Alternative Education: Global Perspectives Relevant to the Asia-Pacific Region (Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects)

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

EDUCATION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION: ISSUES, CONCERNS AND PROSPECTS Volume 10 Series Editors-in-Chief: Dr. Rupert Maclean, UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Education, Bonn; and Ryo Watanabe, National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan, Tokyo Editorial Board Robyn Baker, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Wellington, New Zealand Dr. Boediono, National Office for Research and Development, Ministry of National Education, Indonesia Professor Yin Cheong Cheng, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China Dr. Wendy Duncan, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines Professor John Keeves, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Dr. Zhou Mansheng, National Centre for Educational Development Research, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China Professor Colin Power, Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Professor J. S. Rajput, National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi, India Professor Konai Helu Thaman, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

AdvisoryBoard Professor Mark Bray, Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, PR of China; Dr Agnes Chang, National Institute of Education, Singapore; Dr Nguyen Huu Chau, National Institute for Educational Sciences, Vietnam; Professor John Fien, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; Professor Leticia Ho, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines; Dr Inoira Lilamaniu Ginige, National Institute of Education, Sri Lanka; Professor Philip Hughes, ANU Centre for UNESCO, Canberra, Australia; Dr Inayatullah, Pakistan Association for Continuing and Adult Education, Karachi, Pakistan; Dr Rung Kaewdang, Office of the National Education Commission, Bangkok, Thailand; Dr Chong-Jae Lee, Korean Educational Development Institute, Seoul, Korea; Dr Molly Lee, UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand; Naing Yee Mar, Glocorp, The Netherlands; Mausooma Jaleel, Maldives College of Higher Education, Male, Maldives; Professor Geoff Masters, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, Australia; Dr Victor Ordonez, Senior Education Fellow, East-West Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA; Dr Khamphay Sisavanh, National Research Institute of Educational Sciences, Ministry of Education, Lao PDR; Dr Max Walsh, Secondary Education Project, Manila, Philippines

Alternative Education Global Perspectives Relevant to the Asia-Pacific Region

YOSHIYUKI NAGATA National Institute for Educational Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan

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To Yuma and Aoi

SERIES SCOPE

The purpose of this Series is to meet the needs of those interested in an in-depth analysis of current developments in education and schooling in the vast and diverse Asia-Pacific Region. The Series will be invaluable for educational researchers, policy makers and practitioners, who want to better understand the major issues, concerns and prospects regarding educational developments in the Asia-Pacific region. The Series complements the Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region, with the elaboration of specific topics, themes and case studies in greater breadth and depth than is possible in the Handbook. Topics to be covered in the Series include: secondary education reform; reorientation of primary education to achieve education for all; re-engineering education for change; the arts in education; evaluation and assessment; the moral curriculum and values education; technical and vocational education for the world of work; teachers and teaching in society; organisation and management of education; education in rural and remote areas; and, education of the disadvantaged. Although specifically focusing on major educational innovations for development in the Asia-Pacific region, the Series is directed at an international audience. The Series Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, and the Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region, are both publications of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association. Those interested in obtaining more information about the Monograph Series, or who wish to explore the possibility of contributing a manuscript, should (in the first instance) contact the publishers. Books published to date in the series: 1. Young People and the Environment: An Asia-Pacific Perspective Editors: John Fien, David Yenken and Helen Sykes 2. Asian Migrants and Education: The Tensions of Education in Immigrant Societies and among Migrant Groups Editors: Michael W. Charney, Brenda S.A. Yeoh and Tong Chee Kiong 3. Reform of Teacher Education in the Asia-Pacific in the New Millennium: Trends and Challenges Editors: Yin C. Cheng, King W. Chow and Magdalena M. Mok 4. Rasch Measurement: A Book of Exemplars Papers in Honour of John P. Keeves Editors: Sivakumar Alagumalai, David D. Curtis, Njora Hungi 5. Reforming Learning: Issues, Concepts and Practices in the Asian-Pacific Region Editors: Chi-Hung Ng and Peter Renshaw, in press 6. New Paradigm for Re-engineering Education: Globalization, Localization and Individualization Yin Cheong Cheng 7. Towards a Global Community: , Educating for Tomorrow s World Editors: William J. Campbell, Nicholas Baikaloff and Colin Power 8. Educational Decentralization: Asian Experiences and Conceptual Contributions Christopher Bjork

9. Secondary Education at the Crossroads: International Perspectives Relevant to the Asia-Pacific Region Editor: Phillip Hughes

Contents PREFACE ................................................................................................................... xiii

Wavering National Government Systems and School Avoidance in the Contemporary Social Context ... .............................................................................xiii Growing Prominence of Alternative Education ..................................................... xiv Public Character of the Educational Community Comes into Question ................. xv Research Methods.................................................................................................... xv Organization ......................................................................................................... .. xvi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... xvii INTRODUCTION BY THE SERIES EDITORS .........................................................xix FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xxi TABLES .................................................................................................................... xxiii

1 ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW ..................................................... 1 Reforming Traditional Education According to Special Needs ................................ 1 Genealogies of Alternative Education ....................................................................... 2 Passive and Active Approaches ................................................................................. 3 Reapprehending Alternative Education in the Present-day Context ........................ 4 The Burgeoning of Public Character and Public Assistance ................................ 4 Looking Beyond the Narrow Constraints of Historical Era and Region of Origin................................................................................................................. 6 An Emphasis on Wholeness ................................................................................... 6 Quantitative Criteria: Alternative Education as a Minority Movement................ 7 Self-Reflective Reapprehension of Education........................................................... 8 2 CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA – A FREE SCHOOL AT THE FOOT OF THE ANDES .. 11 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 12 Social Conditions and Education in Bolivia............................................................ 12 Bolivia's Diversity and Poverty ........................................................................... 12 Vicissitudes Leading to Flight of the President................................................... 13 Educational Reform in Recent Years ................................................................... 13 La Floresta School as an Alternative ....................................................................... 15 Motivation and Circumstances of Founding ....................................................... 15 Philosophy............................................................................................................ 16 From La Floresta School to A jayu School .............................................................. 22 3 CASE STUDY: THAILAND – ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS IN A SOCIETY DEVELOPING THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR A PLURALISTIC EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ....................................................................................... 25 ix

x

CONTENTS

Introduction ..............................................................................................................26 Economic Growth and Structural Violence .............................................................26 The Philosophy and Practice of the Children's Village School ...............................28 Recent Educational Policy and Alternative Education ............................................29 Formation of the National Education Act ............................................................29 The National Education Act and the Children's Village School ..........................30 Pluralistic Educational Philosophy and the National Education Act..................32 Diverse Alternative Education and a Centralized System........................................34 4 CASE STUDY: AUSTRALIA – ISSUES IN SUPPORT MECHANISMS INVOLVING ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS ......................................................................................35 Introduction ..............................................................................................................35 Mount Barker Waldorf School: Realizing the Principles of Waldorf Education Under an Existing System ........................................................................................37 Courses of Instruction with Established Reputations ..........................................38 A Back Door Strategy: Linking up with Institutions of Higher Education ..........39 Support Mechanisms: A Code of Ethics that Restrains a Runaway Market............42 Support from the Government and Conditions of Accreditation .........................42 Mutual Assistance Network..................................................................................43 Issues for the Future.............................................................................................45 The Booroobin Sudbury School – A Center of Learning: A Family-Scale Independent School Engaged in a Hard Struggle......................................................46 The Birth of a Sudbury-Type Democratic School.................................................46 Natural Learning and Natural Learners..............................................................48 Full School Meetings and the Justice Committee ................................................49 School Budgets .....................................................................................................50 Struggles with the State Government ...................................................................52 Relationship with the Association of Independent Schools..................................54 Identifying the Mechanisms that Foster Relatedness...............................................55 5 CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS – ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION SHAKEN BY CHANGES IN ITS BASIC FOUNDATION .........................................57 Freedom of Education and the Principal of Financial Equality ................................58 Historical Background..........................................................................................59 Freedom of Education as a Positive Freedom ......................................................60 The Authority of Educational Administration .........................................................61 Growing Prominence of the Alternative Stream in Education ................................63 Diversity of Support Organizations .........................................................................67 Quality Control Mechanisms ...................................................................................68 Standardization and Alternative Education: Toward a New Struggle .....................71 6 CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PLURALISTIC EDUCATION SYSTEM AND ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION SUPPORTED BY THE LAW AND THE KEY INITIATORS...........75

Introduction ..............................................................................................................76 The Center for Appropriate Transport .....................................................................78 Diverse Educational Opportunities ..........................................................................80 Changes in the Definition of Alternative Education ................................................83

CONTENTS

xi

Three Streams of Alternative Education.................................................................. 85 LEARN: A Self-Help Organization for Alternative Schools and Networks........... 88 Mechanisms Function by School District................................................................ 89 The Desired Modality of Pluralistic Quality Assurance.......................................... 90 Issues for the Future................................................................................................. 91 7 CASE STUDY: DENMARK – ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FOSTERED BY SUPPORT MECHANISMS CULTIVATED THROUGH THE HISTORY OF THE COMMON PEOPLE ................................................................................... 95 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 96 Denmark's Educational System and Its Background ............................................... 96 An Educational Community that Emerged from the History of the Populace .................................................................................................... 96 Constitutionally Guaranteed Parental Rights and the Increase in Independent Schools ............................................................................................ 97 School for Life: Relative Autonomy from the State System and Market System...................................................................................................... 99 Pluralistic Networks that Foster Diversity in Alternative Education .................... 100 Diversity in Alternative Education .................................................................... 100 Networks (Associations) that Link Together Independent Schools ................... 100 Parental Participation and Freedom in School Creation ................................. 102 A System that Enhances Freedom ......................................................................... 104 Public Subsidies ................................................................................................. 104 Evaluation of the Education and Supervision of the Administration at Independent Schools .......................................................................................... 106 School Boards and Principals ........................................................................... 108 The Relationship Between the Ministry of Education and the Independent Schools .......................................................................................... 109 A Flexible Organized Movement ....................................................................... 110 Issues for the Future............................................................................................... 110 Permissible Limits of Freedom .......................................................................... 110 Recent Changes in Society................................................................................. 111 The Significance of Being a Minority................................................................... 112

8 HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE? ................................... 115 Classification in Terms of Private Schools and Consequent Problems................. 115 A Quantitative Grasp of Alternative Education in Countries Where Alternative Schools Are Positioned as Institutions ............................................... 116 The Netherlands ................................................................................................. 116 New Zealand ...................................................................................................... 118 Denmark............................................................................................................. 120 Oregon State ...................................................................................................... 122 9 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND ISSUES ......................................................................... 127 Cases of Disputes Involving Alternative Schools ................................................. 128 The Alternative School as an Achilles Heel....................................................... 129 The Difficulty of Evaluating What is Unique..................................................... 131 Neo-Liberalistic Education Reform and Alternative Schools............................ 132 Struggles of the Socially Disadvantaged ........................................................... 133

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CONTENTS

Quality Assurance in Alternative Schools .............................................................134 Assurance and Regulation Provided by Legal Statutes......................................135 Equivalence with Public Education ...................................................................138 National Guidelines and Goals ..........................................................................139 Distinctiveness....................................................................................................139 Regulations Concerning Welfare and Human Rights ........................................140 Accreditation and Inspection .............................................................................141 Curriculum .........................................................................................................144 Nationwide (and Statewide) Standardized Testing ............................................144 Approved (Designated) Textbooks .....................................................................145 Teacher Licensing ..............................................................................................146 Regulations Regarding Assets and Property......................................................147 Assuring Necessary Minimum Numbers of Students..........................................148 Pros and Cons of Quality Assurance......................................................................149 How Alternative Schools are Recognized and Approved...................................149 National Guidelines as Standards for Accreditation .........................................151 Standards for Accreditation and Evaluation......................................................154 10 THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES ...................................................................................157 Quality Assurance of Alternative Schools .............................................................157 International Comparison of Quality Assurance....................................................158 Public Subsidies in the Various Countries .............................................................160 Government Administration of Education in Terms of Quality Assurance and Public Subsidies in the Different Countries ....................................................161 Comparative Examination of Government Administration of Alternative Education................................................................................................................168 Pitfalls of Alternative Education ............................................................................174 Enclosure by the Market Economy ....................................................................174 Enclosure by National Governments .................................................................175 Self-Confinement in a Private Sphere ................................................................177 Quality Assurance Suitable for Formation of a Public Sphere ..............................178 11 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................183 POSTLUDE ................................................................................................................205 About Opening the Window Just the Right Amount .............................................205 AUTHOR INDEX ....................................................................................................209 SUBJECT INDEX ................................................................................................... 211

Preface

Wavering National Government Systems and School Avoidance in the Contemporary Social Context In this era characterized by both globalization and decentralization, national government roles, which fall between the two, are coming into question in a variety of fields. The problems for which contemporary society seeks rapid solutions, as symbolized by the problems involved in the global economy and in environmental destruction, may be global in scope or may in a significant number of cases have strong regional characteristics. Under these circumstances, national government systems themselves are frequently raised for debate in the fields concerned, and the educational field is no exception. Several problems faced by traditional national government systems in the field of education can be identified. They include dropping out, violence in school, truancy, breakdown of order in classrooms, and bullying. These problems, which have been taken up widely by the mass media in recent years, can be attributed to the exhaustion of the traditional school system. Japan has been held up overseas as one country with a well-developed education system, for example, but this same Japan has nearly 140,000 primary and secondary school children who refuse to attend school. Japan has been working at the national government level to create various modern systems to foster unity among the people ever since the Meiji Era beginning in the late 19th century. The phenomenon of school avoidance, however, suggests that the government mechanisms for unity among the people by means of public education are not functioning as well as they once did. This phenomenon of school avoidance does not exist only in Japan, but can also be found here and there in other countries where traditional social norms are transforming as people come to hold diverse values in the course of advanced information networking and internationalization. Modern nations that hastened to modernize have made particular efforts to develop and expand centralized educational systems for the purpose of 'fostering the people' or 'forming a national culture of the people.' Ironically, however, modern education systems that are expanded to the saturation point then become exhausted, and it becomes clear that the system of compulsory education has problems that can no longer be concealed, as demonstrated by the growing number of students who refuse to attend school.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Growing Prominence of Alternative Education The practice of alternative education then began spreading in various countries, almost as though in response to the above circumstances. It is worth noting that new school formats and learning loci have flourished inside and outside existing educational systems from the 1990s on, in particular. This is apparent, for instance, in the rapid growth of charter schools in the United States and of progressive schools in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, the expansion of alternative education streams in Denmark and other Northern European countries, and the development of legal frameworks for alternative education in Thailand, South Korea, and other Asian countries. As just one instance of this, there is the following: The first charter school bill in the United States was passed in Minnesota in 1991. The number of charter schools in the United States has grown rapidly since that time. From 2005 to 2006, 424 charter schools were founded, raising the total number of such schools up past 3,625. This growth has continued steadily.1 The number of home school student who attend no school outside their home increased to 850,000, and make up 1.7% of the school-age population (ages 5-17) (AERO 2002a, p. 18). In Sweden, there were 26 free schools (fristaende skolor) engaging in Freinet, Waldorf, or other such education in 1991. Within one decade, the number of such independent schools grew to more than 250, and these schools are going forward with their own forms of education with government support.2 The alternative education movement has also come to maturity after 150 years or more in another Northern European country, Denmark. There the number of free schools (friskole ), which are well-known for being built on the initiative of members of the community, grew during the 1990s until they accounted for over 20% of primary and secondary schools and over 13% of the students (Undervisnings Ministeriet 2000, pp. 7, 11). New Zealand accredited a group of alternative schools known as special character schools in the course of educational reform from the late 1980s, and increased the number of students attending them. At the same time, the number of home-school students in New Zealand doubled during the period 1993–2000 (Education Review Office 2001, p. 2). Alternative education is also on the rise in countries outside Western Europe, though the numbers remain smaller. Some of these schools have even been accredited. Locations for alternative learning are coming to be accepted in particular in Asia, where truancy and drop-out problems are emerging. In South Korea, specialized schools for truant and drop-out juveniles were approved under enforcement regulations for the Elementary and Middle School Education Law in 1998. As of March 2003, 14 of these schools are being operated with government assistance as accredited schools, and their numbers are tending upward (Chung 2003, p. 106). There is also vigorous activity in Taiwan, where approximately 20 ‘idea schools’ form a network (Nagata and Manivannan 2002, pp. 163 - 164). The National Education Act in Thailand, promulgated in 1999, recognizes a variety of actors in school building. That country is also working on a legal framework related to alternative education (Office of the National Education Commission 2000).

In all these cases, the figures seem insignificant in comparison with the number of mainstream public schools. The situations are socially significant, however, in showing that traditional schools are no longer given absolute supremacy as they used to be, and that a growing number of societies are laying the groundwork for acceptance of special needs.

1

Retrieved 1 August, 2006 from http://www.edreform.com/_upload/national-data-glance2005.pdf

2

Retrieved 7 December, 2004 from http://www.skolverket.se/friskolor/information/info_diagr_2.shtm/

PREFACE

xv

Public Character of the Educational Community Comes into Question Even as alternative education has flourished in recent years, government administrative problems associated with alternative education have been surfacing. This is evidenced by the ongoing dispute between alternative education practitioners and central or regional governments. The 1999 controversy over the Summerhill School in the United Kingdom is well-known as one such case. Though less notorious than the Summerhill School case, numerous disputes over educational practice at alternative schools have occurred in different countries since the 1990s, and it is worth noting that some of these cases resulted in actual litigation. The Kreuzberg Free School trial in Germany in 1992, the Tvind school trial in Denmark in 1996, the Booroobin Sudbury School trial in Queensland, Australia, in 1996, the Metropolitan College dispute in New Zealand in 2001, the Gandhi School trial in South Korea in 2001, and the Taipei Autonomous Secondary Education Center dispute in Taiwan in 2001 are among the cases that could be pointed out. As neoliberal educational philosophy in particular made inroads in every country, school review processes also became increasingly selective, and a notable number of cases involving the evaluation of alternative education ended up in court. The common thread through these disputes is the issue of how alternative schools should be accredited and evaluated. Our purpose in this report study is to examine the current circumstances and issues involved in alternative education as an approach to the modalities of alternative education and quality assurance, and by extension to a vision of our own educational community.

Research Methods One of the principal methods used in this research is international comparison. Needless to say, one of the benefits of comparison is to relativize oneself through comparison with others in order to obtain an objective view. This may, in some cases, result in foregrounding characteristics on one's own side that one had never noticed before. The present study, while keeping such uses in mind, will proceed to examine and compare the state of alternative education systems, statutes, guidelines, and accreditation and review in different countries, then attempt to develop a typology for the interactions of alternative education and government administration, in hopes of clarifying distinctive characteristics of our own educational community. Comparative research is known to entail many methodological difficulties. Equivalence is a key point in enabling comparison of two or more countries with differing social and cultural contexts. It is essential for the parameters that are objects of comparison to have sufficient commonalties that link those parameters together in order for comparison to be possible. However, the present topic of alternative education bears different significances in different countries. The educational facilities known as alternative schools may include schools largely for drop-outs, and may also include schools oriented to elites. To fail to consider the divergent meanings encompassed by these common terms would be to eliminate half the meaning of comparative analysis. Consequently, this study will begin by examining the definitions and interpretations of alternative education in order to establish welldefined axes along which to situate our thinking about alternative education. The primary comparative framework to be applied here will be spatial comparison and not time-series comparison. In other words, multiple educational communities will be compared on an axis set to the present or to recent years. Chapter 2, which has a strong case study flavour, could also be positioned as regional research. Chapter 5 contains comparative analysis of alternative education in different countries and will

xvi

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include bilateral and multilateral country comparisons. However, a time-series comparative approach that deals with the past several years may sometimes be used when discussing alternative education within a country, including Japan. As noted earlier, this kind of multilateral country comparison will also be used to develop a typology of visions of the educational community vis-à-vis alternative education by categorizing countries that have similar functions and structures and countries that have contrasting functions and structures. The authors have selected 14 countries for study.3 The focus is largely on (1) countries and states that have a relative diversity of alternative schools, (2) countries and states that have formulated clear policies on alternative schools and alternative education, and (3) countries and states that have developed a legislative framework as system infrastructure related to alternative education. The countries and states that serve as the primary objects of international comparison are the United States (Oregon state), the United Kingdom, Australia (Queensland state), the Netherlands, Canada (Ontario province), South Korea, Denmark, and New Zealand.

