compulsory schooling in Tibet. Specifically, I focus on how children had been learning without schools, and what these life learning experiences meant to them. In doing so, I engage unschooling (Holt, 1972, 1974, 1976 1983; Holt & Farenga, 2003; Ricci, 2012) as my culturally responsive theoretical framework in order to acknowledge and recognize the historical significance of these unique learning contexts. In addition, I choose a/r/tography (Irwin, 2004; Leavy, 2012) as my methodological framework in order to respect and acknowledge the arts-based cultural heritage of local communities. Therefore, I celebrate the success and challenges of local children’s life learning experiences, as well as promote an eco-cultural understanding of how these historical learning experiences can inform educational policy, teachers, and the general public. This multi-modal arts-based study found that children’s ways of life learning included creative playfulness, gender equal games, intergenerational learning; and the overall context of subsistence as eco-cultural sustainability. Through these ways of life learning, children have experienced their existential happiness in childhood and ontological freedom, as well as developed a sense of eco-cultural sustainability.
Olga SHUGUROVA

v12232

Toward A Critical Unschooling Pedagogy
Pages: 56-71

Abstract
This paper outlines the theoretical, pedagogical, and philosophical framework for critical unschooling. Critical Unschooling is a student-centered and autonomous teaching and learning praxis rooted in decolonizing human rights education. Unlike homeschool, unschooling de-centers the hegemonic power dynamics inherent to essentialist and traditionalist approaches to formal education in favor of a student-led educational milieu in which learning is decompartmentalized and can occur at any place and time. Critical unschooling draws upon literature rooted in ethnic studies, postcolonial feminism, and human rights education, to propose conceptions of self- directed and community-based learning that develops students’ radical agency and critical consciousness.
Noah ROMERO

v12233

Book Review – Cooperative Games For A Cooperative World: Facilitating Trust, Communication, And Spiritual Connection
Pages: 72-76

By: Dada Maheshvarananda InnerWorld Publications 2017
Reviewed by: Kathleen KESSON, Professor of Teaching, Learning and Leadership in the School of Education at LIU- Brooklyn
Note: This piece is a book review and as such was not subject to blind peer review. It was accepted by the editorial team

v12234

 

Year 2017 — Volume 11 — Issue 21

Unschooling and How I Became Liberated: The Teenage Liberation Handbook, Quitting School and Getting a Real Life and Education
Pages: 1-7

Abstract
Twenty-five years ago, Grace Llewellyn, a school teacher from Colorado, published The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get A Real Life and Education. As a teenager struggling with many issues, including bullying, social isolation and poverty, I concluded that school was largely contributing to my misery — thanks to this book, I finally had the clarity and courage to leave school. This is a retrospective and narrative inquiry on my experiences growing up and the book that has helped transform my life and the lives of other unschoolers.
Michael JODAH

v11211

The Experiences of New Home Educators
Pages: 8-28

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of new home educators. Two main research questions guided the study: 1) How do new home educators describe their homeschooling experience? 2) What do new home educators value about homeschooling? To investigate these questions a phenomenological approach was used to examine the shared experiences of 10 educators who had homeschooled for less than three years. The data from the participants revealed three major themes: (a) Anyone can, and should, homeschool b) The time spent with their children was valued, and (c) The flexibility and adaptability that homeschooling afforded was prized.
Sarah PANNONE

v11212

A Non-Linear Model for Career Development in Academia
Pages: 29-50

Abstract
Since the arrival of modern science, many of the professionals who wish to attain an academic career follow a track we call the linear model of accomplishment. Essentially, the model displays a number of sequential steps that each candidate, with minor variations, ought to take. In contrast, the non-linear model deals with professionals who are not able to follow the traditional model to achieve a full-fledged academic life, but that, with an evident scientific vocation, resume an academic career after a number of years dedicated to other professional activities. This paper shows that the systems principle of equifinality applies to career development in academia, by describing examples of linear and non- linear development that take place in traditional and non-traditional institutions in Mexico, respectively.
Jaime JIMÉNEZ & Juan C. ESCALANTE

v11213

‘The Holy Grail,’ Trying to Define Alternative Education: A Book Reviewé of the Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education
Pages: 51-56

