This is an archive of resources for an understanding of hope.
This is the fourth Hope Archive page. Unlike the first, and the second, and the third, where the ordering of the content is a little whimsical, very much depending on the mood and direction of my web surfing, this one is thematically organised, on the theme of education.
Critical Pedagogy on the Web
"This site has a dual focus, providing both a general overview of critical pedagogy--its
definitions, history, key concepts, and major theorists--and links to other critical pedagogy resources on the web."
Critical Pedagogy Resources
Critical or Radical Pedagogy is a tradition of education that encourages deep questioning, personal challenges,
and the critical examination of the oppressive potential of many
well-intentioned educational environments.
Radical Pedagogy Journal
Many interesting writers speaking to the concerns of critical approaches to pedagogy.
The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education
"Our aim is to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal
education and lifelong learning. In particular, we want to encourage educators to develop ways
of working and being that foster association, conversation and relationship." You can do searchs here
for thinkers like Paolo Freire and Ivan Illich, but check out their "top 100" for interesting reading ...
Teaching for Change
Teaching for Change is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, DC.
They provide teachers and parents with tools to help schools become
socially transformative centers of learning where students become architects of a better future.
This site has a great links page, and their resource catalogue is well worth checking out on a regular basis.
AERO - The Alternative Education Resource Organization
AERO Alternative Schools links page
"The Alternative Education Resource Organization is a non-profit organization founded in 1989
by education expert Jerry Mintz to advance learner-centered approaches to education. Towards this end, AERO provides
information, resources and guidance to families, schools and organizations regarding their educational choices.
AERO disseminates information, both nationally and internationally, on topics such as: home schooling, public and
private alternative schools, and charter schools. AERO's long-term goal is to become a more effective catalyst
for educational change by providing books, magazines, online services, consultations, support groups, and
organizational information and seminars in the field of alternative education."
Instituto Paolo Freire (em portugues, en español, and in English)
"The Paulo Freire Institute’s purpose is, according to the wishes of the person who inspired its creation,
to give continuity to Paulo Freire’s legacy, gathering people and institutions that base their work on his ideas.
In order to carry out its institutional mission, the PFI develops research whose results contribute to
interventions, including the formulation and implementation of plans, programs, and projects in the fields of education,
culture, and communication. The goal of this work is the construction of the work that Freire dreamed of and
struggled for: "less ugly, less mean, less authoritarian, more democratic, more human"."
Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society
"Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school
them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment
there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to
confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency
with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value."
ivanillich.org (en español)
"En este sitio podrá encontrar casi todo lo publicado en español por
Iván Illich. Lo invitamos a leerlo."
Rage and Hope
"Critical educators experience rage caused by the unjust circumstances that surround the educational
experiences of the dispossessed (the poor, minorities, and other marginalized people). While being fully
cognizant of the immense struggles to be faced to achieve the goal of social equity, they are
committed to the notion that education can be a transformative process."
Contemporary Educational Thought
"This web site is an ongoing project created by Professor Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., Department of Teaching and Learning,
School of Education, University of Miami. It represents an effort to try to provide brief biographical
introductions to some of the major thinkers in contemporary educational thought."
Making a Difference College and Graduation Guide.
A US-based guidance site dedicated to the promotion of college, university,
and other educational programs that provide engaging education founded on
critical thinking and principles of interconnectedness, compassion and vision.
I can't vouch for all the courses, but I like the idea of this site, although I am always a little cautious
when it comes to institutionalising good intentions, including my own. I'm all for more
sophisticated ways of understanding how we often participate in the contradictory, negative effects
of well-intentioned activism, and if these courses can lead to more humanised thinking and more nuanced
political participation, then more power to the elbows involved!
Colectivo Escuela Libre (en español)
"El Colectivo de Educación Crítica "Escuela Libre" nace con el objetivo de trabajar por una
renovación pedagógica que parta desde presupuestos críticos y se desarrolle "en y para" la
libertad social. El Colectivo Escuela Libre no está formado únicamente por profesores,
ni se dirige de forma exclusiva a este colectivo profesional, sino que se propone trabajar
en el ámbito educativo, pero con la mirada puesta en el amplio proyecto de transformación
social que signifique el desarrollo del individuo en libertad e igualdad. Entendemos, por tanto,
la educación como un espacio necesario desde el que actuar, pero siempre dentro un proceso
transformador más amplio y profundo."
