Designing Democratic Schools and Learning Environments

This open access book explores democratic schools and learning environments globally. The book focuses on a newly developed framework for democratic education. The authors describe existing schools and concept schools—those that are ideas but not in operation. The first section includes the editors’ own journeys.  Pillar 1   includes schools that emphasize the open flow of ideas and choices, regardless of their popularity.  Pillar 2  maintains that it is impossible to have a high quality education that ignores equity. Chapters explore how many diverse ‘marginalized’ communities experience education and some innovations that hold great promise for inclusion.  Pillar 3  provides examples of schools where active engagement, consensus and compromise support the ‘common good.’  Pillar 4  investigates schools which organize students, parents, social institutions and the larger community collaboratively to achieve its goals and to solve theirs and society’s most urgent challenges.