Organization This book is composed of ten chapters, as follows: Chapter 1 discusses how the characteristics of alternative education are to be understood, for the purposes of this research, in the contemporary context and in light of former interpretations. Chapter 2 to Chapter 7 take up cases of alternative education in practice in six countries and discusses the realities of the systems and mechanisms involved in practice and theory in alternative schools. Bolivia will be discussed as an example of a country where infrastructure supporting the existence of alternative education is weak. Thailand will be discussed as an example of a country where progress is being made in creating a legal system as a foundation for the development of alternative education. Australia will be discussed as a case of visible tension between standardization policies and unique individual alternative schools. The Netherlands will be discussed as an example of alternative education being incorporated into a system with its own review institutions, and its merits and demerits being brought into question. The United States (Oregon state) will be discussed as an example of how diverse practices are carried on in the gaps left open by the system under a child-centered statutory framework. Denmark will be discussed as the case of the alternative education movement with the longest history that still possesses highly developed support mechanisms even today. Chapter 8 will examine the extent to which alternative schools and students of the kind discussed in Chapter 1 actually exist in the various countries concerned, and will present detailed data only on those countries where alternative education systems are well-established. Chapter 9 will refer to some cases of disputes involving alternative schools and deal with issues of specific laws and guidelines that prescribe the actual realities of alternative education. Chapter 10 describes the various regulations governing the content of education and school management as a form of quality assurance, situates those regulations vis-à-vis public subsidies in deriving a typology of government administration of education with respect to alternative education in the different countries, and examines their distinguishing characteristics and the issues they face.

3

The 14 countries are as follows (asterisks signify countries or states that the author himself has visited to conduct surveys): Australia (states of Queensland*, South Australia*, Capital Territory (Canberra), Victoria, and Western Australia), Bolivia*, Canada (British Columbia, Ontario, and Calgary), Denmark*, Germany (states of Thuringen, Berlin, and Niedersachsen), Israel (Palestine), Netherlands*, New Zealand*, Russia*, South Korea*, Taiwan*, Thailand*, United Kingdom*, United States (California and Oregon*).

Acknowledgments

This study is based upon my doctoral dissertation which was submitted to International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan in 2003. I would like to express my appreciation to dissertation committee members: Professor Akihiro Chiba, Professor Hidenori Fujita, Professor Akira Tachikawa and Associate Professor Toshiaki Sasao. My special thanks must go to Professor Chiba who supervised my dissertation and supported me with his whole personality. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to my teachers and supervisors at Flinders University Institute of International Education (FUIIE), Adelaide, Australia, where I studied as a visiting scholar while on leave from the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan from June 2003 to March 2004. In particular, I would like to thank: Professor John P. Keeves, who kindly read through all the chapters with his pencil and gave me pieces of wonderful academic advice. Associate Professor G. R. (Bob) Teasdale, who kindly suggested that I should publish my thesis in English and, as the then Director of the FUIIE, made my study and stay at Flinders a fruitful one. Dr. David Thomas and Ms. Jeni Thomas for their moral support to me and my family. Dr. I Gusti Ngurah Darmawan and Ms. Katherine Dix for their generous assistance in editing the original text of this book. My sincere gratitude also goes to Dr. Rupert Maclean, Director of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre, and Mr. Ryo Watanabe, Director, Department of International Research and Co-operation, National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan for their support as the series editors to the publication of this book. My final thanks must go to all the practitioners and officials as well as policy-makers whom I interviewed in various countries. Without their aspirations for social justice this book would not be published.

xvii

Introduction by the Series Editors Worldwide, many national government systems of education are currently under attack and face a plethora of problems such as rising levels of school drop out, truancy, major behaviour problems including violence in the classroom and playground, and increasing complaints from parents and employers that much of what is being taught in the school and classroom is largely irrelevant to preparing young people to live and work in a rapidly changing world. As a result, increasing numbers of parents are seeking an alternative education for their offspring, outside mainstream government school systems, in the belief that alternative approaches will not face the same problems. When students in the 1960’s in the United Kingdom were asked to describe schools as they experience them at the time, and the characteristics of the type of school they would like to attend (Edward Blishen, Editor, The School that I’d Like, Penguin Books, 1969), they made the following comments: Schools usually have one thing in common – they are institutions of today run on the principles of yesterday. 15-year-old girl At present, the main difference between secondary and primary schools is that primary education is enjoyable and secondary education is absolutely dreary and boring. Primary education …. that golden land where the revolution has at least partially taken place. May it soon take place in our secondary schools! 13-year-old boy School was not invented just for the little people to become the same as the big people 13-year-old girl I am tired of hearing that the hope of my country lies in my generation. If you give me the same indoctrination as a child, how can you expect me to be any different from you? 15-year-old girl One suspects that students surveyed in 2006 in a variety of countries would make very similar observations about education and schooling. If that is the case one must ask ‘why is this so?’; since it is these types of observations on the part of learners that xix

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provide the foundation as to why, in may parts of the world, there are those who are seeking to find suitable alternatives to traditional, mainstream education and schooling. The search for alternatives in education has a long history. For instance, it includes important radical experiments in alternative schooling which attracted a lot of critical attention at the time they were suggested, such as the free school movement as personified by the work of A.S. Neill and his school ‘Summerhill’ in the 1920’s; and the radical views of educationalists such as Ivan Illich who, in his ground breaking book Deschooling Society, argued that conventional schools are not only inefficient in providing an education but are also divisive, to such an extent that Illich argued that if an individual is truly in search of an education then they will not achieve this by attending school. This book by Yoshiyuki Nagata provides an excellent overview of alternative approaches to education in terms of both theory and practice. After surveying the philosophical underpinnings of the alternative education movements, the author goes on to provide comprehensive global case studies of alternative education in action, with examples from Bolivia, Thailand, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United States of America. In addition, the author critically assesses key issues concerning the viability of alternative education, such as the vexed matter of quality assurance in alternative schools, including international comparisons of quality assurance. This book provides useful global perspectives on alternative education which are relevant to the Asia-Pacific region. As a result, the increasing numbers of educators and parents in Asia-Pacific countries who are actively exploring viable alternatives to conventional education and schooling are provided with a useful range of international case studies on which to draw when deciding upon their own particular approaches to alternative schooling. This book has much to teach us about education and schooling, both conventional and alternative: it deserves to be widely read. Rupert Maclean Director of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre Bonn, Germany and Ryo Watanabe Director, Department for International Research and Cooperation National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan Tokyo

Figures

Figure 4.1 Number of Schools in Australia .............................................................. 36 Figure 4.2. Percentages of the Student Population Attending Schools in Australia................................................................................. 37 Figure 4.3 Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates at University of Adelaide................................................................................................... 40 Figure 4.4 Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates at Flinders University .................................................................................. 41 Figure 4.5 Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates and Other Schools at University of Adelaide ........................................................... 41 Figure 4.6 Budget Composition of Independent and Public Schools ....................... 43 Figure 4.7 Numbers of Students at Public Schools and Non-Public Schools (by Income).............................................................................................. 51 Figure 4.8 Breakdown of BSS Income (FY 1999) (%)............................................. 52 Figure 5.1 Other category ..........................................................................................66 Figure 5.2 Other category in Primary and Secondary Schools..................................66 Figure 5.3 Educational Mechanisms in the Netherlands .......................................... 68 Figure 6.1 Private Alternative School Start Up Process ........................................... 82 Figure 6.2 Numbers of Students in Oregon by School Type (2001–2002) .............. 87 Figure 7.1 Support Mechanisms for Alternative Education ................................... 104 Figure 7.2 Occupations of Auditors........................................................................ 105 Figure 8.1 School Groups in the Netherlands as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels)................................. 117 Figure 8.2 School Groups in New Zealand as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels)................................. 119 Figure 8.3 School Groups in Denmark as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels) ......................................................... 121 Figure 8.4 School Groups in Oregon State as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels)................................. 123

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FIGURES

Figure 8.5

Numbers of Alternative Schools and Students as Percentages of the Total in Countries (States) that Position Alternative Education as Part of the Education System (Based on the broad sense of alternative education) ........................................................................... 124

Figure 9.1

Legal Statutes and the Relationship Between Public Schools and Alternative Schools............................................................................... 132

Figure 9.2

British Columbia Declaratiom.............................................................. 141

Figure 10.1 Public Funding of Alternative Schools (vs. Public Schools) ............... 160 Figure 10.2 QA and PS in Different Countries (States) (Total) .............................. 162 Figure 10.3 QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (Before establishment)...... 163 Figure 10.4 QA and PS in Different Countries (States) (After establishment) ............................................................................ 164 Figure 10.5 QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (Education contents) ......... 165 Figure 10.6 QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (School management/administration) ................................................................ 166 Figure 10.7 Four Types of Government Administration of Education with Regard to Alternative Education .......................................................... 170

Tables

Table 5.1

Proportions of Public and Private School Enrollment (Primary Schools): 1850–1979............................................................................... 64

Table 5.2

Proportions of Public and Private School Enrollment (Secondary Schools): 1850–1980............................................................................... 64

Table 5.3

Proportion of Private Schools in the Netherlands (%) ............................ 65

Table 5.4

Proportion of Private School Enrollment in the Netherlands (%) .......... 65

Table 5.5

Minimum Enrollment Required to Continue or Establish Accredited Schools for Primary Education ............................................................... 71

Table 6.1

Characteristics of Private Alternative Schools (or Programs) in Lane County ..................................................................................................... 81

Table 6.2

Distinctive Characteristics of Alternative Education Programs in Oregon................................................................................. 85

Table 6.3

Numbers of Schools in Oregon (Percentages) ........................................ 87

Table 7.1

Changes in the Number of Students (1970s to 1990s)............................ 98

Table 7.2

Changes in the Number of Schools (1990s)............................................ 99

Table 8.1

Percentages of Students by School Type in the Netherlands................ 118

Table 8.2

Numbers and Percentages of Students by School Type in New Zealand (Fiscal 2002 Only) .......................................................... 120

Table 8.3

Percentages of Students by School Type in Denmark .......................... 122

Table 8.4

Numbers and Percentages of Students by School Type in Oregon State .......................................................................................... 123

Table 8.5

Numbers of Alternative Schools and Students as Percentages of the Total in Countries (States) that Position Alternative Education as Part of the Education System (Figures in parentheses are based on the narrow sense of alternative education.)...................... 124

Table 9.1

Cases of Dispute (Controversy) Involving Alternative Schools from the late 1990s on........................................................................... 130

Table 9.2

Minimum Number of Students Necessary to Establish Alternative Schools (Elementary and Secondary Levels)........................................ 148

Table 10.1 Features of QA ...................................................................................... 159

xxiii

Alternative Education: An Overview

Reforming Traditional Education According to Special Needs The meaning of the terms alternative education and alternative school have varied over different times and places. Alternative schools and alternative education programs display diverse theories and practices. They are, in fact, like empty drinking cups into which all manner of beverages may be poured, and at times have even been used for functions other than cups (Raywid 1999, p. 47). The reality is that alternative education has functioned variously as, for example, individualized education of the kind found in child-centered education, as remedial education for ‘problem’ children, and as special education for gifted children. Despite this diversity, however, it is possible to grasp alternative education in general, and to discern common characteristics amid the diversity. Schools that practise alternative education are said to display distinctive characteristics such as the following: they take a critical stance toward public education; they emphasize individuality, which is devalued in the uniformity of public education; they have a family-type atmosphere unique to a small community; their membership has a mutual affinity; they value cooperation over competition; they foster a culture of care and concern; the children and staff members have a real sense that they are creating their own learning and their own lives; and they have a great awareness of participating in community formation (Kellmayer 1995, p. 33). Other distinctive characteristics have also been pointed out such as their small size, their optimistic ethos, their selectivity (variety matched to the needs and interests of the students), their possession of a vision shared by parents and teachers, their devising of teaching methods, the relevance of their curricula, their innovative programs, their voluntary participation, their self-governance, their autonomy, and their conduct of appropriate student evaluation (Barr and Parrett 1997, p. 14).

1

2

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

The common thread in these various distinctive characteristics is an innovative nature that seeks to meet special needs that are not satisfied by existing education, or that discerns some problem in traditional education and seeks to resolve it. Raywid (1999, p. 47) classifies alternative education under three types according to the object of reform: (1) students are reformed; (2) schools are reformed; and (3) education systems are reformed. Type (1) places value on student individuality and aims to provide education to enhance students' abilities or to reform problem children or other such students so that they can be rehabilitated into society. Type (2) schools, like Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) in the East Harlem area of New York City, have innovative curricula, teaching methods, and management models. Type (3) schools aim for systemic reform of the kind that produced 'schools-within-schools' or small-scale schools as put into practice in Minneapolis and Berkeley. The objects of reform by alternative education are many and various, so the actual practice of such education encompasses a great diversity.

Genealogies of Alternative Education The question here is when and how alternative education with the above kinds of distinctive characteristics came into being. The origins of alternative education can be found in the new education movement that flourished in Europe and America during the 1920s. The philosophical and theoretical foundation of alternative education can be said to have been formed in the 1920s. Influenced by educational theorists and practitioners such as J. Dewey, R. Steiner, M. Montessori, and A. S. Neill, the new education movement and progressive education movement, which mostly rose to prominence during the 1920s, gave alternative education its child-centered orientation, its placement of value on individuality, its emphasis on life, its attachment of importance on the cultivation of aesthetic sensitivity through art and so on, its democratic governance of school life, and other such characteristics. Movements of this time enjoyed a renewed flourishing during the 1960s. At the same time that a certain faith in public education was rapidly dying out in the United States then, the free school movement rose suddenly to prominence. This was a movement with a strong counter-culture character. According to Miller (2002, pp. 129-130), however, the free school movement, which reached its height from 1967 to 1972, also rapidly declined, and thereupon branched into three movements that held to particular doctrinal principles. These were ‘organic’ community-based schools, a professional movement for public alternative schools, and a grass-roots movement for homeschooling. A notable phenomenon that emerged from these movements was the union of public and alternative education. As the free school movement declined in the United States, where it was strongly tinged with antiauthoritarianism, the term ‘free school’ was replaced by ‘alternative school’ by the mid-1970s, and this term came into use even among public school reformers. In other words, at the same time that the free school movement came to be criticized for being an educational movement that was not for everyone and that had no relation to the public schools, which were for people from various different strata, an argument began to emerge that said no true reform was possible without reform of public schools for everyone, and called for public alternative schools. The term alternative appears always to have been linked with public concerns in the education scene in the United States from the 1970s into the 1980s. Looking back particularly at education in the United States since the 1980s, it is apparent that alternative education has been shaped by trends and tendencies in educational policy (Conley 2002, Chap. 1). Magnet schools and other such

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW

3

alternative schools that aimed to provide superior results in specific programs or subjects, such as science, appeared during the 1980s when excellence was pursued at the same time as basic scholastic skills under the ‘Back to Basics’ slogan. The period from the 1990s into the early 2000s has been a time of competition and school choice within the broader context of structural reform, and alternative education has not been able to remain above the turmoil introduced to public schools by privatization and competition. Alternative education has been carried on in this way, redirecting its emphasis by slight degrees as the times changed. From the period of public education reform occurring with the rise of 'public alternative' schools from the mid-1970s, to the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the spirit of alternative education has continued uninterrupted, even as the gap between it and the prevailing policies of particular times has narrowed or opened.

The education scene from the 1980s and on has been notably marked by the growing prominence of alternative education in the countries not only of Europe and America but of Asia, as well. Under the influence of Western educational thought, schools on the Summerhill pattern were founded in Thailand and Japan, while Waldorf education began to be put into practice in South Korea and Taiwan (Nagata and Manivannan 2002). One aspect of this was the development of alternative education practices in South Korea as a receptacle for the burden of a growing number of drop-outs as well as students returning from other countries, and in Japan to meet the special needs of the more than 100,000 children who refuse to attend school. The years since the 1990s have also been a period of exchanges initiated among the people involved in free schools, as seen in South Korea and Japan, and of growing networks to link individual practitioners in other Asian countries, as well.

Passive and Active Approaches The question here is how alternative education is viewed and understood in the world today. After all, alternative education has had the active sense of orientation toward possibilities as expressed in such keywords as individuality, choice, and freedom, while at the same time it has also had the more passive sense of dealing with problems that have already occurred, as typified by education for the purpose of remediation. There is a deeply rooted view of alternative education as supplementary to mainstream education, or even as an inferior program (Kellmayer 1995, p. 27; Barr and Parrett 1997, p. 23). In the United States, there is said to be a tendency, due to the large numbers of pseudo-alternative schools and programs, to see alternative schools as refuges for the unqualified or as schools that will allow easy graduation to students who were unable to make it in the mainstream. It has also been pointed out that programs pretending to be alternative are functioning as soft detention centres for poor children and students (Kellmayer 1998, pp. 7, 12; Conley 2002, p. 44). The conventional free schools of New Zealand, too, include some that have been accredited as integrated schools or special character schools and have entered the mainstream. On the other hand, various programs termed alternative are positioned as programs for dropouts or for students who have learning disabilities or who display antisocial behaviour.1 In Asian countries such as South Korea and Taiwan where alternative forms of education have become increasingly prominent in recent years, alternative education is also not infrequently considered to be a kind of safety net. In other words, it is not 1

K. Vaughan, a researcher on alternative education in New Zealand, critiques the government's alternative education policies in that country, and identifies the problem of a narrowing definition in that sense (2002a, p. 97).

4

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

rare for governments and administrators to perceive it as providing education for dropouts from mainstream education (Kwag 2002, p. 149; Lee 2002, p. 162).

Meanwhile, unlike the above views of alternative education as inferior, there are also accounts of how children who received alternative education have better grades and how fewer of those students display antisocial behaviour (Barr and Parrett 1997, pp. 14-15). It has also been pointed out that alternative education actually creates more of a public character than public education. The Hannam report, for example, states that in the education for citizenship taken up by the British government in recent years, a greater civic sense is fostered at schools with student self-governance, such as Summerhill, than at ordinary public schools. This report is one evidence of the superior characteristics of alternative education (Hannam 2001). Since the 1990s, a new public character (or the emergence of it) has also been identified in free schools and other forms of alternative practice throughout Japan, as well.2

Reapprehending Alternative Education in the Present-day Context Alternative education movements, such as found in the free school movement from the late 1960s in Europe and America and in the 1980s in Japan, was strongly confrontational with mainstream, public education. It is said to have formed a stream of education set in binary opposition to the dominant form of school education. It is worth emphasizing, however, that alternative education from the 1990s displayed distinctive characteristics that differed subtly from those of the movements in the 1920s or the period from the 1960s to late 1980s. Here I will attempt to reapprehend alternative education in the modern context while taking account of the distinctive characteristics that were apparent during its early formative period.