"The Escuela Libre [Free School] Collective for Critical Education was born and is continually reborn with the aim of working
for pedagogic renewal from positions of critical engagement. It develops "in and for" social freedom.
The Collective hasn't only been brought together by teachers and lecturers, nor is it exclusively
targeted at that professional group. Rather, it is proposed that the Collective works more in the
wider field of education, looking to social transformation as the necessary space from which to engage,
and always within broader social and political contexts of profound transformative process." (Translation AMcC)
Based in Barcelona. The site includes details about Aula Abierta ("Open Classroom"), a magazine devoted to critical education/pedagogy.
The University of Openness, based in London
"A self-institution for independent research, collaboration and learning." Lots of interesting
ideas and courses on offer on this site.
Mongrel
"Mongrel is a mixed bunch of people, machines and intelligence's working to
celebrate the methods of a motley culture. We make socially engaged culture, which
sometimes means making art, sometimes software, sometimes setting up workshops, or
helping other mongrels to set things up."
The Independent Art School, based in Hull
The Independent Art School (IAS) has been setting up meetings for
artists since 1999. It functions as an alternative University with no home.
Room 13, for younger warrior-artists
"Within each individual school, the Room 13 studio is organised and run completely by the students
themselves. ... Room 13 is a democratic, autonomous organisation – the
only things we depend on our schools for are light, heating and the use of the room itself."
Flying University (University of Openness page)
Organized in 1882 by Jadwiga Szczasinska-Dawidowa (1863-1910), the Flying University was a secret academy for
young women wanting to take college-level courses but unable to travel out of Poland for study. Initially
about 200 students were involved, but that number grew to 1000 in a few years.
Other info on the Flying University (University of Toronto factoid page). Current Flying University projects
The Manoa Free University
"We understand the notion of a Free University today as an antagonism to the ongoing total
subordination of education and science by neoliberalist imperatives (GATS etc). On the other hand
it also refers to historic examples of self-organized anti-institutions of the 1960s and 70s.
We do not translate "university" with "professors", "students" or traditional "empirical objectivity",
because we take it serious as an open place for the construction of subjects and collective knowledge
production in postfordist times. We are what the average german speaking conservative contempts as "Ewige Studenten"."
l'université tangente (en Français)
"L'université tangente est une université zéro. Elle se constitue en rupture avec les recherches scientifiques,
les productions et transmissions de connaissance, les pratiques culturelles et artistiques domestiquées par l'État ou
le marché. De ce fait, l'Université Tangente crée et propose ses propres formes de vie, díéchanges, de
savoirs et de jouissances. Tangente, elle manifeste, produit et diffuse des savoirs humains singuliers,
autonomes et pluridisciplinaires, des expressions de l'existence, des formes díactions et d'organisations
groupusculaires issues du monde vécu."
Copenhagen Free University
"The Copenhagen Free University opened in May 2001 in our flat. The Free University is an artist run institution dedicated to the production of critical consciousness and poetic language. We do not accept the so-called new knowledge economy as the framing understanding of knowledge. We work with forms of knowledge that are fleeting, fluid, schizophrenic, uncompromising subjective, uneconomic, acapitalist, produced in the kitchen, produced when asleep or arisen on a social excursion - collectively." Read All Power to the Copenhagen Free University.
La Universidad Nómada (en español)
"The Nomadic University emerges from a confluence of a number of collectives and people, all of whom are hard to characterise, coming as they do from a variety of perspectives and attitudes. But all of them have a desire and a will to construct new conceptual tools which take account of the current realities of the logics of exploitation and domination in our lives, and which allow us to develop new initiatives and projects to shortcircuit them" (my translation)
Informelle Universität in Gründung.Informal University in Foundation (Deutsch and English)
"The Informal University in Foundation [IU] is an initiative from students of the Technical University Berlin and has emerged from student protests during the winter semester 2003/2004. We try to stimulate critical discussions about societal structures in general and from an architectural point of view; we are working on ideas concerning our working and social environment now and in the future. "
Free University of Los Angeles
"We will have our own schools that are not designed to re-produce ignorance, obedience, helpless docility,
fear, and hate."
Minciu Sodas
"An open laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers. We bring together our individual projects around
shared endeavors. We remake our lives and our world by caring about thinking."
Anarchist Free University, Toronto
"The Anarchist U is a volunteer-run collective which organizes a variety of courses on arts and sciences.
Most courses run for ten weeks, and meet once a week; there are no admission fees. The Anarchist U follows
the tradition of free schools in that it is open, non-hierarchic and questions the roles of teachers and students."