Abstract
The Palgrave International Handbook of Education is an accessible text allowing the reader to discover for themselves their own definition of alternative education. The three key sections; Thinking differently, doing differently and acting differently allow the reader to find the chapters that refer directly to their situation and culture. I highly recommend the handbook to those interested in alternative education as it fills a much needed hole of cutting edge research into educational alternatives.
Alys MENDUS

v11214

 

Year 2016 — Volume 10 — Issue 20

Unschooling In Hong Kong: A Case Study
Pages: 1-15

Abstract
Although homeschooling, and more recently, unschooling, is slowly gaining acceptance in the United States; unschooling in Hong Kong is rare and considered risky. The Educational Bureau of Hong Kong (EDB) tends to discourage alternative forms of education, believing that traditional schooling is the best way to educate students. This case study focuses on the unschooling experience of Karen Chow and her family. Karen is one of the first individuals to choose to unschool her children in Hong Kong. She is also the founder and executive member of EDiversity.org, an organization focused on rethinking education and educational alternatives in Hong Kong.
Gina RILEY

v10201

Evaluation Of A Temporary, Immersive Learning Community Based On Worldschooling
Pages: 16-27

Abstract
Learning communities are a proven method for engaging groups of people who share common goals for personal growth and knowledge acquisition (Gabelnick, MacGregor, Matthews, & Smith, 1990; Taylor, Moore, MacGregor, & Lindblad, 2003). However, little is known about the usefulness of this approach in the context of alternative education. This article describes the evaluation of a temporary, immersive learning community for self-directed teen learners, Project World School (PWS), which was based on a new, pedagogical approach to learning called worldschooling. Findings indicate that regardless of demographic characteristics and personal interests, PWS attendees experienced learning and progress in three main areas: social development, personal development, and experiential academics. The PWS model shows evidence of the benefits of worldschooling and has potential to be successfully replicated and translated to other international settings.
Aimee FERRARO

v10202

Pedagogy Out Of Fear Of Philosophy As A Way Of Pathologizing Children
Pages: 28-47

Abstract
The article conceptualizes the term Pedagogy of Fear as the master narrative of educational systems around the world. Pedagogy of Fear stunts the active and vital educational growth of the young person, making him/her passive and dependent upon external disciplinary sources. It is motivated by fear that prevents young students—as well as teachers—from dealing with the great existential questions that relate to the essence of human beings. One of the techniques of the Pedagogy of Fear is the internalization of the view that without evaluation and assessment we cannot know a child’s level or “worth”—and therefore are unable to help him/her if he is “slow in learning.”

In contrast, Philosophy for/with Children offers a space for addressing existential questions, some of which deal with urgent social issues. The willingness to make philosophy inquiry an alternative already from an early age seeks to allow the child to challenge him/herself with new and fresh questions. Philosophy for/with Children does not regard children as a “space of lack” (experience, knowledge, values, etc.) The new and fresh philosophical perspective of children demands the presence of a willingness to engage in dialogue and rejection of the fear of the innocent and deep questions of philosophy. Shaking free of the Pedagogy of Fear and restoring honor to children’s questions demands a fundamental conceptual change within education. The replacement of existential certainty as it is depicted by adults in the existing education system with an existential question is a heavy intellectual task that in most cases is viewed as subversive—primarily on the part of the adult. It demands a return to starting points and a willingness to allow children a free and safe educational space in which to ground preliminary and fertile questions about themselves, their lives, their environment, and, most of all, the changing world they discover with the form of originality that is right for them.
Arie KIZEL

v10203

“Whatever It Takes” A Case Study Of Our Child’s Alternative Path To Literacy
Pages: 48-66

Abstract
As public school educators, my husband and I struggled with making alternative academic choices for our child with learning differences. Choosing the alternative path was not easy or clear cut for us. This is a reflective record of the journey toward getting my son “Whatever it Takes” to help him learn. The article chronicles intuition about the early warning signs of learning differences. The article discusses the merits of the private school experience, the homeschooling experience and ultimately a modified and personalized learning plan that made learning natural, while preserving my son’s confidence, self-esteem and integrity. Detailed in the article are the discussions concerning the many educational, instructional and sociological decisions that are necessary to individualize instruction to meet an individual’s needs.
Shelly HUGGINS

v10204