The Burgeoning of Public Character and Public Assistance Self-definition as outlaws going counter to the mainstream is not to be found as readily among alternative education practitioners as it used to be in the former free school and other such movements. As touched on above, there is a conspicuous tendency not to situate themselves as in binary opposition, at least in proposals and other such statements presented in recent alternative education seminars and other such occasions. In 2002, the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan organized the International Seminar for the Development of Alternative Education, where this perception was in evidence everywhere. There were even moves by some to take themselves as partners of public education (Nagata and Manivannan (eds.) 2002, pp. 182, 185). The features of alternative education from the 1990s onward can be discerned from the sense of public character found among the people involved.3 A sense of being active agents in forming public character also developed among those

2

3

See, for example, Nagata and Kikuchi 2002, which is based on reports on nation-wide surveys of actual conditions in alternative education in Japan in which the author took part. There are also reports of results in alternative education, such as that from the Center for School Change in Minnesota, indicating that it has had a positive influence on public education (Boyd, et al. 2002). This point was also confirmed at the International Seminar for the Development of Alternative Education, which gathered free school and other such practitioners from Asia and the Pacific in 2002 (Tokyo, NIER, 2002). Also see Nagata and Manivannan (eds.) (2002), p. 185.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW

5

who are putting alternative education into practice, while a trend, however gradual, toward recognition of alternative education, which meets special needs, as one part of the national system has emerged at the same time among those involved in government administration. It is not so very difficult to discern a development of public character in the practice of alternative education in recent years (see, for example, Nagata and Kikuchi 2002). It has been pointed out that, interestingly, there is a tendency to reject the anti-evaluation sentiment that has been deeply rooted in the alternative education movement (Kellmayer 1995, p. 124). There was a powerful reaction against the very act of introducing evaluation at all during the 1960s to 1970s, but there have been moves within alternative education itself during recent years to pursue its own kind of scholastic skills and to formulate related theories. 4 At the same time, a movement can also be seen to realize public character in daily life by means of autonomy, and a fostering of citizenship through participation in a wide range of activities can be seen emerging in the practice of alternative education (see, for example, Nagata and Kikuchi 2002).

Meanwhile, the government is also attempting to build new relations with alternative education. First, movements to incorporate existing alternative education into the mainstream can be seen in the different countries. The integrated schools or special character schools of New Zealand and the specialized schools of South Korea have attracted interest as alternative schools with already-established records that are being officially accredited and receiving subsidies. Thailand is also receiving attention for a public movement toward accreditation of alternative education under Section 12 of the National Education Act and other statutes (a case study is in Chap. 3). In the United States, the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act of 2001 announced by the Bush administration could be understood to suggest that there will be opportunities for subsidies for innovative programs, and that new possibilities will also be opened up for private educational facilities other than charter schools. The second policy-related trend worthy of notice is the movement to establish alternative schools formed by private initiative with public funding from inception, namely those unique publicly funded, privately operated schools, of which a prime example is the charter schools in the United States. These have also influenced educational reform movements in Japan, where NPOs and other organizations have drafted proposed charter school legislation. Above, I referred to a passive approach that sees alternative education as performing a supplementary role to regular education. However, the above-cited movement by governments of different countries to recognize alternative education are an indication that public education is hard-pressed in attempting to respond to all needs, and at the same time that alternative education is being recognized for taking on active roles and functions beyond that of a mere receptacle for the aforementioned burdens. The question of how a country is to perceive the public character of its alternative education and situate it within the national educational system has been one of the issues for educational policy in the governments concerned since the 1990s in particular. The desired shape of cooperation between government and the private sector is being explored. As discussed in the final chapter of this study, the desired form of public assistance promoting public character is another issue that should be examined.

4

Developments of this kind can also be seen in Japan and other countries. For example, the Learnnet Global School, which is directed by Toshiki Sumitani, is proceeding with a unique learning activity influenced by education in Denmark (Sumitani 2000). One of the internationally well-known schools with individual-based learning theory is Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts (http://www.sudval.org/).

6

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Looking Beyond the Narrow Constraints of Historical Era and Region of Origin According to the definitions of ‘alternative’ schools in various dictionaries and encyclopedias of education, one would gain the impression that the origins of the term can be located in Europe and America of the 1920s, and that the movement subsequently developed mostly in the United States, particularly from the 1960s and on. However, countries such as Japan and Thailand also began to advocate the legitimacy of alternative education in the 1980s, and examination of subsequent movements in Asia only indicates that the development of alternative education was not by any means centered on the West, but that movements of a similar character were also carried on continuously in other regions, as well. This becomes even clearer upon examination of alternative education as a function for reform of accepted thinking in society, and particularly of accepted thinking in the field of education. It should hardly be necessary to cite educational movements in India that inherited the thinking of Mahatma Gandhi, or the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka to show that Asia also had its own educational reform movements with lineages separate from those educational movements for liberation of the individual, which were strongly influenced by the West. Thus, although they may not be generally known, there are indigenous philosophies and theories in Asia that have influenced educational policy.5 Currently Waldorf (Steiner) education, Montessori education, Summerhill education, Danish adult education influenced by N. F. S. Grundtvig, and other such forms with identifiably Western origins are spreading in areas referred to as developing countries and newly emerging (or reviving) countries. Furthermore, those schools and other institutions in the West that have been influenced by the Indian philo sopher J. Krishnamurti, an influence in the opposite direction from the West, are also worthy of attention as a practice of alternative education. Innovative and distinctive alternatives in education have been formed in diverse places and cultures, and recent years have brought a flow of influence to the West from the non-West at the same time that influence has flowed from the West to the non-West. If we recognize these two points, then it will become clear how problematical it is, in fact, to state that alternative education is a form of education with origins in the modern West, and how important it is for our understanding not to be limited to any particular time or place.

An Emphasis on Wholeness Studies of alternative education in recent years have clearly come to emphasize the holistic viewpoint. This placing of value on wholeness has been a trend since the 1990s, and it has added connotations to thinking on alternative education that were not present in former alternative education movements. As Yoshida (1999) remarks, the trend is for alternative education to deepen its own educational views by means of holistic educational views while continuing, both in North America and in Japan, to steadily carry on activities to put it into practice. This has emphasized new, key concepts such as human wholeness, life, relatedness, and so on, that negate the binary schemes of adult–child, intellectual education–emotional liberation, social repression–individual freedom, which were formerly championed in alternative education. A move to reapprehend alternative education by means of these concepts can be found among holistic educators. Miller (2002, p.21), one of the proponents of holistic education, points out that although Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Emerson, 5

Khit-pen is one instance of an education reform program that formulated a distinctively Asian theory of development, particularly in the field of development-oriented education, which had an influence extending to the education policy level. For details, see Nopakun (1985).

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW

7

Alcott, Paker, Montessori, Steiner, Neill, Goodman, Holt, and others who influenced alternative education have all produced their own unique theories or practices, they all have in common the fact that they are holistic educators: ‘I consider them all to be holistic educators, because they have all defined education in terms of wholeness – the whole, integrated person; a whole, democratic community life; and a respect for the whole cultural, global, ecological and even cosmic context of human life.’ Taken as an actual social system, this kind of wholeness projects a pluralistic society that, rather than involving relationships among differing multiple values that cancel each other out, instead maintains the uniqueness of diverse values while generating overall harmony among them. This is the kind of society being sought.

Quantitative Criteria: Alternative Education as a Minority Movement Finally, there is an important aspect of alternative education that should be pointed out. This is the quantitative approach to defining the term, which differs from the conventional, qualitative approach. The various definitions discussed above can be termed qualitative definitions that refer to the qualities of alternative education. However, there is also the different approach that seeks to determine the distinctive characteristics of alternative education from a quantitative perspective. This perspective, in other words, seeks to determine the position of alternative education as a minority movement in society without reference to such distinctive characteristics as child-centeredness or individuality. The following presents the views of a staff member of an alternative school support organization in Denmark. 6 Alternative education is being established as a viable alternative in society by a minority faction in opposition to mainstream education. Faction here refers to streams and individual educational actors that are fundamentally different in nature from the mainstream of the education system. Their specific nature is not prescribed, and they remain constantly in flux. In sum, if they constitute a minority in opposition to the mainstream, then they are alternative, regardless of their educational philosophy. This approach may at first glance appear to be quantitative to the point of superficiality, but the claims for the importance of this approach are founded in well-considered ways of thought that in fact represent a wisdom cultivated in the long course of human history. A Danish participant who attended the above-mentioned seminar on free schools in Asia and the Pacific as a resource person made the following statement, which is worth paying attention to. The concept of the alternative is for the purpose of advocating and realizing beliefs, faiths, philosophies, and claims that represent a minority within a larger society. This concept also symbolically expresses the definition of a democratic society in Denmark, which is a society with a culture that listens to the other (Nagata and Manivannan (eds.) 2002, p. 24). In sum, what makes up the substance of alternative education is not any specific tenet, principle, theory, or method, but the very fact of its representing a minority. In a qualitative approach, the substance referred to by the term ‘alternative’ will be transitional. We may say that education that has certain distinctive characteristics at some particular time is alternative, but in the course of movements to promote that educational philosophy or theory, it may sometimes become mainstream. There are times when the practices of a progressive group are disseminated and pervade society at large over a long period of time, until that group finds itself over on the side of tradition. 6

My discussion of alternative education and minorities in society owes much to on-the-groung surveys in Denmark. For details seee Chap. 7.

8

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

This new way of understanding, or, in other words, this alternative interpretation of alternative education, has been presented at international seminars and other such occasions in recent years. This is a reflection of the recent movement to understand alternative education as something essential to the educational community as a whole. The above discussion has elaborated on some of the distinctive characteristics to be found in alternative education in recent years. Ideally, I should probably conclude with my own definition of alternative education for the purposes of this study. Here, however, I will deliberately distance myself from the temptations of definition, and take this occasion instead to identify the essential characteristics of alternative education. What we might call the antithetical concepts of alternative education, such as tradition and public education, can be readily discerned in the various definitions and interpretations discussed in this chapter. It could be said, therefore, that alternative education is basically a relative concept and that its distinctive characteristics change with the perceived problems considered to require reform in tradition or public education.7 If conventional education is seen as uniform, then alternative education will emphasize its diversity or choice. If conventional education is seen as fragmented, then alternative education will emphasize holistic qualities. Thus alternative education is a relative concept endowed with multivalent, pluralistic characteristics, and I consider it better to eschew any definition that prescribes the substance of alternative education. Here, therefore, with the intention of taking into account the distinctive characteristics that have heretofore been considered crucial to alternative education, and considering recent trends in such education, but without dictating the substance of alternative education, I present the following flexible parameters for understanding alternative education: x public character that is relatively independent and autonomous of the market and government and that seeks to reinterpret mainstream norms of conduct and generally accepted ways of thought; x innovativeness that seeks to comprehend traditional education (whether it be public or private education) critically and with a view to reconstruction; x mutual complementarity with public education that, through cooperation with it, seeks to fulfill the unique social role of alternative education; x diversity that encompasses all periods and locations and is not bound by the specific limitations of time and place associated with the modern West; x wholeness that does not derive from binary modes of thought but values a holistic perspective; x pluralism that respects special needs and the diversity of values represented by minority voices. None of the above six distinctive characteristics denote specific details or content of education. It would be appropriate to take them rather as a framework for defining such content.

Self-Reflective Reapprehension of Education I will close this chapter by emphasizing the importance of understanding alternative education as a concept of relative interrelationships. As noted above, this concept is basically defined in relationship to an opposing concept that is perceived to present a problem of some kind. This makes it difficult to define in absolute terms.

7

Miller, for example, understands the free school movement in America from the 1960s as mirroring dissatisfaction with public education at that time (Miller 2002, Chap. 1).

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW

9

Consequently, the substance of alternative education will differ according to how the parties describing it perceive the problem areas. The description will also be definitively shaped by the relative distance between the parties concerned and those problem areas. In this case, the question will be what kind of relatedness and relative distance are generally envisioned in discussions of alternative education. The relationship is most often between tradition and reform, as with alternative education in the United States during the 20th century, which has been discussed in the context of critiques of public education. In every historical period, the relative distance is that between the mainstream educational community and alternative education. The reality indicated by that tradition or mainstream differs considerably with the historical period and social conditions. Before the end of the 18th century, when nationalism made its appearance, the alternatives for educational circles in the West were conceived in distinction to religious education. For modern society from the 19th century, when nationalism thoroughly penetrated society, the alternatives were conceived in opposition to statism in education. Since the end of the 20th century, when markets began to exert unprecedented influence on educational circles, the alternatives have been conceived in opposition to globalization and market economy beliefs, which are flooding the entire world. Next let us consider what the essential problems of tradition or the mainstream may be. Here I would like to refer back to the notion of alternative education as a minority movement, given above as one of its distinctive characteristics. Needless to say, traditions and mainstreams are constituted by majorities. Majorities by their nature are endowed with the authority of greater numbers, and they have an inherent tendency to become exclusive. Minorities, on the other hand, will be treated unreasonably so long as they are not protected by laws or other such social functions, and minority voices always, in every historical period, tend not to be heard by society as a whole. People involved with the free schools in Denmark, which is considered an advanced nation in terms of alternative education, insist on both the significance of healthy minorities existing in society, and speak of democracy as a culture that listens to the other (Pedersen 2002, p. 59). No doubt that understanding is not unrelated to the wisdom Denmark has gained by virtue of its position as a single small country on the European continent. This gave Denmark a keen perception of certain historical issues that are key to the existence of a democratic society, namely, the violence inherent in a majority by its very nature, and the essential value of a minority by its very nature. A narrow definition will prescribe the specific content and nature of alternative education, which thus becomes a substantive concept. A broad definition, however, does not establish the specific content and nature of alternative education, which instead becomes a concept with the function of a framework. Such a broad understanding of alternative education may indeed make it difficult to grasp the denotations of the term. However, to understand the term in its narrow sense will situate it under such rubrics as progressivism, democracy, respect for individuality, and belief in liberty at all costs, and the concept will necessarily become exclusive. Alternative education theories that have up to now been based on liberalism or respect for individuality have often been critical of the mainstream. Such qualitative definitions tend to involve the affirmation of some particular belief, so they are always accompanied by an inclination toward self-justification that places the believer in the right. In that sense, alternative education can be said to have occupied the same arena as mainstream education. It seems likely, however, that taking the social significance of the existence of minorities into consideration when discussing alternative education will open up ways of avoiding this trap. In this case, the concept of the alternative contains within itself the function of always, in some way, bearing

10

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

in mind the awareness that one might be mistaken, or the relativizing function that does not allow absolute authority to any given philosophy or authority. It is, in other words, a self-reflective function. This is one reason that the present study, which aims to create opportunities for reconstruction of the education system as part of its purpose, employs the term alternative education in the broad sense of the concept.

Case Study: Bolivia A Free School at the Foot of the Andes

La Floresta (Ajayu) School

11

12

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Introduction The majority of alternative schools, or at least of those introduced in print, appear to be schools and programs in Europe and America. The Jiyu Gakuen was a Japanese school that was made known in the West during the time of the new education movement in the 1920s. This was a rare case, however, and it is only recently that alternative schools (and programs) in Thailand and India have finally begun to be introduced in monograph form. 1 When it comes to the countries of South America, the first to be introduced in this way was probably the Pestalozzi School in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. This school appears in Real Education: Varieties of Freedom by D. Gribble, who formerly taught at the Dartington Hall School in England, and is currently the doyen of the Sands School (Gribble 1998, pp. 131-145). To the best of my knowledge, the fact is that beyond the Pestalozzi School, alternative education in South America is virtually unknown. Here I will introduce La Floresta (Ajayu) School in Bolivia. While being influenced by the Pestalozzi School, this school has put into practice a combination of tradition and innovation that are interwoven according to its own unique principles. The purpose here is to suggest some part of the reality of alternative schools, and the issues that are faced in societies that have not adequately built up the subsistence infrastructure that is required in order to develop alternative education.

Social Conditions and Education in Bolivia Bolivia's Diversity and Poverty Bolivia is located near the middle of the South American continent, and is almost exactly at the opposite side of the globe from Japan. Its natural environment is richly diverse. On the west, it is framed by the Andes Mountains, with peaks rising from 4,000 to 6,000 meters above sea level. On the east tropical rain forests spread out to the Amazon. For the people of Bolivia, this wealth of topographical variety also represents the bounty of nature. Many of the vegetables eaten around the world were cultivated and improved in the Andes. Today, too, the national diet is enriched by dozens of varieties of fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, maize, cacao, papaya, and so on. The diversity of Bolivia is not limited to its natural environment. The people, society, and culture also evince true variety. Bolivia's population has a higher proportion of indigenous peoples (people of Indio tribes) than any other country in Latin America. Living together in this single country are the Aymara, Quechua, and Guarani tribes, as well as the Amazon tribes (the collective name for 30 or more tribes) in the eastern area of the country. The western region known as the Andes Highlands is inhabited today by people of the Quechua and Aymara tribes. These are descendants of the Inca who still maintain distinctive forms of dress and wear high-crowned hats with designs that vary by their tribe. The speech of these peoples is also diverse, and nearly 40 different languages are used by them in everyday life. Although displaying this wealth of diversity, Bolivia has faced the economic issue of poverty for many years. In fact, the World Bank and other multilateral aid agencies labelled it the poorest country in South America during the 1990s, and the poverty gaps between urban and rural areas and within rural areas are a serious problem. According to the United Nations Development Plan Human Development Report 1

Regarding the introduction of Japan's Jiyu Gakuen to the West, see Becker (1930). Publications introducing alternative education as found in developing countries include, for instance, Gribble (1998).

CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA

13

(UNDP 2002), over one-third of the total population currently subsists on the equivalent of US$2 or less per day (UNDP 2002, p. 190). Bolivia's poverty problems are closely linked with its political problems, and government instability has been said to have exacerbated the sluggishness of the country's economic and social development.

Vicissitudes Leading to Flight of the President Bolivia therefore combines natural and cultural wealth with problems of social poverty, and its history has been characterized by a series of upheavals. From the time that Spain conquered the ancient Inca empire up to the 20th century, which is known as the century of tin, the country has faced unending conflict within and without. In the 20th century, the tin companies brought great wealth to Bolivia, but the system of oligarchic rule continued as the populace accumulated resentment over the severity of their own lives. The Chaco War with Paraguay, said to have been contrived in order to resolve that resentment, ended in defeat, and a military socialist regime of mestizo officers revolting against white rule was inaugurated in 1936. This was followed by what has been termed a premature revolution bringing a revolutionary regime that was troubled by growth in population and subsistence farming, influx of peasants to the cities, chronic budget deficits, and inflation, thus leaving the political situation in considerable instability. A military coup d'etat took place in 1964, and a period of military rule ensued for about 20 years. However, the economy failed, with budget deficits and hyper-inflation, and the military regime was finally ousted in the general election of 1985. The presidency was assumed by Paz Estenssoro, who placed the country under martial law but also pressed for new economic policies. This basic approach was continued thereafter even under different administrations, and the privatization policy devised in the 1990s led to institutional modernization in education, pensions, decentralization of power, and so on. Bolivia from the late 1980s ceased to be affected by regime changes, and appeared to enjoy a free economy and democratic government more stable than it had ever known before. After establishing the Popular Participation Law, however, President Sánchez de Lozada pursued decentralization policies that resulted in increasingly serious unemployment and other social problems. As distrust of the administration grew among the populace, an attempt to sell off the country's natural gas to American corporate interests sparked a sudden flare-up of popular anger in the ‘gas war.’ The people in every region of Bolivia, and particularly in the El Alto plateau region, where privatization policies had resulted in larger numbers of the unemployed, held large-scale demonstrations, closing down roads and so on. President Sánchez de Lozada attempted to suppress the popular resistance using the military, but the people kept the roads closed and maintained strong resistance, despite suffering casualties. The president was ultimately driven to resign in October 2003, and fled to America. Reforms are continuing to be implemented in various sectors at present under the Popular Participation Law, as will be described in the next section, but the social foundation for reform is by no means stable.