Paideia, Escuela Libre, based in Badajoz, Spain (en español)
"Con esta web pretendemos dar a conocer las ideas básicas que nosotros y nosotras entendemos como pedagogía
libertaria. Queremos cambiar el mundo y queremos hacerlo desde abajo, desde la infancia. No creemos ni
participamos en la enseñanza oficial, sea ésta pública o privada, y negamos rotundamente que sea la
única posible. Frente a ella oponemos la escuela autogestionada, libre, basada en el principio de
la libertad responsable y solidaridad entre iguales."
"With this webpage we are trying to convey the basic ways in which we understand libertarian pedagogy.
We want to change the world and we want to do it from below, from the youngest up. We do not have faith in
formal education, nor do we participate in it, whether public or private, and we flatly refuse to accept that
formal education is the only way possible. As an alternative we present a self-managed, free school, based on
the principles of responsible freedom and solidarity among equals."(translation AMcC)
Autonomous University of Lancaster
"Students and teachers and activists came together, pointing to the problem that they find
universities decreasingly dealing with critical societal issues. The hegemonic approach to quality
assurance in Higher Education does not seem to support problematizing engagement with the world." Check out
their wiki
Free Skool Santa Cruz
"Free Skool Santa Cruz is an interactive, decentralized model for learning-without the limitations of hierarchy and
the sterile institutional environment of a University or formal school. It is an attempt to de-school ourselves and
to learn from one another the skills necessary to transform society and challenge oppressive systems."
Ruskin College, Oxford
"An independent college that specialises in providing educational opportunities
for adults with few or no qualifications. We aim to change the lives of those who need a second
chance in education. Ruskin welcomes students who not only want to develop themselves but
also want to put something back into society."
Diversity Web
This is a link to the Curriculum Change section of the Diversity Web resource, a compendium of campus practices
and resources about diversity in higher education. This site is designed to help people who work in universities
to privilege diversity as a key educational and societal value in classrooms. Developed very much from a United States
perspective under the auspices of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Be prepared for the language of
"civic engagement", "institutional commitment", and "democracy's promise of equal opportunities". If you can get beyond such language,
there are some interesting and helpful resources here.
Centre d'éducation libertaire Bonaventure, St Georges
d'Oléron, France. (en Français, Deutsch, English, Esperanto)
"Qu'ils soient le "fruit" du hasard, de l'habitude, de l'erreur, de l'ignorance ou de l'amour,
les enfants ne choisissent jamais de vivre. Dans ces conditions ce devrait être justice que toutes celles
et tous ceux qui leur "donnent" la vie ou qui se targuent de la gérer leur donnent au moins les moyens de
choisir leur vie. En les aimant, bien sûr. Mais aussi en les respectant en tant qu'individus à part
entière n'appartenant à personne d'autre qu'à eux-mêmes. Et en les accompagnant dans leur découverte -
toujours périlleuse - de la vie. Dans la construction - longue et difficile - de leur propre personnalité.
De cela il n'est, hélas, que trop rarement question et c'est peu dire qu'il ne s'agit pas là d'un hasard."
Portland Free Skool
"The Freeskool is a grassroots effort, a group of people who decided to act collectively and autonomously to
create a skill-sharing network, a school without institutional control. The all volunteer Freeskool is
dedicated to social change through free education and community building. We believe that education is
an ever evolving process that should be available to all, free of monetary value. We wish to break down
the boundaries of class, race, and age to learn together in a nurturing and creative environment. The
Freeskool is a non-hierarchical, non-institutional form of learning in which anyone can be a teacher
and anyone can be a student!!"
Free School Vancouver
"A collective-run project whose purpose is to provide the community with a space for dialogue and
learning outside of the mainstream education and economic systems. Volunteers from the community
have come together to organize and facilitate a small selection of learning groups at no charge
to their fellow community members. We all have knowledge and skills to share with one another,
the FreeSchool is an opportunity to do so in a non-hierarchical, anti-oppressive and holistic
education environment where not only the academic is addressed, but also the social, political,
creative and personal."
Reading International Solidarity Centre
"RISC is Reading's Development Education Centre; working with schools and community
organisations, raising the profile of international issues and promoting action for
sustainable development, equality and social justice."
Mendocino Coast Free School
With a mission to “promote rural sustainable living, personal empowerment, critical consciousness and
intentional community for people of all ages through a volunteer network of agencies, individuals and local
businesses offering free training and resources.”