Educational Reform in Recent Years Educational reform in Bolivia underwent new developments from the 1990s. The first amendment of the country's constitution in 27 years took place in 1993, initiating drastic social and economic reforms. Institutions that up to then had been centrally controlled were changed completely, efforts were made to decentralize authority, and municipal governments were given discretionary power over budgets and administration. The following year saw the enactment of the Public Participation Law, which proclaimed autonomous efforts by regional organizations of indigenous

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peoples and residents of poor urban areas to improve their lives.2 Educational plans along these lines were also formulated. Under the long-term, 15-year plan that runs from 1995 to 2009, the creation of schools on the initiative of local residents is currently beginning to take place throughout the country.

This educational reform law is oriented toward a complete change in the traditional views of education, and seeks to implement radical reform. It essentially reflects a move to emphasize cultural diversity together with decentralization, and proclaims that the authority for educational administration should be relocated down to the level (district or city) where schools actually operate. The first phase of this educational reform that extends over 15 years is the seven-year period up to 2001. Among its objectives are the following (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, Viceministerio de Educación Inicial, Primariay Secundaria 1998). x Primary schools throughout the country are to be organized into school groups and educational districts. x Organizations for resident participation with functions and attributes as prescribed by law are to be created on a nationwide basis for all stages of education. x Instructors in teaching methodology are to be developed and trained. x Development of teaching staff is to be conducted in line with the new curriculum. x Elementary school and lower secondary school teaching staff are to be promoted by means of a system for developing new teaching staff. x Libraries for students to use are to be set up in every school, and teaching materials are to be distributed. x Teaching methodology resource centres are to be put in place at the central school in every school group. x New primary schools are to be constructed and infrastructure improvement is to be carried out. x The curriculum up to the second year of primary school is to be reformulated. x The rate of school attendance for first-year primary school students in village regions is to be raised. x Improved programs are to be implemented throughout the country in primary schools and lower secondary schools in village areas, and teaching staff are to be given training in the use of how-to guides for teaching materials. No such comprehensive educational reform had ever taken place before that time in the educational history of Bolivia. Reforms this sweeping could well be termed revolutionary. For that reason, however, these educational reforms also caused no small confusion. Decentralization may sound simple, but it cannot be denied that the financial burden of nation-wide education that had been borne constantly for so many years by the central government had been passed down to local levels at a single stroke. One of the greatest concerns is that the central government has begun to devolve its authority to the regions even though the regions have not yet built up their own capacity for dealing with such authority. As a result, there was confusion at the locus of educational practice in every part of the country. In fact, discord concerning educational policy arose even in the small primary school of Tiquipaya, at the foot of the Andes Mountains. 2

‘Ley 1551 de Participacion Popular’ (Retrieved 3 March 2003, from http://www.snpp.gov.bo/Ley1551. htm).

CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA

15

La Floresta School as an Alternative Motivation and Circumstances of Founding Education that could be termed innovative is being practised at La Floresta School in Cochabamba, the third-largest city in Bolivia. The motivation for founding this school was educational reforms enacted by the government of Bolivia. The creation of the school began in 1996, conducted largely a woman of the Quechua tribe from Oruro Department in the Andes highlands.3 She was a teacher at the public school in Tiquipaya, a small village on the outskirts of Cochabamba. She was in agreement with the basic approach taken by the Bolivian government in the 1990s, when it formulated policies of decentralization and public participation in education. However, she had lost faith in the fundamental disposition of the school, which refusing to reform, and sought to continue as it always had. The central government's guidelines for educational reform called for complete renovation of the traditional curriculum to give priority to learning over teaching, and to comply with the need for learning by individuals. In the classroom where she worked, however, things remained as they had always been, without any change, and the one-sided teacher-driven instruction was continued as before. When the government introduced its policy of decentralization, This teacher determined to take this as an opportunity for the people concerned to work on developing their own education by themselves. She therefore appealed to her colleagues at the public primary school in the town of Tiquipaya where she was working at the time. As it happened, however, the teachers were not of one mind about it. She and those teachers who agreed with her asserted the importance of free education even as authority was transferred to the school and their own discretionary authority increased, but the school faculty, in the face of those assertions, merely split into conservative and reformist factions. The upshot of this long-continued argument was that, in 1996, the teaching staff who favoured free education went independent and founded a new school. They temporarily started classes in a private home in the village of Tiquipaya, then eventually built a school on top of a hill at the village outskirts, doing the construction work themselves with village residents. The next year, La Floresta School came into being.4

Philosophy Why is the education at La Floresta School innovative to an extent found nowhere else in Bolivia? Let us look first at its philosophy. The school holds up three social principles and 14 educational principles as fundamental guidelines for education (Ajayu, n.d.).

Social Principles x Directed to children of all social classes, regardless of whether they are wealthy or poor. x Total tolerance of religions, cultures, customs, and beliefs. 3

4

The author has visited La Floresta School three times, and engaged in participant observation. The descriptions of the school and quoted statements by its teachers given here are based on my on-site study and interviews conducted March 12-21, 2001. La Floresta is the name of the administrative district that includes the village of Tiquipaya.

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x Social learning and practice at one-week camps (twice annually).

Educational Principles x Study how to learn. x Non-directive learning. x Rather than a prepared classroom, a prepared learning environment. x Rather than classes or school years, autonomous learning within one's level. The levels are as follows: (1) Phukllay (which means ‘play’ in the Quechua language), the level of the pre-school age group; (2) Juch'uy (‘small’), the group of children at ages corresponding to the first through third years of primary school; (3) Chaupi (‘in the middle’), the group of ages corresponding to the fourth through sixth years of primary school; (4) Jatun (‘big’ children), the group of ages corresponding to lower secondary school; and (5) Khuyanakuy (‘solidarity,’ ‘mutual aid’), the group of ages corresponding to higher secondary school. x Learning in the kindergarten and primary school will incorporate the Montessori and Freinet educational methods of using teaching tools that children can touch with their hands. x Place emphasis on the appropriate rhythms of learning. x Place emphasis on the real needs of the children. x Learning at the higher secondary school level will incorporate processes and time periods for autonomous learning, including individual research topics and projects, independent learning projects organized and carried out by the students themselves, and so on. x Rather than providing fragmented courses and specialties, aim to make learning holistic. x Place more value on analysis than on accumulation of information. x Incorporate self-evaluation and mutual evaluation by student peers. x Emphasize an ecological awareness (not learning about nature but learning from nature). x Put into practice democratic principles such as student assemblies and selforganization. x Put into effect a Productive Month when students build up experience of the world outside the school. Comparison of these items with the national educational reform guidelines mentioned earlier shows that they are similar in orientation. The school could be said to have anticipated the national educational reforms and already to have embodied its own basic principles of reform in actual practice. Of the principles itemized above, the one that the school placed greatest emphasis on from the time it was founded is the first of its social principles. The majority of children who attend public schools in Bolivia are from poor households belonging to the labouring class or from farming villages. Children of the upper social classes attend private schools. The principal had doubts about an educational system that reproduced these social classes dividing the wealthy and the poor. She wanted to provide high-quality education to the children of poor families, as well, and so dared

CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA

17

to start this school as the public school in a small village. This approach was shared by her and the several other founders, and it represents the nature of an alternative school that had never been seen before in Bolivian society.

Construction Visitors to the school find their attention drawn to the cluster of buildings scattered over the top of a hill. The school has five relatively large classroom buildings and an administrative building, each with a distinctive shape and space. The buildings all differ in concept, but each makes use of traditional architectural methods and local materials such as earth and straw. The outer circumference of every building is composed of curves, without any corners. The kindergarten building has classrooms joined by circular structures on a curve that follows the slope of the land. The teachers at the school said that this building design reproduces the shapes of houses where the ancient mountain dwellers, namely the Quechua tribe, used to live. These clustered buildings are large enough to stand out in the village, and all were built with the help of local carpenters. The campus also has small earthen classrooms built by teachers and students as experiments. As will be touched on later, there is a residential construction project known as 'Lak'a Uta (Earth Houses), which is being conducted by the Bolivian government and a Danish NGO for the indigenous residents of the Andes highlands. Students from the school went to observe this project for themselves. They learned construction methods using sun-dried adobe bricks, and the experimental classrooms resulted from a construction project that used this knowledge and technology. Guidance for all construction on the school campus comes from designs created by one of the teachers from Italy. She studied jewelry design at an Italian university, but did not limit her studies just to this field. Instead she also applied herself to architectural design and related activities with friends who were involved in architecture. She said that the knowledge of architecture that she acquired as a result was useful in designing the school buildings. Designed by this teacher and built by the labour of local carpenters and the teachers themselves, La Floresta is literally a hand-made school.

Curriculum The author’s question was, “What kind of curriculum does this free school have?” This was the reply from a German teacher: “There is a curriculum, but at the same time there isn't a curriculum.” The school devotes the hours from 8:00 AM to noon on weekdays primarily to oncampus learning. Apart from the music classes that are held on Fridays, there is no assembled class learning at the school in the afternoons. The students instead apply themselves to study individually or in student groups. Individual students have their own rhythms. These are physiological and intellectual rhythms. We watch children as they write, and if they seem to be feeling frustrated, then we give them brushes to paint with, or use other teaching methods that are suited to the individual children. There are times when playing is appropriate, and times when studying is appropriate.

As these words from her indicate, the school's curriculum is structured on an individual basis. This way of carrying on education has been influenced by the Pestalozzi School in Ecuador, where long years of actual practice have proven that guidance without formal teaching is effective. 5 5

For an important monograph on the Pestalozzi School, see Gribble (1998), pp. 131-145.

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When the founders of La Floresta School were at the stage of designing their new school, they visited the Pestalozzi School, which they said made an extremely powerful impression on them. The German teacher spoke about the Pestalozzi School as follows, Summerhill in England gives students a free choice in whether or not to attend classes, but the Pestalozzi School does not even have classes that teach subjects. The teachers do not direct the students at all. Even so, the children go ahead and learn for themselves with the support of the teachers. Freedom is at work there, and that is what we are aiming for in our own school, as well.

At La Floresta School, too, almost no instruction by teachers is in evidence. As the principal says, This is said to be the information age. That does not mean that we one-sidedly push selected information. What we consider important are the processes of autonomously accessing information and analyzing it. At our school, the role of the teachers is to support those processes.

The school places value on experiential learning. One place where this philosophy of learning is apparent is in the Productive Month, during which, for example, the students study the history of the indigenous peoples of Bolivia at the school. They then gain first-hand experience by going to Lake Titicaca and touring the historical sites there. Some of the students who were interested in ecological architecture travelled to the 'Lak'a Uta Project, which is located about five hours by bus from Cochabamba at Lahuachaca, at an altitude of approximately 4,000 metres. They then wrote up a report and reproduced an earthen house on the school grounds with the technology that was used in Egypt 6,000 years ago. There were also two students, a boy and girl, who wanted to learn about Quechua culture. They went to stay in the dormitory of a Quechua tribe school in La Paz, and through this first-hand learning experience they gained a profound understanding of the culture. There was another group of students who decided to investigate Chernobyl. Other students have visited farms, factories, and centres for mentally handicapped children, where they learned through on-site experience. The school puts an emphasis on having the children come into direct contact with a variety of different worlds. Where the school values individuality, however, at the same time it also values sociality, and these sequences of activities are referred to as social learning. About once a year, the school also holds a camp for environmental study, theatre, or musical performance. During that time, all the adults and children live in tents, and they conduct a variety of performances in a natural setting. The school has also incorporated the Montessori and Freinet methods, as shown earlier in the list of educational principles. Both of these methods situate the child as the actor in learning and emphasize the use of distinctive instructional implements and teaching materials, for which these methods have been highly regarded. The school does not, however, simply accept these educational principles from outside at face value. Some of the teachers criticize the Montessori approach for overemphasizing order, for example, and the Freinet approach for conveying an excessively socialist message. The principal states very forcefully that “education at this school shall not be governed by any ideology whatsoever.”

The Teachers and the Students During interviews that I conducted at the school, I noticed that many teachers were taken aback when I asked them which subjects they taught. This is because the school fashions its curriculum according to the needs of the individual students, so the teachers do not feel that they are in charge of certain specific subjects. For instance,

CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA

19

the Italian teacher teaches both Spanish language and social studies, while the German teacher teaches English language to the younger children and also handles environmental issues with the older children. For more senior students who engage in learning projects in line with their own particular individual interests, the teachers deal with the students' particular circumstances. When there is something the teachers cannot handle, the school calls on adjunct teachers or brings in experts from outside the school. The teachers at the school appear to think of themselves not so much in the role of instructors so much as of guides who bring the students' worlds into touch with outside worlds. The way teachers at the school are viewed by the students also differs considerably from what is found at traditional schools. Teachers at schools in Bolivia, especially those in outlying regions, are presences of great dignity, and they are respected as such by villagers and children. It is certainly easy to find children behaving respectfully toward teachers at La Floresta School, as well. However, they appear to differ considerably from students at other schools in the way that they respect their teachers. What the students at La Floresta School respect is that the adults at the school have the capacity of character and expertise to give them guidance. They do not respect the teachers simply because they are teachers, or because they have qualifications as teaching staff. In fact, in some respects the students are extremely severe in their evaluations of the adults, and they do not respect adults because they are adults. Close observation of everyday life at the school reveals that where the relationships between teachers and students are not based on status or rank, neither are they based on the equality found among friends. The relations between them are founded on trust and confidence, which is a kind of relationship found only very rarely in traditional education in Bolivia. However, this student view of adults frequently clashes with village traditions. In the village, the students of the school are seen as impudent, and it seems that they constantly come into conflict with villagers who are unable to accept their independent attitude.

Self-Governance by Each Level As indicated by the earlier list of principles, the school does not have classes or grades, but instead uses the concept of levels, which are loosely defined age groups. The levels, as shown above, are all given names in the Quechua language. Each level has its own building with the level name posted at the entrance. The different levels have their own study buildings, and the learning activities of the different levels are centered on those buildings. There are also numerous activities that go beyond the demarcation of levels, such as the outdoors camps described earlier. The levels function to divide the whole school into smaller units, and at the same time they represent the schools within the school that function to bring the school together as a whole. This characteristic is used to the fullest in self-governance. When the school was first founded, there was no idea of establishing particular regulations or convening a self-governance assembly. After the school had begun operating for a while, however, both students and teachers apparently became rather lax. Teachers commonly appeared 30 minutes late in the morning, and, as though in response, increasing numbers of students began to arrive late for school as well. Their learning activities began to fall apart. As this would have destroyed the school community, they decided to make rules. However, it was not reasonable to make students who had been habituated to traditional school life suddenly engage in self-governance immediately after their new school opened. It was next to impossible to make such children start an autonomous

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

school-wide self-governance assembly. What the founders came up with, therefore, was a system of self-governance conducted not by the school as a whole, but by the different levels. The smaller children would create regulations in the manner of small children, and students at higher levels would create their separate regulations in the manner of higher level students. Self-governance at the school therefore functions within each smaller group. Regulations are not set periodically by a full school assembly, but are instead created at separate meetings that are held as the need arises (once or twice a month) for each level. In the Pujllay (kindergarten), for example, the procedure is not to impose punishment when problem behaviour occurs. Instead, the children caution each other among themselves. Thus, for instance, when a child steps onto a carpet while wearing shoes, the child beside him will warn him. In the upper grades, students have occasions for talking together autonomously, where they make case by case determinations. The Khuyanakuy, at the higher secondary school level, has two rules that are imposed by the teachers and three rules that are determined by the students themselves. The former are (1) shoes are to be removed in classrooms, and (2) the starting time for learning in the morning is to be strictly observed. The latter are (1) it is all right to play music in the classroom as long as it does not inconvenience other students, (2) violent behaviour and offensive language are forbidden, and (3) school equipment and furnishings are to be treated with care. 6 Rules are decided in this way by each level, and, with the exception of the punitive rule for all levels that people arriving late will be sent back home, essentially no punishments are imposed.

Emphasis on Tradition and Re-creation of Tradition The majority of students come from households that carry on the traditions of the Quechua tribe, though there are also some few children from the Aymara tribe who study along with them. As of March 2001, all the children were from the Quechua tribe except for two children from the Aymara tribe. These two, a boy and a girl, speak the Quechua and Aymara languages at home, and speak Spanish on the streets and in school. While on the one hand the school values freedom, on the other hand it also values traditional culture, so the principal and other teachers who are able to speak the Quechua language make it a practice to speak to the younger children in that language. The principal is fluent in the Aymara language, as well, so she speaks to the children of the Aymara tribe using that language. The purpose of this practice is to give the students an intimate familiarity with traditional culture starting in their childhood. Although the school places value on the traditional Quechua and Aymara cultures, it does not treat them as the be-all and end-all. The school's approach is rather to reconsider traditions that need to be reconsidered, and to change them. One example of this is the view of punishment at the school. According to the principal, the traditional Quechua culture has a customary code that imposes harsh punishments. For a long time, people who stole, told lies, or were lazy were customarily stripped naked and whipped. The principal, however, asserts that “from the perspective of human rights, no corporal punishment should be tolerated at all.” The school rigorously distinguishes between traditions that should be respected and traditions that are wrong in terms of human rights and children's rights. Even as the school shows respect toward traditional cultures, therefore, it is also working to re-create culture.

6

The reasons for removing shoes are said to be, first, in order to keep the rooms clean, and second, because this allows people to feel comfortable from head to feet.

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21

Evaluation The school uses basic indicators rather than rigorous evaluations. For the Juch'uy (the group of children in the early primary school years), for example, the basic indicators are the ability to read and write basic texts and the ability to do simple arithmetic calculations. Different children all have their own pace, so if children have not reached that general level in three school years, which is considered the usual span for the Juch'uy, they are allowed to spend a fourth year to finish. The majority of children who receive higher secondary school education in Bolivia want to advance to university. The school therefore has a policy of issuing grade transcripts when requested by students who want to advance to the next stage of education. However, the standards by which the school evaluates its students differ considerably from the standards that are used in public schools. The school's standards are distinctive in that they do not measure the amount of knowledge acquired, but rather gauge the process of learning. What they consider important is not how much a student has learned, but how the student has learned. This relaxed system of evaluation has two parts, self-evaluation and posterior mutual evaluation. The school policy is that students should, as a rule, evaluate their own activities themselves. Self-evaluation uses different methods at the different levels. In the Chawpi (the group of students at the lower secondary school age), for example, students write out on a sheet of paper what they have learned and how, and what aspects of learning they still need support in. In the Khuyanakuy (the group of students in the upper grades), the students form groups of about five, decide on a topic for their own groups, and carry out a two-month research project on which they then give a presentation. Next, they submit written papers that include a selfevaluation of the project results. In case they are not satisfied with the grade given by the teacher, they also have a posterior mutual evaluation where the grade can be reviewed. In other words, they meet with their teacher and review the learning process from both sides.

School Administration Depending upon the season, the local farmers living near the school are often busy with field work, and their incomes are low. However, they are partially exempted from tuition payments if they take part in volunteer activity such as repairing school buildings about twice a year. On the other hand, relatively affluent households that send children to the school from Cochabamba pay tuition costs that are reasonable for their situation. Tuition costs vary according to the parents' economic resources. At the low end, households pay 40 bolivianos (approximately 5 US dollars.7 ) per month, and at the high end, they pay 200 bolivianos (approximately 26 US dollars). The cost of living in Bolivia is said not to be expensive outside big cities such as La Paz, but average incomes in the towns are not only rather low, but also unstable. The tuition costs cited above, therefore, are by no means inexpensive for area residents. The school receives 2,000 US dollars per year from a German environmental organization and other such sources for operating costs. Swiss and German sympathizers have also created a support organization called Help Montesillo (Montesillo being the name of the hill on which the school is located) that collects contributions of about 1,700 dollars every year and remits it to Bolivia. In addition, an NGO in France that also has activities in Tiquipaya provides financial support for 7

Dollars figures here and below in the text are based on the exchange rate in 2003.

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special events at the school. With these various contributions in hand, the school somehow manages to meet its operating costs. The monthly pay for teachers is 900 bolivianos (approximately 117 US dollars). It is worth noting that local NGO employees receive a salary of 1,100 bolivianos, while public school teachers, who are said to be the lowest-paid of Bolivia's civil servants, annually receive approximately 580 bolivianos (around 76 US dollars) per month for 14 months (which includes end-of-term allowances, and so on) as a starting salary. Teachers at the school have organized seminars on alternative education that they hold in Bolivia on a volunteer basis. Due to financial difficulties, however, they say that they may have to start charging participation fees.

From La Floresta School to Ajayu School In the process of working to realize its various principles, which were described earlier, the school encountered two major obstacles. One was a problem regarding teachers. As noted earlier, the school was originally started as a public school. In public schools, naturally enough, the employment of teachers is not entirely at the discretion of the school. Not all the teachers assigned by the local education authority understood the school's approach to education, and some of the assigned teachers were traditional authoritarians. One teacher who has worked at the school since its founding remarked, “These people weren't necessarily bad teachers by any means, but they just did not fit in with the school's principles.” The second problem was discord with local villagers. Even those village people who were not particularly dubious about the principle of free education when the school was founded began to raise doubts as they watched from outside and saw the children changing. The school has been harassed by conservative local opponents of the school's atmosphere of freedom since it moved to its present location in 1997. The villagers could countenance neither the children they saw going to and from school dressed and behaving so freely, and even behaving independently at home, nor the kind of education that raised the children to be that way. Local parents would insist that children should wear uniforms, and demand that the national anthem be sung at the beginning of the week, on Mondays. For the school, however, which advocated freedom, there were many points on which it could not yield. Ultimately, the situation went beyond just criticism of the school's laissez-faire approach, and some parents began to transfer their children out of the school. At the time the school was founded, about half of the families in the neighboring village sent their children there, but that number has been diminishing over the years. It would seem that a considerable number of parents had been opposed to the school's overly bold teaching methods and curriculum, even though they had not voiced their opinions. There were also incidents of young villagers entering the school grounds late at night when nobody was there and vandalizing some of the buildings. The school, for its part, sought to develop a dialogue with the local community, but the conservative villagers stubbornly resisted the school's proposals. Ultimately, the school was forced into a precarious position between ideals and reality, and the entire staff assembled to discuss whether the school should be continued. This happened five years after the school was opened. The result, achieved through the passionate support of those parents and children who did not want to receive an ordinary public education, together with those teachers who had been with the school since its founding, was a decision to continue operating the school. At the same time, however, they agreed that the school should move out of the village. As though illustrating that

CASE STUDY: BOLIVIA

23

every cloud has a silver lining, the school ended up being offered, at no charge, the second floor of a building occupied by the offices of an environmental NGO, together with a nearby private property, through the good will of local friends of the school, and the school reopened there at the end of 2000 as a private school that receives no public assistance whatsoever. It has held onto the principles which it had at the beginning. Where it differs decisively from the majority of private schools in Bolivia is that it accepts children from every social class. Without receiving substantial donations, however, it cannot avoid the financial difficulties of a private school that accepts children from the poorer strata of society. No private schools in Bolivia, with the exception of those operated by large-scale Catholic associations such as the Don Bosco Society, are able to receive any government assistance. This does not matter to most private schools, whose students are largely from wealthy households. La Floresta School's resistance to class prejudice, however, means that the inflow of tuition fees is small and its financial base is necessarily fragile. The newly reborn school has a student body of 52 (4-18 years old), and employs five teachers, including the principal, and several adjunct teachers. Its scale has been reduced considerably, but the school's vigour is even greater than before. The school turned over a new leaf with its name, as well. At present it calls itself the Ajayu School, using a word in the indigenous Aymara language that means ‘the spirit dwelling within,’ but people there say they are thinking of adding a modifier such as ‘ecological’ or ‘holistic’ to the school's name in the near future. Remembering the incidents of discord with local residents, one of the teacher remarked, ‘When the two sides were unable to reach an understanding, one side decided to avoid a futile conflict and left of its own accord.’ The experience of La Floresta (Ajayu) School reveals how difficult it is for alternative education, which advocates innovativeness, to survive in the midst of traditional institutions of education and in a conservative region. At the same time, it can also be taken to suggest how important it is for alternative schools to have a foundation for their existence as they grow.

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Case Study: Thailand Alternative Schools in a Society Developing the Legal Framework for a Pluralistic Educational System

A Lesson in Forest at the Children’s Village School 25

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Introduction The Children's Village School has had such an enormous impact on alternative education in Thailand that alternative education in that country cannot be discussed without referring to it. In the twenty-some years since its founding in 1979, this school has exerted an influence on the educational community of Thailand on the levels both of practice and of policy. Its influence on the educational system is expected to continue in particular through its contribution to the process of formulating the National Education Act of 1999. As Thai society underwent high economic growth, it gave rise to a culture of violence that involved child labour and sexual abuse. Here I will describe how the Children's Village School has given rise to a culture of peace within that social context, so that children who had been situated in that degraded life environment became able to enjoy non-violent relationships with others. I will also examine the transformation of the Thai education into a different kind of system, with reference to the National Education Act promulgated in 1999. In addition, I will consider some of the issues involved in support mechanisms for alternative education, while looking at the recent antagonism between the government and the public in connection with educational policy.

Economic Growth and Structural Violence The decade from the mid-1980s was a period of explosive economic growth for Thailand. From 1985 to 1995, the average per capita GNP growth rate for the world was 0.8%, for the developing countries was 0.4%, and for the advanced countries was 1.9%, while Thailand achieved a record high growth rate of 8.4%. This was reported to be the pay-off for the industrialization that the Thai government had been promoting since the early 1960s. Although economic expansion resulted in material prosperity, however, a variety of social problems also emerged as a result, including the breakdown of the former rural society and the influx of the population into urban areas, with an accompanying spread of slums. Where Bangkok had slums in 361 locations in 1960, the number exceeded 880 locations by 1975, and continued to rise, reaching 1,020 locations ten years later. In 1985, the slum population was approximately 1.01 million, and made up some 20% of the total population of Bangkok, while approximately 45% of the slum population was age 15 or younger. It is well known that most children who live in slums are unable to attend school as a result of poverty, and many of them must spend their days working as street peddlers and so on. In Thailand, growing numbers of children were placed in situations at direct variance with the country's constant macroeconomic improvement, being forced instead into excessive labour in factories and other such workplaces, and also subjected to various forms of abuse in their homes. Thus the context in which the Children's Village School described below came into being was the shadowy reverse side of such economic expansion, or, in other words, it was an outgrowth of the problem of children who were exposed to structural violence. This violence against children was expressed in a variety of forms. One was child abuse. This was why, in the midst of the high economic growth, the Center for the Protection of Children's Rights, which is operated by the Foundation for Children (the parent organization of the Children's Village School), received on a regular day-today basis an overwhelming number of serious cases, such as a little girl who suffered a brain hemorrhage from a beating by her father, an infant that was stabbed to death

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27

by its mother, a little girl whose mother poured boiling water on her, and so on (Foundation for Children and Center for the Protection of Children's Rights, n.d., p. 1). In some cases when children are forced to overwork in factories or houses of prostitution, the police or other such authorities will intervene in order to bring the problem to a resolution, but abuse that takes place in the home is usually not exposed to public view. The Center for the Protection of Children's Rights, however, does receive reports of such things, though these reports are few in number. Of the cases reported to the Center, the abusers in 63% of the cases are the parents themselves, and 30% of those cases result in death (Ibid., p. 1). This problem is not limited to poor households alone. It is said that the same phenomena can be found in middle class and higher households. Since its founding, the Children's Village School has protected and nurtured children from such broken homes, children who have been abandoned, and children with AIDS. Next I would like to quote a passage that describes one of the children from the Bangkok slums who were taken into the school when it was first founded: Aek was a child who had been given a terrible upbringing. Aek's mother had taken out all the bitterness of her life on her son from the time he was born until he was six years old. Said his mother, ‘I would even jab at him with a knife sometimes. When I get angry, I tend to lose all sense of what I'm doing.’ Needless to say, she treated Aek very harshly. Asked to describe her child's life, the mother spoke as follows: ‘When he wouldn't stop crying, sometimes I would beat him with a broom until he stopped. When he stopped crying, he would stare at my face. Then I would hit him even harder. He's impudent, that one.’ Aek was beaten so badly by his mother that his eyes began to betray roughness and hatred, qualities that he also expressed distinctly in his behaviour. …Then, over a three-month period, a series of other children were brought in. They were all rough in their various ways and inclined to extreme behaviour. All of them were children who would verbally abuse other people whenever something dissatisfied them. Some of these children had come from the slum under the bridge at Bangkok Noi. Some of them came from Khlongtoey and other slums located in Bangkok. These children had not simply been beaten until they stopped crying. Some of them had been cut with knives or trampled underfoot and then drenched in saltwater, while others had been tormented with smoke. Even worse, one child from the Khlongtoey slum had a guardian who had carved all over the child's body with a knife, then finally cut the child's head, injuring the brain and causing neurological damage.1

Under the conditions of high economic growth in Thailand, children from the poorer strata of society were also deprived of education and other rights. The government of Thailand acknowledged the reality of child labour, child prostitution, and so on, but never formulated effective policies against these abuses. Under these circumstances, the Children's Village School started during the late 1970s to become a receiving station for orphans and other children like those described above. Many children, like Aek, were received at the Children's Village School through the Center for the Protection of Children's Rights. The school has accepted children who bear a variety of injuries and other forms of suffering from places other than this center, as well. Their total number exceeded 120 children (as of June 2004). Most of the children taken in by the school in its twenty or more years have been orphans, but the backgrounds of the children vary with the conditions in society at different times. The 1980s, for example, brought considerable numbers of children who had been forced into child labour in factories, orphan children who had been living in slums, and so on. The 1990s, however, brought a conspicuous influx of 1

Dhongchai and Dhongchai (1989), p. 10 (Translated into more readable expressions by the author).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

children whose parents had contracted AIDS or who had themselves contracted AIDS. By the end of 2001, the school had taken in ten children whose parents had died of AIDS, and today there are still children five and six years old with AIDS who are living at the school with the others. One of those children had been living alone with the mother, who had AIDS, until the mother died, and now the child's only living relative is an uncle who is in prison. This is no more than one example of the hundreds of children who have had not only their bonds with their parents broken but have also had other relationships of various kinds taken away from them, and have then been accepted into the school, which has worked to foster new personal and social ties for them.

The Philosophy and Practice of the Children's Village School The Children's Village School came into being in Kanchanaburi Province in 1979. Inspired by the practice of the Summerhill School in England and the child-centered philosophy of free education of its founder, A. S. Neill, the school also received an influence from Buddhism. For details of the school's principles and practice, the reader is referred to other sources. 2 The focus here will be limited instead to certain basic elements of life at the school. The children who arrive at the Children's Village School live in ‘family’ units with teachers who act as their surrogate parents. They are given the time to recover their physical and emotional health by their own efforts. Children who, before coming to the school, had quailed in the face of violence and had suffered starvation, here at the school play with puppies and cats, spend time enjoying make-believe games with their friends, gather and eat food grown at the school, and live under the same roof with their friends and the adults who are their surrogate parents. They live secure lives. The school has managed, no matter what, to guarantee all its children three meals and one sweet a day, at least two sets of clothing, a home to sleep in at night, and someone to care for them if they fall ill (Dhongchai and Dhongchai 1989, p. 24). The school has not only given the children food, clothing, and shelter, it has also given them unstinting love. It has let them live in a natural environment, given them plenty to eat, reduced the authority exercised by adults over children, and given the children the warmth of love and affection (Ibid., p. 10).

The school's approach to education, which places value on providing love and affection, arises in part out of the philosophical background of Buddhism. The school interprets Buddhism as follows: According to Buddhist teachings, human beings have to help each other and have integrity. This teaching is called kalayanamitta. When the two environments of the human and the natural inspire individuals in better directions, this brings out the inner values of the individual people so that they are able to grow and develop. That is the teaching of this Buddhist principle. The school accordingly places great importance on a healthy environment and on adults who possess kalayanamitta (friendship, the feeling that makes a person glad to help others) (FFC 1987, p. 6). According to the school's interpretation, Buddhism also finds important values in a positive environment (paratokhosa). Human beings possess the true nature of good and of evil within themselves, and which of these will predominate is determined by the workings of environmental factors. If the environment that surrounds human beings guides them in a positive direction in both human and material terms, then those human beings, no matter who they may be, will come to 2

For further details, see Dhongchai and Dhongachai (1997), and Nagata and Manivannan (2002), pp. 167-177.

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29

live correctly without being tormented by worldly passions. The Children's Village School is seeking on the basis of this teaching, in fact, to develop an environment that will foster the good within children and suppress the evil. For example, the school families described above are parts of such an environment, and this same thinking is also reflected in the school's approach to self-government, which will be taken up next. As noted earlier, the Children's Village School actively adopted the educational methods that were practiced by Neill at his Summerhill School. One of those methods is the school council. Neill, who valued self-determination by the children, placed an emphasis on self-government in the communal life of Summerhill School, which was an entirely residential school. At Summerhill School, self-government meetings are held twice every week. The school principal and a six-year-old child both have one equal vote at these meetings, where most regulations and punishments governing school life are decided. The self-government meetings are also an occasion for exploring ways to resolve bullying and other such problems that arise at the school by means of debate and majority decision. Self-government at the Children's Village School is also conducted by a school council, where children who serve as jurors and secretaries name and assign appropriate punishments to those—not only students but also staff—who have inconvenienced (trespassed on the freedom of) other people. Punishments are on the order of forbidding them to watch videos, not allowing them sweets, or not allowing them to leave the school grounds. No corporal punishment is ever imposed. Like Summerhill School, too, the self-government assembly has the important function of amending and abolishing school regulations, creating new regulations, and so on. When children who have suffered from structural violence live surrounded by a positive, natural environment and the love of adults, their school life, which is focused on self-government, makes them grow into independent, autonomous youths, at which point they leave this nest to return again to Thai society. The trajectory followed by these 20-some years of steady effort to make this possible for them can be taken to suggest the importance of the unique role to be played by alternative education.

Recent Educational Policy and Alternative Education Formation of the National Education Act In 1997, a new constitution was promulgated that is said to have been the first democratic constitution in the country's history. Article 81 of this constitution calls for the establishment of a National Education Act, and in accordance with this provision, the country promulgated a National Education Act in August 1999 that provided a foundation on which to create education anew in Thailand. The provisions of the National Education Act were a basis for the eventual formulation of 40 or more ministerial orders. Ministerial orders dealing specifically with alternative education were also formulated. The substance of such orders determine to a large extent the nature of education that offered in actual practice by institutions such as the Children's Village School. The secretariat of the expert committee on alternative education convenes regular meetings of a committee that drafts ministerial orders and so on. The committee has about ten members, including specialist officials and members of the public. Among them are an official in charge of alternative education in the National Education

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Commission, a principal of the Children's Village School, lawyers, representatives of handicapped associations, home schooling specialists, and so on. The areas handled by the committee are (1) alternative schools like the Children's Village School, (2) home schooling, and (3) special needs education (education for handicapped children and for gifted children). The National Education Commission, which has entrusted this work of drafting ministerial orders to the committee, is considered to be one of the more progressive organizations in the Thai bureaucratic structure. It is an important organization that is able to incorporate the views of the public in the policies it formulates, and it actually held hearings directed to the public when the Education Act was being created. Even if the National Education Commission drafts innovative ministerial orders, however, there appear to be strong reactions against them from within the Ministry of Education, which puts such orders into effect and where there are conservative forces that remain attached to conventional school institutions. The difficulties faced by the official in charge of alternative education in the National Education Commission can apparently be attributed to the work of coordinating among citizens who seek to promote the advanced aspects of the National Education Act, on the one hand, and the Ministry of Education, which seeks to maintain the former educational system, on the other.

The National Education Act and the Children's Village School The enactment of the National Education Act was preceded by numerous difficult negotiations for arrangements and compromises between the National Education Commission and members of the public. Principal Rajani and others on the citizens' side sought guarantees of complete rights to create schools, and demanded that the term ‘alternative education’ be written into the legislation. However, the Ministry of Education also insisted strongly on a centralized education system. Ultimately, use of the term ‘alternative education’ was avoided, and school education, non-formal education, and informal education were designated instead as the three types of education covered by the Act. This is just one example out of the many different points on which the views of Principal Dongchai and other people involved in alternative education diverged from the government side. The legislation that was finally formulated represented a compromise between the two sides, but the substance of the Act should open up many possibilities for alternative education in the future.3 What, then, are some of these possibilities in specific terms? This will depend entirely upon the ministerial orders. Some of the possibilities that can be envisioned at the present stage, however, are, first, that it will be possible for basic education to be provided not only under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, but also by other groups, organizations, and even individuals, and second, that it will be possible for alternative schools and home schools to operate with public subsidies. The provisions of the National Education Act that are closely related to alternative education are, as shown below, Sections 12, 15 (especially the second and third paragraphs), 16, 18 (especially the third paragraph), and 61. 4

3

This and the previous section are based on interviews conducted by the author with the official in charge of alternative education in the National Education Commission and the principal of the Children’s Village School (November 26 and 27, 2001).

4

The translation of the National Education Act used here is from the Office of the National Education Commission, Office of the Prime Minister, Kingdom of Thailand (2000).

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Section 12 Other than the State, private persons and local administration organizations, individuals, families, community organizations, private organizations, professional bodies, religious institutions, enterprises, and other social institutions shall have the right to provide basic education as prescribed in the ministerial regulations.

Section 15 There shall be three types of education: formal, non-formal, and informal. (2) Non-formal education shall have flexibility in determining the aims, modalities, management procedures, duration, assessment and evaluation conditional to its completion. The contents and curricula for non-formal education shall be appropriate, respond to the requirements, and meet the needs of individual groups of learners. (3) Informal education shall enable learners to learn by themselves according to their interests, potentialities, readiness and opportunities available from individuals, society, environment, media, or other sources of knowledge.

Section 16 Formal education is divided into two levels: basic education and higher education. Basic education is that provided for the 12 years before higher education. Differentiation of the levels and types of basic education shall be as prescribed in the ministerial regulations. Higher education is divided into two levels: lower-than-degree level and degree level. Differentiation or equivalence of the various levels of non-formal or informal education shall be as stipulated in the ministerial regulations.

Section 18 Early childhood and basic education shall be provided in the following institutions: (1) Early childhood development institutions, namely: childcare centres; child development centres; pre-school child development centres of religious institutions; initial care centres for disabled children or those with special needs, or early childhood development centres under other names. (2) Schools, namely: state schools, private schools, and those under jurisdiction of Buddhist, or other religious institutions. (3) Learning centres, namely: those organized by non-formal education agencies; individuals; families; communities; community organizations; local administration organizations; private organizations; professional bodies; religious institutions; enterprises; hospitals; medical institutions; welfare institutes; and other social institutions.

Section 61 The State shall distribute subsidies for education provided by individuals, families, communities, community organizations, private organizations, professional bodies, religious institutions, enterprises, and other social institutions as appropriate and necessary.