Institute for Social Ecology
"The mission of the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) is the creation of educational experiences
that enhance people's understanding of their relationship to the natural world and each other. By necessity,
this involves the ISE in programs that deepen students' awareness of self and others, help them to think
critically, and expand their perception of the creative potentialities for human action. The purpose of
the ISE's programs is the preparation of well-rounded students who can work effectively as participants
in the process of ecological reconstruction."
La Escuela Popular de Personas Adultas de Prosperidad
"Un proyecto pedagógico y social que surge por iniciativa popular en 1973 en el barrio madrileño
de Prosperidad. Un proyecto de educación de personas adultas iniciado, por lo tanto, por gente del barrio,
con gente del barrio y para la gente del barrio y de cualquier otra zona de Madrid."
"A pedagogic and social project that arose as a community initiative en 1973 in the Madrid barrio (zone) of
Prosperidad (literally, "prosperity"). It was an adult educational project iniciated, then, by, with, and for the people
of the barrio and for those in any other area of Madrid." (translation AMcC)
If you read spanish then you may wish to check out the
proceedings of their 2003 meeting about the project.
Schumacher College
"Schumacher College was founded in 1991 on the conviction that a new vision is needed for society,
its values and its relationship to the earth. In the beautiful Devon countryside, away from the pressures of
everyday life, participants enjoy a mixture of learning, reflection and the exchange of ideas and
experiences. Much of the unique character of the place comes from the way the College community
each day creates an expression of a sustainable lifestyle. The College environment creates a sense of
the wholeness of life and provides the context for a deep and potentially transformative learning experience."
A.S. Neill's Summerhill School "Summerhill School is a progressive, co-educational, residential school, founded by A. S. Neill in 1921; in his own words, it is a `free school' though this does not mean, alas, that it is state funded. The freedom Neill was referring to was the personal freedom of the children in his charge. Summerhill is first and foremost a place where children can discover who they are and where their interests lie in the safety of a self-governing, democratic community."
Ashland Free Skool
"Free Skool, or Freeschool, is the concept of community sharing skills and learning together - the belief
that we all know something that others want to learn, and that together we can learn and develop skills outside
of the mainstream educational institutions."
University of the Third Age
"To provide from amongst the retired, the resources for the development and intensification of
their intellectual, cultural and aesthetic lives. In this way to help them to make effective and
satisfying use of their freedom from work at the office, shop or factory. To devise methods of doing
this which can be afforded in Britain. To create an institution for these purposes where there is no
distinction between the class of those who teach and those who learn, where as much as possible of
the activity is voluntary, freely offered by the members of the university to other members and to
other people. So to organise this institution that learning is pursued, skills acquired, interests
are developed for themselves alone with no reference to qualifications, awards or personal advancement."
Isla Vista Free Skool, Santa Barbara
"We are in the process of setting up a collective that will aim to provide free education services for
the community, by the community. Estamos en el proceso de crear un colectivo que va a proponerse a proveer
gratises servicios educativos para la comunidad, de la comunidad."
Institut für Soziale Ökologie/Institute of Social Ecology (auf Deutsch, in English)
"Institut für Soziale Ökologie: Wir beschäftigen uns mit Fragen der Wechselwirkung zwischen
sozialen und natürlichen Systemen im Kontext von Globalisierung, globalem Wandel und nachhaltiger
Entwicklung. Interdisziplinäre Kooperation zwischen den Natur- und Sozialwissenschaften ist ein
zentrales Merkmal unserer Arbeit."
"The Institute of Social Ecology focuses on the interrelation of social and natural systems in the
context of globalisation, global environmental change and sustainable development. Interdisciplinary
collaboration between sciences and humanities is a core feature of our work, in research as well as teaching."
Institute for Autonomy (London)
"It’s vital for us to create space where a different reality can be experienced, where new paths
can be walked, along which can emerge common action, interest and identity amongst people. We organize
both the space and our work in open assemblies where, in a rejection of this society where our ‘superiors’
tell us what to do, we practice horizontal and direct democracy. When ideas are discussed openly,
we are recreated as real actors in our lives - we use our differences to make any idea a better idea.
We aim to create a self-organised space where people aren’t judged by their ability to consume or to
produce; where really human discussion and action can take place." This was a squat in London, and if
anyone has recent news on what has been going on, please let me know. More info
here. You might also take a
look at more information on "autonomous spaces".