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The revolutionary effects of the National Education Act with respect to alternative education can be summarized in the following four points. First, the student-centered educational philosophy; second, the plurality of education; third, the compatibility of education; and fourth, the injection of public subsidies into areas of education other than public schools. The first point refers to an educational philosophy that can be discerned throughout the National Education Act as a whole. The second point is set forth in Sections 12 and 15; the third point in Sections 15, 16, and so on; and the fourth point in Section 61. Although the National Education Act has the characteristics pointed out above, it also extends over a wide range of other issues. One example is the problem of evaluation. Section 49 establishes an Office for National Education Standard and Quality Assessment, and specifies that all educational institutions are to undergo outside evaluation at least once every five years.The principal of the Children’s Village School does not reject evaluation of alternative education per se. However, she states that evaluation must be founded in the philosophy of alternative education, and must be conducted using different standards than the ordinary school evaluations that focus on scholastic skills.5 In any case, the evaluation methods are to be determined by 2004, and the question of whether these methods will be of a kind that can retain the diversity of alternative education presently remains under contention. If the school is accredited as a provider of basic education under the new National Education Act, it will receive preferential treatment in teaching staff compensation and other aspects, and its social credibility will also be enhanced. The principal stated that “If the ministerial order for Section 12 turns out to be beneficial to alternative education, then it would be all right to make the Children's Village School an accredited school. ” 6 She is not the only member of the public to feel this way, as other practitioners of alternative education and parents carrying on home schooling are said to be by no means few in number.7 The issue that lies ahead, then, will be the formulation of ministerial orders that will actually implement the kinds of rights described in Section 12.

Pluralistic Educational Philosophy and the National Education Act In the background of educational practice at the Children's Village School is the pluralistically-oriented thought of Mr. Pibhop Dhongchai, the representative of the school. He discussed this approach in an interview for the journal of the Spirit in Education Movement (SEM), which is a co-organizer of the International Forum on Alternative Education, as follows: ‘Our duty is to be open to many educational concepts, and not to become excessively attached to any one concept. Human beings are diverse. …We should open our hearts and minds in order to welcome the positive aspects of all the concepts. Ultimately, we should be able to discover the right concepts for ourselves (Foundation for Children 2001a, p. 14).’ This is what can be taken as the pluralistic educational approach taken by Mr. Pibhop, and can also be 5

Interview with the principal (November 27, 2001).

6

Interview with the principal (November 27, 2001).

7

As of December 2001, there were about 150 households in Thailand that practiced home schooling, most of them located in Bangkok. Two-thirds of those were families that had children ‘enrolled’ through some kind of relationship with nearby public schools. The remaining one-third were families that were putting their own educational programs into practice within their own homes only. In the latter case, the majority of children register at the Children's Village School or another such alternative school, take tests made up by that school, then ‘graduate’ from that school and advance to the next stage of education. (This is according to a report presented at a session on home schooling at the 3rd International Forum on Alternative Education, held at the Children's Village School in November 2001).

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taken to express his faith in the latent possibilities of the human being. In it we can glimpse a pluralistic way of thought that finds it necessary not to widely disseminate the educational philosophy and practice of the Children's Village School, but rather to create a system that will encourage people to put their own various ideas and philosophies into practice. As one who takes this kind of pluralistic approach to education, Mr. Pibhop voices rather severe criticism of the National Education Act.8 When the representative’s educational philosophy was presented during the course of formulating the National Education Act, the National Education Commission took a cautious, noncommittal position. The Secretary-General of the National Education Commission and who can be considered the leading figure behind the National Education Act, adopted a consistently cautious attitude toward the proposal by the representative and others that the people be given the authority to found schools. The Secretary-General's concerns as a policy-maker were the maintenance and improvement of scholastic skills among the Thai people, and interference in education by cults and other such groups that may do harm to society, both of which are matters affecting the strength of the nation. The former concern was resolved for the time being by formulating a policy of establishing a system of school accreditation/evaluation and an assessment organization, as noted above. As to the latter concern, however, Section 12 of the Act specifies that religious institutions should also be able to provide basic education. Therefore, depending upon the content of the corresponding ministerial orders, it might become possible for a cult to establish an accredited school. That possibility remained an issue. With regard to the above problem of scholastic skills, or, in other words, the concern over reduced national literacy, the representative responded as follows: “The educational system is not something that is formed outside the reality of society, so I can understand the need for a shared consensus on it. In other words, minimum standards for scholastic skills have to be set for the different levels involved. It must be emphasized, however, that the content of the minimum curriculum to be followed should not be determined in a top-down fashion. It must be determined by each local community, and more, by each individual student. 9 The principal also emphasizes that “It would be ideal to create a third-party organization made up from both the government side and the people's side to conduct evaluation of the various schools that practice alternative education. 10 The representative of the Children’s Village School responded as follows regarding the problem of schools being founded by cults and other such organizations: “The new National Education Act includes religious groups among those organizations that can provide basic education. Therefore it could be possible for a cult to create a school. On this point, I think that Thailand's laws respecting religion are instructive. That is, freedom of religious faith is guaranteed under the law on religion, but the law also explicitly limits that freedom, stating that it is applicable only insofar as citizens uphold their responsibility not to offend against morality. The law on education could similarly restrict the provision of basic education by allowing it only to organizations that remain peaceful . ” 11 In an informal interview that the author conducted with the representative, he further stated that “Laws other than the law on education could also serve to suppress societal violence. ” 12 In any event, the future outcome of this dispute between reformist and conservative factions will be observed in how the dispute is reflected in ministerial orders. 8

See Foundation for Children (2001a), and Foundation for Children (2001b).

9

Response to a question following a lecture at the 3rd International Forum on Alternative Education (November 28, 2001).

10

Statement at the 3rd International Seminar for the Development of Alternative Education.

11

Ibid.

12

Interview with the representative (November 28, 2001).

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Diverse Alternative Education and a Centralized System The various problems posed by the National Education Act appear to reveal the antagonism between unique identity and diversity, which are practically the essential qualities of alternative education, and the institution of the centralized modern state system. An official in charge of alternative education in the National Education Commission, spoke as follows in an interview the author conducted with her: “I think of myself as understanding the significance of the alternative school. However, it faces a dilemma that I am always aware of, which is that as soon as we attempt to make it a law, or a ministerial order, or a social institution, then its diversity will be swallowed up by the state system. ” 13 At the 3rd International Forum on Alternative Education, held at the Children's Village School, The principal spoke at a session on “The Role of Government in Relation to Alternatives: An International Comparison,” saying that: “Of course, it is fine for public education go on existing as before. It is just that, at the same time, possibilities must be opened up for practitioners of alternative education.” Thus she insists on a place for alternative education in parallel with mainstream education. The critical points of the revolution sought by Principal Rajani and these others can be summed up as the pluralization of the education system, which at present is strongly centralized. The official of the Commission and the principal differ in their stances toward alternative education, but have a common interest in the question of how to create a system within the national framework that can maintain the uniqueness and diversity of alternative education. The fact that signs of such awareness are to be found both in the government and among the general public is of great significance. It is probably safe to say that an understanding of alternative education is gradually spreading throughout Thai society. Alternative education in Thailand, even as an issue-oriented movement, appears to have come into its own in recent years. With the promulgation of the National Education Act, the building of networks for alternative education on the public side began in 2000. At present, approximately ten schools have formed a network on their own initiative, centered primarily around the principal, and they are engaging in exchanges of information, submission of recommendations to the government, and other such activities. It is also possible to read their separate activities as displaying considerable public character. 14 Other schools that practice alternative education may not have histories reaching as far back as the Children's Village School, but they are also giving rise to a variety of educational practices, and it is well worth noting that some of them have made attempts to develop their own theoretical basis, succeeding to the extent that their theories could even be put to practical application elsewhere. 15 The question that will remain, and be posed even more urgently in the future, is the quality of the support mechanisms that can sustain these various separate efforts. What will be the distinctive characteristics of the mechanism that respect what the representative has termed diversity, while at the same time fostering the internallymotivated growth of practice and theory in individual instances? It will be of great interest to observe developments in the creation of mechanisms for fostering the public character of Thai society. 13

Interview with the official (November 26, 2001).

14

The school council and other such activities that have been carried on, primarily by the children, at the Children's Village School for so many years are worthy of attention.

15

See, for example, Benthum (2001).

Case Study: Australia Issues in Support Mechanisms Involving Alternative Schools

Mt Barker Waldorf School

Booroobin Sudbury School

Introduction In Australia, which is a federal nation, education differs from state to state. Alternative education is carried on in the form of unique schools in different states that operate with financial support from the federal and state governments. Government administration regarding such schools, however, varies with the state, so this study will take up the two cases the states of South Australia and Queensland. Christian-affiliated independent schools are not uncommon in Australia, but independent schools without any religious affiliation are by no means numerous. 35

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Though few in number, however, these schools have individually accumulated a wealth of experience and knowledge, and their educational practices are worthy of special notice. Out of those schools, one alternative school that has a relatively wellestablished tradition and one other alternative school that was newly established will be examined here. The former is a Waldorf school in South Australia, and the latter a free school in Queensland that has been influenced by the Sudbury Valley School in the United States.1 Many of the alternative schools in Australia are in the position of accredited schools, and they are carrying on their individual operations with financial support from the state and federal governments. One of the reasons that this is possible is that every state has its association of independent schools that serves as a network made up of representatives from every school, and these associations are further organized into the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA). These support networks will also be examined here as an independent school support mechanism. Before discussing the individual schools, it would be useful to provide an overview of the general situation of public schools and independent schools in Australia as a whole. Schools at the primary and secondary levels of education in Australia can be grouped generally in three major categories. These are public schools run by the State governments, Catholic schools, and independent schools. The public schools exist in the largest number, with nearly 7,000 schools, followed by the Catholic and then the independent schools (Figure 4.1). The term independent school here refers to a non-government/Catholic school. The majority of these schools offer education in accordance with specific religions or values. This is also the general term that covers Catholic schools, which make up the majority of the Christian schools, together with the other religious-affiliated schools (Anglican, Lutheran, and so on) and the non-religious schools that conduct Waldorf or Montessori education. Figure 4.2 shows the percentages of the student population made up by schools in these three major categories. Approximately 12% of the students attend independent schools.

996 1698 6929

Figure 4.1 Number of Schools in Australia Source: Retrieved April 15, 2006, from http://ncisa.edu.au/.

1

For details, see Greenberg (1996).

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12.8%

20.1%

67.1%

Figure 4.2. Percentages of the Student Population Attending Schools in Australia Source: Retrieved April 15, 2006, from http://ncisa.edu.au/.

In all of Australia, there are about 80 schools that, like the Waldorf schools, carry on educational practices which are clearly distinguished from those of so-called traditional religious education and instead are conducted in line with particular educational ideas or philosophies. No doubt schools with such unique individual identities would be unaccredited and unable to receive subsidies in some countries. In Australia, however, they operate on the basis of subsidies from the federal and state governments. They furnish on average 60% of their own budgets from tuition and other such fees, and make up the remaining 40% with government subsidies. The greater part of that funding comes from the federal government, and public subsidies have become such an important financial resource that those schools would be unable to operate without subsidies from the federal government.

Mount Barker Waldorf School: Realizing the Principles of Waldorf Education Under an Existing System The Mount Barker Waldorf School (hereafter MWS) is located in a hilly area about 50 minutes by car from Adelaide, which is in the southeast of South Australia and has the fifth largest population in Australia. There are 48 Waldorf schools in Australia.2 Two of those are in the state of South Australia, where Adelaide is located, and MWS is one of those two. South Australia received many immigrants from Germany, and some of the students attending MWS come from German immigrant families. MWS is distinctive in offering education from kindergarten straight through high school (upper secondary education), which few schools in Australia do.3 The kindergarten and primary school divisions are particularly popular, and have several tens of names on their waiting lists. Entry does not require any examinations, but is determined by interviews that also involve parents. The determining criteria include such factors as the parents' understanding of Waldorf education and the home environment. 2

For contact points at individual schools, see Edmunds (compiled by Wyndham, K. C.) (2000).

3

This kind of consecutive, consistent education is referred to as R-12, meaning that it extends without break from reception (education before entering school) to 12th year.

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Waldorf education in itself possesses a complete, unique curriculum of its own. MWS is not a boarding school, however, so the living environment outside school must have an influence on students that is not negligible, and the school makes correspondingly high demands of parents (or guardians). As just one example, parents of applicants are asked in the interview whether they would be able to keep their children from watching any television in their home until the children reach the upper grades of primary school. The school presently has about 330 students, and the staff numbers approximately 40, including both full-time and part-time employees. Waldorf schools ordinarily do not have a principal. MWS is no exception, and though it has a head administrator who has long experience in operating a school and who represents MWS at state-level meetings, MWS does not have a staff hierarchy of the kind found at other schools. The highest decision-making body at the school is known as the College of Teachers, which is a team made up of about 10 mostly veteran teachers. The following sections will describe the characteristic features of this school, including in particular how the school perceives and maintains those areas where the distinctive Waldorf education interfaces with the regular educational system, such as the way its students proceed to university study.

Courses of Instruction with Established Reputations The courses at MWS have established reputations not only among the parents of students but also among university professors in the state who lecture in education. This is apparent from observation of classes held by the individual teachers as well as from the Year 12 Projects that students create in the final year of school. Students who have reached their final year choose a topic and before graduation give a 45-minute presentation on their topic before parents, teachers, and other students. These presentations are of very high quality. The topics are selected by students themselves working with the guidance and advice of their teachers. Many of the topics are related to the arts. Presentations by MWS students graduating in the fiscal 2003 year, for example, included such topics as The Cello: Playing, Learning, and Performing, An Exploration of Faith and Spirituality: A Journey into Islam and Buddhism, and Real-Time Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics. Each student created a finished work consisting of photographs and a written paper posted on a large drawing board. All the students, parents and other family members, and teachers were invited to the presentations, which also involved the use of slides, performance on musical instruments, and other such elements. The author was fortunate to have the opportunity to observe the presentations of about 10 graduating students, and found a stunning degree of quality and finish in all of them. There was an eye-opening level of quality apparent in the classes, as well. There was a friendly relationship among teachers and students, who called the teachers by their first names, but the classrooms were orderly. This is due in large part to the systematic curriculum devised on the basis of Steiner's anthroposophy, but the sincerity and enthusiasm of the particular teachers at MWS must also have had a major influence. Another factor in this orderliness is the distinctive Waldorf educational policy of assigning the same teacher to stay with a class of students and oversee their development for seven years, from first grade to the end of their compulsory education. On his first visit to this school, the author observed the fifth-grade class.4 4

The following description of MWS is based upon the author's records of interviews with teachers during participant observation of the school from October to November 2001 and June 2003 to March 2004.

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39

Students in the fifth grade at a Waldorf school spend their year in a thorough study of Greek myth. In this class, the students would start the morning period by reciting ancient Greek poetry while moving their bodies and imagining how things were in those times. As they did this, they drew pictures and wrote down explanations in a drawing-board-sized notebook. The teacher read to them from Homer's Iliad, and explained it by describing the historical background of the Battle of Salamis. He also answered questions from the students. After that, they went out in the schoolyard and tried playing ancient Greek games. From the five classical Greek sports they chose wrestling and discus throwing to try for themselves. The students would also cut bamboo and make spears for spear tossing as part of this experience. Once they worked through a certain amount of story and learned their games, the students would hold a competitive meet with the other Waldorf school in the state. The students would even build two-wheeled chariots by hand for such meets. The winners would be bestowed with laurel-wreath crowns, and after the closing ceremony, the winners and losers would all feast on Greek food. The education throughout the year places value in this way not only on acquiring knowledge but also on active physical use of the body for a comprehensive learning experience. One more distinctive characteristic of instruction at MWS is foreign language education. Every student studies the German and Japanese languages up to the ninth year. From their tenth year, students have a larger number of subjects to cover, so they choose one of the two languages to continue with. The Japanese language teacher at MWS has lived in Australia for 20 years or more and has worked at the school for 19 years. Instruction in Japanese is like the other courses in that it does not simply teach how to read and write the language, but also mixes in traditional songs, dance, and so on. By the fifth grade, students have progressed to the point that they can put on simple skits. Students at higher levels are also taught calligraphy and other elements of Japanese culture. In the class observed by the author, upper-level students coming up to graduation were being taught the meaning of ichi-go ichi-e (the view that every occasion is a unique, never-to-be-repeated opportunity), after which they showed how they could write Japanese characters with a well-practised hand. With the cooperation of Japanese craftsmen, the school built a Japanese language classroom which was completed in 2004. This makes it possible for Australian children to have close contact with the actuality of Japanese culture on an everyday basis. Only a very few examples can be cited here, but the fine quality of the instruction offered at this school is universally acknowledged. MWS is visited by an evaluation team from the state Department of Education and Children's Services at intervals of approximately five years. In the past, the evaluators used to be suspicious, as though the school were somehow ‘different,’ but that was long ago. Now the instruction and other activities of MWS are given very positive evaluations, and the school appears to have gained considerable credibility.

A Back Door Strategy: Linking up with Institutions of Higher Education In the year it was founded, MWS had only 37 students. Their numbers increased as time passed, and by 1990 the school had students in the 12th grade. One of them was a young woman who wanted to matriculate at a local institution called Flinders University. The university informed her, however, that it could not accept students

40

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

from a school that did not, because of the unique curriculum of Waldorf education, have a policy of encouraging its students to take the 12th-year matriculation test (qualifying them to enter university). However, MWS staff members and the student took her graduation year project and paper directly to the university, which therefore had to recognize her ability and accepted her to the university. The following year, two more MWS students were similarly accepted by Flinders University. In this way, the school gained the university's confidence. Now, as shown in the following figures, the academic performance of MWS students who matriculate at the local Adelaide University and Flinders University is far above average. A five-level grading system is ordinarily used: (1) High Distinctions, (2) Distinctions, (3) Credits, (4) Passes, and (5) Fails. (1) is said to make up 5% or less, (2) about 15-20%, (3) and (4) 60%, and (5) about 15-20%. More than one out of five and very few are under (5) (see Figures 4.3 and 4.4). 6.7% 3.6%

22.4% High Distinctions Distingtions Credits Passes Fails

36.0%

31.4%

Figure 4.3

Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates at University of Adelaide

Note: Academic performance in 420 credits of work (1991–2001) performed by MWS graduates accepted at Adelaide University. Source: Bill Wood, ‘Innovation, Difference, Performance: The Mount Barker Waldorf School, South Australia,’ paper presented at 2003 Educational Research Conference, School of Education, Flinders University, p. 18.

A comparative figure of the performance of MWS graduates and other graduate of other schools who are randomly chosen at University of Adelaide shows distinctive differences clearly between them. Graduates of this school have also earned very good reputations at many universities in other states. A considerable number of MWS graduates currently go on to study at university. The MWS accountant was asked whether this might not be because their parents were mostly highly educated and were high earners. The reply was that the social class of MWS parents was largely the same as at ordinary public schools, and that in fact more MWS parents might be in economically trying circumstances.

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2.3% 15.1%

13.7% High Distinctions Distingtions

Credits

Passes

Fails

35.1% 33.8%

Figure 4.4

Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates at Flinders University

Note: Academic performance in 684 credits of work (1991-2001) performed by MWS graduates accepted at Flinders University. Source: Bill Wood, ‘Innovation, Difference, Performance: The Mount Barker Waldorf School, South Australia,’ paper presented at 2003 Educational Research Conference, School of Education, Flinders University, p. 17.

㪈㪇㪇㩼 㪏㪇㩼 㪍㪇㩼 㪋㪇㩼 㪉㪇㩼 㪇㩼

High Distinctions Distinctions

Credits Passes

Fails

MWS

Faculty of Science

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Figure 4.5 Academic Performance (%) of MWS Graduates and Other Schools at University of Adelaide Source: Academic performance in 1,324 credits of work (1991-2001) performed by MWS graduates accepted at Adelaide University and the one in 12,371 credits of work performed by MWS graduates and other randomly chosen students of the Faculty of Science (1995-1997) and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (2000).

Note: Bill Wood, ‘Innovation, Difference, Performance: The Mount Barker Waldorf School, South Australia,’ paper presented at 2003 Educational Research Conference, School of Education, Flinders University, p. 19.

The annual tuition fees at MWS are actually not expensive compared to ordinary independent schools. There are different fees for lower school years and higher school years, but these amount to approximately 2,140-2,360 dollars (all dollars are Australian dollars) for low-income households, and 3,300-3,600 dollars even for medium to high-income households. In South Australia, low-income households receive support (known as the School Card) from the State government. It is not uncommon for MWS children to be from mother-child families (without any father in

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the home) that have low incomes due to divorce, and 34% of the parents of MWS students are holders of School Cards that certify their eligibility for this kind of government support. Waldorf schools in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, are being forced by the state education department to compromise on their curriculum and bring it in line with the curriculum prescribed by the state. MWS, however, has gone far in gaining the trust of the South Australia state government, and it does not face problems of this kind. Children in Australia who want to go on to study at university generally prepare during their 12th year at school to take a matriculation examination. This is also the case at Waldorf schools in Sydney. Students of MWS, however, are allowed to matriculate on the basis of their grades and evaluation by MWS teachers. They are not required to take the tests for universities either in South Australia or other states. As noted earlier, this has come about because the graduates of MWS have won the confidence of the various universities by their excellent academic performance. They are entirely exceptional, even from a nationwide perspective. Because the back door strategy relieves them of the necessity to prepare for the matriculation test, according to one of the MWS staff members, students there can concentrate even more on their graduation year projects, which allows them to develop even greater self-confidence. Let us turn next to the background and context that have made it possible to uphold such a unique position.

Support Mechanisms: A Code of Ethics that Restrains a Runaway Market Support from the Government and Conditions of Accreditation The federal and state governments are considered to be responsible for supplementing the educational expenses paid by all students, and based on this principle, they provide subsidies to the independent schools. At present, the main sources of operating funds for independent schools in the state of South Australia are subsidies from the federal and state governments and tuition fees paid by parents. Under the federal system of government n Australia, the Federal government provides most funds to independent schools, while the State governments provide most funding to public schools. A look at the composition of public school budgets indicates that public schools are funded by the state government at an average annual rate of approximately 6,000 dollars per student. The funding from the federal government is less than one-sixth of that amount. Independent schools are provided with public subsidies from the state government of approximately 1,000 dollars per student, and from the federal government of approximately 2,000 dollars. This, however, amounts to no more than half the average amount budgeted for public schools, so for the remainder, the schools must rely on the tuition fees paid by parents. The proportions of the budgets of independent schools in South Australia provided by federal government, state government, and parents are as shown in the following figure. It should be emphasized that the figures shown in Figure 4.6 are averages. At some independent schools, the share paid by parents may rise as high as 75%. Schools with a higher percentage of relatively low-income families will receive greater proportions of public subsidies from the federal and state governments.

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Public School

Independent School 7%

9%

29% Commonwealth Govt. State Govt.

58%

Parent

13% 84%

Figure 4.6 Budget Composition of Independent and Public Schools Source: AISSA, ‘Who really funds school education in South Australia?’ The Independent: Bulletin from the Association of Independent Schools, October 2001.

The government of South Australia state strongly supports parental choice of school. However, it does not support a totally free-market policy regarding the establishment of independent schools. In order for independent schools to be accredited by the state government, they must satisfy the basic conditions described below (Minister for Education and Children's Services, South Australia 1997, p. i). x The nature and content of instruction offered, or to be offered, at the school is satisfactory. x The school provides adequate protection for the safety, health and welfare of its students; and x The school has sufficient financial resources to enable it to comply with the above conditions in the future. x In order to receive subsidies from the federal government, a school must additionally satisfy the following conditions. It must: x furnish evidence of non-profit status; x provide the Commonwealth with the financial and other information required to enable a decision to be made about an appropriate funding level; x agree to provide the accountability data required by the Commonwealth; and x provide a statutory declaration of enrolments once the school has opened. An independent school will, in principle, be allowed to open and operate if there are no problems relating to the instructional, welfare, and financial aspects as laid out in the above standards for accreditation. The determination as to whether any problem actually exists or not is left to the judgement of inspectors from the state government. MWS, however, is said to have built up a very positive relationship with the state Department of Education and Children's Services.

Mutual Assistance Network When MWS was founded, the only support it received from an Anthroposophical association, of which it was a member, was seed money for getting the school started. A private grant of land for establishing the school was received from German

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immigrant adherents of Anthroposophy. Supporting funds for the construction of school buildings were also received from members of the Anthroposophical Association. The school was able to operate on its own resources from the second year onward. The school has had to devote considerable effort to maintaining its unique character within the existing education system, as was seen earlier with the problem that arose in connection with university matriculation. Now, however, the school's situation is changing in this regard. The reason is that a network linking independent schools in the state to each other has been established. The South Australian Independent Schools Board (ISB) was founded in 1974 as a network organization for independent schools in South Australia state. It has since been renamed the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA), and continues to perform an important role. Networks of this kind can also be found in other states, and there is the National Council of Independent Schools' Associations (now renamed the Independent Schools Council of Australia), which is a nationwide organization for dealing with trends at the federal government level, as well. About 80 independent schools in the state are members of AISSA. These represent a total enrollment of approximately 28,000 students. The main groups of schools that make up the membership of AISSA are as shown in the following.5 x

The Anglican Schools Commission,

x

Christian Community Schools,

x

Christian Parent Controlled Schools,

x

Non-aligned Christian Schools,

x

The Greek school,

x

The Jewish school,

x

The Lutheran Education Council,

x

Montessori schools,

x

Uniting Church schools.

Relatively large numbers of residents of South Australia state are Lutheran and Anglican. There are also schools such as the Montessori and Waldorf schools that do not profess any particular religious affiliation, however, and they also, without exception, are members of AISSA. The role of AISSA is to represent the independent schools externally and conduct lobbying and public information activities directed to the state government and so on. It also provides individual schools with essential advice on statutes affecting the establishment and operation of schools, organizes development seminars for teaching staff, and provides individual schools with information on the business and industrial world.6 It also provides handbooks to help member independent schools operate successfully. AISSA has established a primary school headmasters' group, a middle school headmasters' group, a group for school staff who coordinate with industry, a health, safety, and welfare committee, a membership committee, a primary school curriculum group, a middle school curriculum group, and other such groups and committees organized by function that meet periodically. Operating expenses are paid out of the registration fees that are collected annually from each independent school. The registration fees are approximately 20 dollars per student, which in the case of MWS 5

South Australian Independent Schools Board Incorporated (1998), p. 6.

6

For details, see South Australian Independent Schools Board Incorporated (1996).

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amounts to approximately 7,000 dollars per year. With the registration fees that are collected from its member schools, AISSA operates a secretariat that employs eight full-time staff members. It is interesting to note that a set of implicit ethical rules operates in AISSA. These rules do not have the force of laws or regulations, but they do constitute a functioning code. The handbook that is distributed to AISSA member schools contains a passage to the effect that: ‘It is recommended that Councils develop a code of conduct (a statement of code of ethics) and role statement for Councillors to ensure that all have clear guidance about their responsibilities and behaviour as a Councillor (South Australian Independent Schools Board Incorporated 1998, p. 6).’ The most valuable function of the ethical code referred to here is control of the market. In other words, AISSA exercises a restraining influence so that the multiple competing independent schools in the state will not undermine the quality of education that is their presumed goal. This restraining force functions as an implicit code of ethics. The independent school support organizations differ considerably from state to state. In South Australia, where the population is relatively less mobile, the heads of the various independent schools are often likely to be schoolmates from traditional schools they attended together. In other words, it is as though an old boy's club of people who know each other well exists inside AISSA. Thus it is more likely that a code of ethics based on mutual trust will be able to function there than it is in other states. An influential newspaper in South Australia once approached AISSA with the suggestion that independent schools place advertisements in the newspaper. It is not at all uncommon for private universities in such market-oriented societies as Japan, for example, to place large advertisements in the newspaper. When AISSA was approached about this, however, the members decided not to pursue a course that would incite greater competition among independent schools and among the parents of students at independent schools in the state. There was just one school in South Australia that was business-minded in this respect. The principal of this school tended toward strong, uncooperative words and behaviour within AISSA, and was what might be called an anomalous presence in the group. The AISSA regulations did not, of course, provide any foundation for ordering this school to stop advertising itself. This business-minded principal, however, is said to have spontaneously started limiting that kind of activity. One of the founders of MWS remarked that this kind of unwritten code in South Australia embodied a wisdom born of the need for coexistence, and that it was a manifestation of moral integrity.

Issues for the Future The federal government instituted a nationwide system of standardized tests of reading comprehension and mathematics for third, fifth, and seventh-year students that began in 2001. It should be noted in passing that this systems was said to have come into being as a result of academic achievement evaluations conducted by an international organization. Those evaluations apparently influenced the then Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, to institute the system. Needless to say, MWS and other independent schools voiced their opposition to this plan. After negotiation with the state education department, it was decided to treat these schools as exceptions. As of March 2004, therefore, measures have been implemented whereby students can be exempted from this testing, not at the school level, but rather at the level of individual parents, who can fill out a simple form requesting exemption.

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MWS collects these forms from all the parents—except for a very few from parents who want their children to be tested—and submits them together to the South Australia state government. As noted earlier, MWS has worked to maintain its distinctive character, for instance by achieving exemption from matriculation tests (for entry into university) by its graduates. It has sought in this way to guarantee post-graduation possibilities for its students. It is also the case, however, that there has been a growing trend toward standardization for the purpose of maintaining and improving the academic abilities of the nation's students. This has been especially marked since 1999, when the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs held its tenth conference and issued the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century. 7 Given these movements, MWS must consider the question of how to uphold its distinctive character as it faces increasing demands to deal with the federal and state governments and to take on a greater role in supporting organizations than ever before.

The Booroobin Sudbury School – A Center of Learning: A Family-Scale Independent School Engaged in a Hard Struggle The Birth of a Sudbury-Type Democratic School The Booroobin Sudbury School (hereafter BSS) is located in the southeast of Queensland state, outside the town of Maleny which is inland from the Sunshine Coast. Perched on a hilly site with a view out onto the Blackall Range, the campus occupies an expansive 16.4 hectares, 80% of which is covered by tropical forest8. BSS was born from the local Maleny community and out of a diverse group of people comprising children, their parents, teachers, and friends. These people set out in 1993 to establish a school that would suit their educational needs. The BSS type of educational philosophy, with its values and principles, evolved from an educational needs analysis by the individuals concerned. This process served to identify and clarify what they needed for the education of the children who would be the students. No single philosophy was promoted over any other. This analysis served to establish the children's educational needs from the ground up, rather than taking a top-down approach of selecting a model of education and seeking to apply it to everyone. After two years of intensive work by the founders, the school opened in February 1996 with the necessary approvals from local, State and Federal governments. An indication of its diversity, the founders of the school included a banker with 20 years of banking experience, teachers with experience in public and independent schools ranging from a few years to decades, writers, artists, farmers, single parents, small business owners, and so on. The banker and his wife had decided years earlier that they wanted their children to be responsible for themselves. They also wanted their children to be treated as equals

7

For details, see http://www.mceetya.edu.au/nationalgoals

8

The following account of BSS was written based on records of participant observation and interviews with staff and other school members during the author's visit to the school on November 2001 and October 2003 as well as an interview with officials of Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and Department of Education of Queensland Government in October 2003. As far as the descriptions of the school’s history and present situations are concerned, comments made by one of the founders of BSS were taken into consideration in proof.

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and as individuals. For most of their lives, the couple had lived in Brisbane, the State capital, which is located some 100 km from Maleny. They had held executive and founding director positions in a range of interesting communities. However they planned to have their own children grow up in a rural environment near a town with a strong sense of community. After making a search of suitable towns within commuting distance of Brisbane, they selected the Maleny district and purchased some land there. When BSS opened, the couple already had four sons in public school. The children had reasonably satisfactory experiences at school, but there were bullying issues that the public school was unable to address effectively and to the mutual satisfaction of those involved. The couple also wanted their children attend a school that would give them real preparation for life, and teach them to be responsible individuals. They wanted to find a school that valued justice, and allowed the students to enjoy their childhood years. The educational needs analysis done by the founders of BSS made clear that they all held similar values. They researched many different models of education around the world to try to locate a school that was the same as or very similar to the school that had been defined by the needs analysis. They researched written materials, talked with people who had experience with other schools, watched videos, and invited teachers from a number of alternative schools such as Montessori, Steiner, Summerhill, and the Sudbury Valley School (SVS) in Massachusetts, USA (Sudbury Valley School is a democratic school located in the state of Massachusetts in the United States that values freedom and self-governance. For details, see Greenberg 1996). They were especially impressed by Free at Last, a book written by the SVS founder, who describes a democratic approach to education that treats children not as children but as human beings. After completing comprehensive research on many schools, the founders of BSS decided to base their own school on the SVS model. Although this point was not clearly articulated at the time, it became evident later that what the founders wanted for the students was a participatory democracy. This was how SVS had operated since its inception in 1968, giving the children a voice and a vote in any decisions made at school, thus providing them with a splendid foundation for adult life in a civil democracy. Initially, the founders established BSS as a cooperative school that was incorporated under Queensland state laws. It was the only school in Queensland that was operated as a cooperative. The school wrote its own unique constitution in 1994, integrating the key features of participatory democracy. That constitution remains substantially unchanged to this day. Before BSS opened, the cooperative had been called The Maleny District Community Learning Centre. Then, in 1996, BSS was established as a non-profit corporation. The cooperative school was converted into a company in this way because this approach to operating a school was more congenial to some of the local people, who had entrenched negative attitudes to cooperatives. When the school first started, it had about 25 students. As of October 2003, there were 22 children and six staff members. There is no settlement large enough adjacent to the school to be called even a village, but the children come from Maleny and other towns that are up to 1.5 hours away by car Some of them are from families that moved here from far away in order to educate their children at this liberal school. The Queensland State legislature requires independent schools to have at least one State qualified teacher. Since Australia is a highly unionized country, this requirement could have been another obstacle to the founding of BSS. The school therefore advertised for staff in the leading national newspaper. Applications with curricula

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

vitae and references came in from all over the country. Some of the founders also applied. In comparison with other schools, one key difference of the participatory democracy of SVS and the one planned for BSS was that not only did applicants undergo screening and interviews, and have their references checked in the usual manner, but they were also elected by the school adults and students. Acceptance as a faculty member at BSS required numerous qualifications. Teaching was foremost among them. About 60% of the staff have children enrolled as students in the school. Most recently, staff members have included the ex-banker, ceramic artist and successful art gallery collective founder, an outdoor education and sports teacher, a health and safety policy officer and now a baker, a waiter from top-ranked restaurants, community worker and a teacher who had served at public schools until retirement. They had rich experiences in different fields as well as their own complementary special interests and skills. In 1996, after undertaking all the necessary preparatory work and research, and having obtained local government approval, BSS was approved to operate by the Federal Department of Education. It was then officially accredited as a non-state school by the Queensland Department of Education without any difficulty. This put BSS in the position of being able to operate as a school. However, it had not been approved for any government subsidy. That approval is contingent on inspection by the state government of the school’s operational implementation of its approved application as a non-state school. This is a prerequisite for the receipt of government subsidy status. BSS did not officially receive this status until 1997.

Natural Learning and Natural Learners BSS was originally named the Maleny District Community Learning Centre. Founders thought that the word “school” should not be used in the name, because it was related with what they objected against. However, the then students found it difficult to explain to their friends what a Centre of Learning was. After they discussed a number of proposed names, the School Meeting decided on the name, the Booroobin School - a centre of learning. ‘Booroobin’ in the BSS name is both the location of the school, and a word in the language of the Australian aborigines that means black possum. This is a marsupial animal found only in Australia. The day at BSS starts at nine o'clock. When they arrive at the school, the students sign themselves in on a student attendance sheet posted in a corner of the small meeting room, and after that they spend their individual time freely. One does not observe the scenes of children moving from room to room when the bell rings to announce the next class, as in ordinary schools. The school does not offer any prearranged classes set by teachers. Students spend their time working on topics that interest them individually, or spend their time as they please. Some children may have fun playing computer games; while others play with animals or enjoy swinging on the trapeze rope they call the Swing. There are also those who are studying on their own such subjects as marine biology, the structure of engines, and computers. Adults assist them with their learning only when they are asked to do so. They call this kind of activity Natural Learning. This is founded in the view of children held by the founders, according to whom all children will gradually, over time, work out for themselves what interests them most, without being coerced or manipulated. All children are believed to learn most from the natural environment and to have natural learning abilities which allow them to discover who they are and the things about which they are passionate. The staff are part of the natural environment as well as natural learners. In this view the roles of the staff are to support children’s expressed needs.

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The general public school in Queensland, as elsewhere, conducts usually agesegregated classes in separate, traditional subjects centered on reading, writing, and arithmetic. BSS, however, has eight Life Skills areas based on its own unique philosophy of learning. These are, namely, thinking, creating, participating, taking responsibility, investigating, communicating, reflecting, and having knowledge of the self. The children's learning is brought into being through the mutual interaction of these elements in the school, in which the students have majority decision-making power, in the environment of nature and in the atmosphere of the home.

Full School Meetings and the Justice Committee The founders of BSS wrote the school's constitution to make the school a constitutional democracy. This constitution stipulates that certain democratic mechanisms must be constantly in operation. These are the school meeting, the justice committee, the school corporations, the assembly, the board of trustees, and the board of directors. Within these constants, significant changes can and do take place. The people make proposals, debate the proposals, and make decisions accordingly, just as happens in corporations, small businesses, government, and private life every day around the world. Significant, broad-based informal learning and teaching take place through such democratic mechanisms. Life at the school includes rules that are decided by the children and staff adults together. School Meetings take place every Thursday. At these meetings, all aspects of school life are discussed by all the members of the school together. The co-founder stated that “BSS is not like Summerhill in England. This is because at Summerhill, some things such as the operation of the school were entrusted to the decisions of adults, but here, everything that has to do with school life, including management, hiring and firing of staff, and all committee activities, are decided by the children and adults on an equal basis.” Attendance at the full School Meeting is voluntary (participation by right, not by compulsion), but debate and decisions about posted Agenda items listed in advance of the Meeting, usually centres on older students and staff, and the meetings usually go from ten o'clock in the morning to one in the afternoon. At times the thoroughgoing debates mean that a meeting might last until two o'clock in the afternoon without any break for lunch, or are adjourned until the next day. Meetings are chaired by either staff or students. All school meetings are minuted on computer, the minutes are shown on the main notice board for everyone to read, and another copy is filed in the school meeting minutes binder. The school's rules are contained in the Law Book, which has regulations relating to the safety, hygiene, and other aspects of school life under some 250 headings. These rules which are decided by students and staff only are essentially in three broad categories: respect for the people, respect for property and the environment, and safety. For safety, for example, it is a rule that two staff members always be on the school grounds, and the Law Book gives detailed prescriptions regarding bicycle parking areas, the prohibition of violence and hurt (feelings or physical), the care of animals, things that must not be brought indoors, smoking areas, pillow fight areas, the maximum number of students per staff member, and so on. The justice committee (JC) is made up of three to five students and one staff member. All BSS students take turns serving on the JC. One or two students who serve as elected JC clerks manage and organize the JC hearings. The committee conducts these hearings at least three times a week. All the staff members take turns sitting on the JC. When a rule is alleged to have been broken, the JC refers to the codified law book to assess whether the complaint is valid. If the complaint is deemed valid, then the complainant, the person being complained about, and any witnesses are called

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individually, their testimony is heard, and any evidence is viewed. The committee then discusses the testimony. The JC has the power to find a person guilty or not guilty of breaking the rules. When a person is found guilty, the JC may impose a range of sanctions from a warning to a more consequential disciplinary action. They may recommend “reflection time” off campus or expulsion. The JC recommendations are dealt with solely by the School Meeting in instances of the former recommendations, but the latter must also be considered and decided by the assembly. No students have been expelled to date, although expulsion has been recommended. A number of students have been required to undertake off-campus reflection time for varying lengths of time, based on the nature of the complaint and the rules that were broken. This is to allow those students to reflect on what happened, and on whether BSS is the right school for them. The School Meeting also delegates authority to people, referred to as clerks, who have the skills, knowledge, commitment, and sense of responsibility to undertake certain specified tasks. In short, BSS has identified nearly 30 such individual or joint roles that are shared between staff and students, such as admissions clerks, enrolment clerk, parent liaison clerks, buildings and maintenance clerks, first aid clerks, farm clerk, grounds clerk, natural learning curricula clerk, ablutions clerk, automotive clerk and so on. There are also groups with special interests known as School Corporations that are active on campus just as the clerks are. More than just clubs, School Corporations, being authorized by the School Meeting, are autonomous bodies. Corporations stem from the interests and initiative of students. As seen in all other activities at BSS, staff are available to respond to students’ needs, but don’t direct their needs or interests. There are or have been an Art Corporation, a Board Games Corporation, a Camping and Bushwalking Corporation, a Café Corporation, a Cooking Corporation, a Farm Corporation, a Multimedia Corporation, a BSS Press, and so on, all of which conduct their own distinctive activities.9 There appears to be something at BSS apart from the written rules that make the community work. A BSS teacher who used to teach at public school, made a remark about this that could be said to express the school ethos: BSS has a number of different rules, but they can all be boiled down to three basic principles. That is, to care for others, to assure safety, and to treat things with consideration.