Olympia Community Free School
"There are folks here with many diverse talents and skills to share. Too often however, a lack of communication
keeps us apart. The Free School is a synergy of the diverse ideas, talents, skills and resources of
community members. We believe: Learning occurs throughout our lifetimes and that the learning process can become a
constant source of renewal and growth; Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student; All people should have
access to education without money as an obstacle; Providing learning opportunities in a free, open and
non-hierarchical environment; Community members had a great deal of knowledge to share, and that Free School
could offer a new learning experience in return."
The Common Place, based in Leeds.
"The Common Place is an independent, collectively-run social centre in the heart of the city
centre. Our aim is to create a place in the city centre in which together people can recover
those things being eroded by the market society: a sense of community and solidarity, affordable food
and entertainment, a non-commercial place to relax, talk, meet people or find information on
political campaigns, issues and actions."
Barrington Collective FreeSkool, Berkeley
"The Barrington Collective builds genuine, supportive communities to overcome feelings of powerlessness,
alienation and dependence and to provide social contexts for individual and group creative empowerment."
Making Changes Freedom School
"The Freedom School was created as a place where students can come together and develop critical
thinking skills while they challenge the system and learn to survive in the "real" world. The Making
Changes Center is a completely, volunteer-run, Grassroots Movement of Parents, Students, Community
Activists and concerned Teachers that want to change our reality and create positive changes in the world."
Albany Free School
"Truth be told, we are a community far more than a school - a safe, nurturing, open space
where daily fifty-five kids ages three through fourteen, eight full-time teachers, a cook, a steady
stream of interns, volunteers and visitors, as well as myriad goats, chickens, rabbits, pet rats,
lizards and goldfish work, play, learn and eat together. Yes, there are certain traditional school
trappings: Some rooms have desks and blackboards; there are lots of shelves with books and teaching
materials of all kinds in others; and throughout the building there is a state of the art computer network,
thanks to Times Warner Cable and a very generous local business. In addition, students are organized into
homeroom groups more or less by age in order for them to have a space to call their own and a specific
teacher to check in with during the day.
However, the resemblance to "school" pretty much ends here. Noise overshadows quiet. Kids are moving about
constantly and play is rampant. We do not have a curriculum, or any compulsory classes. Classroom sessions that
do take place are usually informal and last as long as the interest holds. There are not any tests or grades
either, because we have discovered by trial and error over the years that learning happens best when it happens
for its own sake. Again and again, our experience has confirmed that a child's innate desire to learn is a far
more powerful motivating force than any external reward - or threat."
Brooklyn Free School
"A grassroots movement formed in the summer and early fall of 2003 with the goal of offering a true
educational alternative to the traditional orthodoxy of education now dominant in most public and private
schools in this city, the Brooklyn Free School has now sprouted wings and has been up and running since
September 2004. The community is composed entirely of parents, students, educators and others who believe
that freedom and democracy are not just textbook concepts, but a way of living and learning - for our children
as well as ourselves. The Brooklyn Free School is dedicated to the belief that all students must be free to
develop naturally as human beings in a non-coercive educational environment and empowered to make decisions
affecting their everyday lives and that of their community."
Wikiversity: School of Mental Freedom
Wikiversity: School of Practical Life
"Learn by participating. Read till you know. Modify and pass on the knowledge."
The Institute of Applied Piracy
IAS DIY School
"The Institute of Applied Piracy was founded in February 2002 by a group of five friends.
We got sick of paying rent for a tiny apartment and decided to buy a piece of land. It's easier
than you think, with 5 of us pitching in we were able to save the money for the five acres in one
summer of hard work ..."
WoGAN FreeSkool
"WoGAN was founded in the winter of 2000 in solidarity with the broad-based movement that had coalesced
against the World Trade Organization's meeting held in Seattle at the end of 1999. We formed a network of
existing student and activist organizations in order to concentrate our efforts, support each other, and
bring about greater change."
The Bat Annex Free Skool
A collectively run community space based at The Belfry Center in Minneapolis, a collaboration between
the Bat Annex Free Skool, Daybreak Anarchist Newspaper, and local radical artists.
Cream City Collectives Free School
"It is, at-heart, non-institutional and non-authoritarian. Generally, it is a grassroots effort,
a collection of individuals acting collectively and autonomously to create educational opportunities
and skill-sharing within their communities. As with all grassroots work, grassroots organizing is about
ordinary people doing extraordinary work to improve the world we live in. It is about recruiting, training
and mobilizing people to raise awareness and advocate for positive change. "