There is no doubt that BSS has a webwork of rules that can regulate all aspects of life at the school. As this teacher has pointed out, however, there is an underlying common sense of individuality, co-operation and care for others that is at work in all that happens at BSS, and this contributes greatly to the atmosphere of the school as a whole.

School Budgets Before discussing the BSS budget, this section will give an overview of the budgets of ordinary public schools and independent schools in Australia. Australia has approximately two million students attending public schools and some half that, or approximately one million students attending independent schools. Government budgets provide for public subsidies to independent schools, as well. However, the amount disbursed to public schools in all amounts to 14 billion dollars, against which independent schools receive only 3.7 billion dollars (AISQ 2000). 9

For details, see http://www.booroobin.com

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Moreover, there are data showing that households with children attending independent schools are not necessarily well-to-do. The graph in Figure 4.7 shows the numbers of students attending public schools and independent schools by three levels of annual household income. As this figure makes clear, the households that choose to send children to independent schools are found in most cases at the 36,400-51,999 dollars/year or 52,000-77,999 dollars/year levels. These are relatively low or average income levels. This suggests one reason for the strong desire to have government financial support for independent schools. 㪋㪇㪇㪇㪇㪇

㪊㪇㪇㪇㪇㪇

㪉㪇㪇㪇㪇㪇

㪥㫆㫅㪄 㪞㫆㫍㪼㫉㫅㫄㪼㫅㫋

㪈㪇㪇㪇㪇㪇

㪞㫆㫍㪼㫉㫅㫄㪼㫅㫋

㪇 㩷㫋 㪇㪇 㪍㪋 㪊 㩻

Figure 4.7

㪐 㪐㪐 㪌㪈 㩷 㫆

㩷㫋 㪇㪇 㪉㪇 㪌 㩻

㪐 㪐㪐 㪎㪎 㩷 㫆 㫉 㪤㫆

㪼㩷㫋

㪇㪇 㪏㪇 㪎 㩻 㫅㩷 㪿㪸

Numbers of Students at Public Schools and Non-Public Schools (by Income)

Source: AISQ, AISQ Research Brief, issue 1/00 (August 2000).

As remarked earlier, BSS received formal accreditation from the Queensland state Department of Education as a non-state school in 1996. This made BSS eligible to receive assistance from the state and federal governments. This was achieved in 1997. The 1999 income can be broken down as shown below. Figure 4.8 shows the great diversity of financial resources from which the school's finances are drawn. The largest share is composed of subsidies from the federal government. However, more than 40% that remains after public subsidies from the federal and state governments are excluded is made up of contributions from the parents of students and other income generated by the school from diverse sources.

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11.0% 0.5%

0.8% 22.8%

3.8% 2.6%

0.4%

0.8%

0.1% 0.8%

56.4%

Figure 4.8. Breakdown of BSS Income (FY 1999) (%) Source: Prepared by author from Maleny District Community Learning Centre Limited A.B.N. 54 077 579 027: Audit Report and Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31st December 2000.

BSS sought and has also been approved and provided with minor project funds from a local Credit Union (a credit cooperative, like a small Bank), and is involved in volunteer activities in the region. As one recent example, the school obtained 2,500 dollars from the Maleny and District Community Credit Union Ltd. to plant indigenous bushfoods and other rainforest tree species, and they have also participated in a joint reforestation project with townspeople in which 5,000 trees were planted in two days. They also installed a weather station on a high point in their campus and are using it for weather observation.

Struggles with the State Government When applying to register an independent school in Australia, the bulk of documentation must be submitted to the state government rather than to the federal government. BSS completed the entire procedure in only about two years. They did this without any assistance from state officials or the AISQ. However, the school experienced numerous difficulties after accreditation. They had understood to some extent that inspection by the state government would entail some trouble and care, but founders and staff said that the actual time and work they had to put in was far beyond what they had expected. In fact, as one of the founders has commented, he believed that he was doing more work for the government than for the students. Yet the school had been established for those students without any kind of government funding. According to him, BSS so far has again and again experienced treatment that amounts to intolerable intrusions and harassment from the state government. Inspectors and Assessors evaluation teams from the Queensland State Department of Education were coming to investigate the school every three or four months in some years even after it had been accredited. There was more than one inspection on average each year for the life of the school. Every time they visited, there would be requests for information

CASE STUDY: AUSTRALIA

53

and documents not previously sought or which they gave advance notice of requiring, and they would take away several copies of the personal learning plans that record the students' learning, and then come back later and request additional documentation. This happened repeatedly. The State government administration supervising evaluation teams are said to have shown consistent bad faith. In 1999 BSS wrote its own natural learning curricula (NLC) to satisfy the State. The State government and responsible Minister, who set the conditions that required the curricula and other actions, had the documentation for over six months. The following year, almost no reference was made to the NLC. Reports on the personal development and learning of the students were questioned severely, as if their work, experience, and personal knowledge amounted to nothing. The substance of the reports in effect required BSS to implement the same practices as ordinary public schools, which they had reasonably decided provided an unsatisfactory learning environment and life preparation for their student children. BSS took the approach of responding with rebuttals in writing, and they created documents containing even more pages than the inspection reports to request reconsideration of the evaluation results. This has been a continuing effort by the school. The disbursement of subsidy funds to the school would also be significantly delayed for a variety of reasons even though accreditation had been received. The school year in Australia starts in February. The first subsidies are usually deposited in January. There was one year when the subsidy payments were not deposited until September because of the state government's continued refusal to re-register BSS. The school had to operate without those funds until the payments were received. The conditions imposed by the government in 1999 included the finalization of further land use approvals. Since BSS was satisfied that it already had sufficient approval in place, the school found it necessary to take action against the local government for seeking to impose unfair and extraordinary conditions that would have stopped the school from operating. BSS initiated several meetings with the local government to seek a mutually satisfactory resolution. Once again, however, the local government continually brought up new issues, some of which fell outside their legislative authority. BSS found that its only recourse was to take the case to court. The school did not have adequate funds to pay solicitors and a barrister to represent the school. That cost would have been on the order of $10,000 per day. It was therefore decided that BSS would present its own case, even though this meant that BSS would be up against the best solicitors and barrister that the local government in southeast Queensland had. BSS staff members therefore spent many stressful hours preparing for their court case. The court session went for a full day a half, including a visit by the judge to the campus. In the end, BSS won most of what it sought, including three campus accommodation units for residential students and staff. BSS was denied only one thing, its request for further accommodation units. In 2001, delays in funding approvals following further inspections caused the school to experience financial problems so severe that they led the school to lose ownership of its campus early in 2002. The school had been forced to put up the property as collateral for a bank loan. In 2003, new legislation caused the school to be assessed again. The session lasted for four hours. Based on a single written complaint, assessors were appointed for this purpose by a new Non-State Schools Accreditation Board. This board is accountable only to the State Minister for Education and it is made up of government appointed education officials along with members who are nominated from the existing Catholic,

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independent and Christian school associations. After reviewing the assessor's report, the Board decided to cancel the school’s accreditation. Written submissions were made in support of the school by all the parents, staff members, and students. The three submissions, totalling some 350 pages, presented evidence of learning and details of the research and literature that supported the school’s operation. Numerous letters, e-mails and petitions were also received from within Australia as well as from overseas, including some from the world’s leading free schools and associations. There was a great deal of media coverage as well as a continuous 100-km march over a period of 26 hours from Booroobin to the State Parliament House made by BSS parents, students, staff members, and friends to deliver petitions in person. Despite all this, the Minister eventually agreed with the Board. This assessment took place in March 2003, and the last appeal on behalf of the school to the State government was finally denied on the last day of the school year in 2003. The reasons for the cancellation of the school's accreditation were as outlined earlier. In general, BSS was said not to be practicing education in accordance with the new Queensland State Education Act.10 On the first day of the 2004 school year, the returning students, the elected staff members, and the parents met and made a number of important decisions. These included the decision to rename the school, since the new Queensland legislation only allowed approved non-State schools to use the word “school” in their names. The School Meeting decided that the new name would be The Booroobin Sudbury Democratic Centre of Learning (TBSDCL). Then, the Committee arranged quiz nights, catering events, street stalls, and raffles to help raise money for the school. They also sought donations from parents and staff members throughout 2004. TBSDCL has expressed the intention to convey a message that will make the government understand that it ignored and trampled on the rights of parents, children, teachers and the school as defined in international treaties and covenants to which the Federal Government is a signatory. TBSDCL intends to lodge a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva providing full details of its treatment and describing how its rights were brought to the attention of the government but were ignored and denied. Until the assembly of the company decided in 2002 that it was prepared to operate without government subsidies, it had seemed improbable to observers that BSS would be able to operate without those subsidies. The operative assumption was that no school in Australia could operate except with the assistance and involvement of government and its direction through legislation. The individuals involved in BSS, however, displayed independence and personal sacrifice for their cause, as well as trust and respect both for their children and for their chosen educational model. The school community has shown a high level of resilience and determination to succeed, especially since BSS became self-funding in December 2003.

Relationship with the Association of Independent Schools The Association of Independent Schools of Queensland (AISQ) played a major role in 1996 in the process whereby BSS was approved to receive government funding from 1997. That organization joined with another parents' organization, the Independent Parents and Friends Council of Queensland Inc., in lobbying the Office of Non-State Schooling and the Queensland State Minister for Education as a last resort request of BSS. The initial level of assistance by the AISQ diminished significantly over time. TBSDCL took the view that the AISQ became compromised when it accepted a role in the process of nominating a person to participate in the decisions of the government-mandated Queensland Non-State Schools Accreditation Board. The 10

For details, see http://www.booroobin.com

CASE STUDY: AUSTRALIA

55

AISQ did not offer any level of assistance during 2003, even though the Queensland Board was known to be taking action to cancel the school’s accreditation. Immediately after its accreditation was withdrawn, TBSDCL cancelled its membership in the AISQ, and gave its reasons for doing so. Founders, along with members of the BSS staff, when interviewed, displayed a certain sense of resignation about AISQ and other such support organizations. One staff member said: When the unreasonable demands being made by the state government put us in such a painful position, we tried asking AISQ for help a couple of times. Actually we received no assistance, and eventually we were the ones who had to do the work of protecting ourselves. The Associations of Independent Schools are supposed to be quite committed to providing support, depending on the state. In conservative Queensland, however, the Association of Independent Schools did not perform the function it was supposed to perform.

A founder made the following point about AISQ at the state and nationwide levels: The AISQ organization is bureaucratic. What is even worse, however, is the nationwide NCISA. They act in concert with the federal government. Even though they are sharing information with the federal government, only a limited amount of information flows down here to the low end. Ultimately, all they do for us is to suggest a plan of compromise with the government.

Every state in Australia does have its own network of independent schools, it is true. It appears, however, that there are substantive disparities in how they operate, and in some states there have been calls to re-evaluate the functions of these organizations.

Identifying the Mechanisms that Foster Relatedness It has not been many years since BSS was founded. Nevertheless, this school shows the emergence of a new public character that was not to be seen in traditional education in Australia. This does not apply only to the daily life activities of the School Meetings or the Justice Committee. It also applies to the educational aspect in natural learning, where the children of BSS can be perceived as being on the way to creating a different relatedness from the one found among children at public schools. They are working toward relatedness with the real world as it exists today, and the world of nature at the individual level of the self, and with the world of science at the level of the self, as well as between themselves and other people. The Natural Learning Curricula (Approved Curriculum Framework and Related Planning Implementation Assessment and Observation Process) is a document prepared by BSS in 1999 as a response to the third full-scale inspection report issued by the state government since the school's founding. This report from BSS sets forth the scope of the vision that they hold and that the school seeks to realize. Its pages express a public character that embodies great possibilities within it. Enrollment at BSS has relied on just one criterion, which is still in effect. That is, students are expected to demonstrate not only a certain degree of responsibility, but also the capacity for taking on increasing degrees of responsibility over time. Some of the children who enroll in BSS are introverted or withdrawn, directly as a result of the effects and their experiences in both mainstream public and private schools and a very few have had slight handicaps. It is astonishing, however, to see with one's own eyes how all these children actually go about freely and actively pursuing their own particular interests at the school without feeling any stress whatsoever. The BSS staff do not give special treatment to children who have handicaps, but rather accept them, unburden them, and give them complete freedom in an atmosphere of caring. This

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kind of professionalism is required, and it is provided at BSS entirely as a matter of course. The significance suggested by this kind of educational practice is that it is important not only to the individual children but also to society as a whole. Given that, the bitter struggles experienced by the children, their parents and founders, and the elected staff must be rethought. In Queensland, regardless of whether an association of independent schools exists there or not, it is no simple, ordinary matter for regular members of the public to establish a school without a religious affiliation. There is a mountain of documentation that must be prepared on the land, the buildings, the qualifications of the teachers, the teaching plans, and so on. It is also fully to be expected, as happened with the founders, that submission of documents prepared at such expense of time and care will be followed by relentless, repeated demands to redraft those documents and prepare new and different documents to suit the demands of government with ever changing short term political goals. In recent years there have been two attempts by citizens' groups to found alternative schools in Queensland, neither of which succeeded. The reasons for their failure appear to be identified as problems with funding and property. It seems likely, however, that another factor is that mechanisms have not been adequately developed for extending assistance to citizens who have the intention but lack the professionalism to carry through with the procedure. Although different states in Australia may give them varying treatment, it would seem that the existence of alternative schools in that country is still very much a matter of the competence of the individuals involved. This is particularly the case, as one of the founders emphasized, for small alternative schools that do not enjoy the protection of large supporting systems and organizations as seen in the Waldorf schools movement or the assistance of religious groups. The establishment and operation of such smallscale schools without any religious affiliation is no easy matter. There seems to be a need in Australia, too, for systems that will allow little projects and good intentions to be fostered by anyone without having to rely on special individual talents.

Case Study: The Netherlands Alternative Education Shaken by Changes in its Basic Foundation

Anne Frank Montessori School (Amsterdam) 57

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Freedom of Education and the Principal of Financial Equality The Netherlands has traditionally cultivated the most deeply rooted spirit of civic humanism of all the European countries. Feudalism did not take hold in this country, which instead was early in developing a federation of city-states, and independent merchants and farmers took active part in achieving prosperity even before its war of independence. This spirit of independence and autonomy can easily be discerned not only in politics and science but in education, as well. The educational system of the Netherlands has freedom of education in its foundation. Article 23 of the Constitution declares the freedom of education (vrijheid van onderwijs), and on the basis of this principle guarantees the freedom to found schools, freedom of school policies, and freedom of school organization. The right of citizens to establish schools on their own, apart from the public education that the government provides without charge in public schools, is recognized in principle (the freedom to found schools). Moreover, private schools founded by particular religions and ideologies can be operated at public expense, and certain specific educational methods such as Montessori and the Dalton Plan can also be adopted by individual schools (freedom of school policies). Each school has also been granted the authority to hire teaching staff and to create or select the teaching materials appropriate for its teaching methodology, noted above, in order to realize such a school policy (freedom of school organization). In addition, the financial independence of schools is also recognized to a considerable extent, so that every school can plan its own budget according to its own needs, without any limitations on personnel expenses, capital expenses, or other such expense categories. This makes it possible for each school to conduct its own unique activities. Together with these various freedoms, another distinctive characteristic of education in the Netherlands is the principle of financial equality of public and private schools. Since 1917, public schools and private schools have received full subsidies from the national treasury by the exact same standards, and the teaching staff of private schools have the same legal status equivalent to the civil servant status in public schools. Upon this principle of equality there stands an educational system that, as will be discussed later, has a proportion of private schools that is unusually high even by world standards. It is apparent, in light of the principles described above, that the notions of public and private schools envisioned by the people of the Netherlands differ considerably from those in other countries. The realization of complete financial equality means that the differences between public and private schools amount to nothing more than the differences in who administers them. That is, for example, the difference between administration by a private organization that values a certain specific religion, ideology, or educational principles, and administration by a local government body that is clearly demarcated from such organizations. In fact, public schools in the Netherlands are also sometimes described as neutral schools.1 Below we will survey the history of school education and the current state of educational administration in the Netherlands. On that basis, we will attempt to ascertain the situation of alternative education in quantitative terms, and also give an overview of school support organizations. In addition, we will discuss the mechanism required in order for education with a public character to function in the Netherlands, which at the same time enjoys freedom of education. There is, in particular, a mechanism for guaranteeing the public character of education to be found in the 1

Interview at Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands (January 31, 2002).

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Netherlands. Depending upon social and economic conditions and the political drives involved, that mechanism can also act to adversely affect alternative education, and this will be another subject for discussion.

Historical Background The people of the Netherlands underwent repeated conflicts with the national government before they were able to enjoy freedom of education. The following historical developments form the background to the emergence of freedom of education.2 The School Law in the Netherlands was enacted near the beginning of the 19th century. Nationalism is said to have appeared toward the end of the 18 th century, and it hardly seems necessary to cite Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities for this. The early 19th century was a period when nationalities were coming into being as hitherto unprecedented communities that were cultural artifacts. Simultaneous with the period of the arrival of nationalism there came the dawning of rationalistic secularism, and also the beginning of the twilight of religious ways of thought (Anderson 1996 [1983], pp. 11-12). This was also the start of a period of antagonism and opposition against the religious sects and state hegemonies that had controlled the people of the Netherlands for many centuries. It was natural for the policy-makers of that time to see education as a key factor in the unification of the state, and the state began to involve itself in private education, which until then had been entrusted to the church and to private individuals. At this point, monopolization of education by the national government was advancing rapidly. The first time that regulation was enforced upon education at the national government level in the Netherlands was with the School Law of 1801. The succeeding School Law of 1803 forbade the existence of private schools, and no longer allowed religious education in public schools. There was some swing back from this move toward state control in the School Law of 1806, which, for example, established a system for accrediting private schools. However, the national government proceeded to establish a centralized educational administration by setting out, among other things, to create a system for school supervision. Under these circumstances, a counter-movement known as the school struggle (Schulkampf) came into being. The majority of people at that time belonged either to the Roman Catholic Church or to one of the orthodox Protestant churches. Roman Catholics would go to Roman Catholic-run hospitals and schools, while orthodox Protestants would go to Protestant-run hospitals and schools. The society was, in other words, subject to columnization or pillarization, whereby these various cultural and traditional groups would form complete blocs in themselves. Needless to say, the particular education conducted within each of these pillarized blocs had developed over many years into instruction in values based on their respective religious denominations. The struggle to restore the right of private school education took place as an extension of such bloc movements. What such movements advocated was freedom of education, and this phrase was held up as a slogan for those who championed private school education. As a result of this struggle, the establishment of religious private schools was allowed in 1815, and eventually the freedom of education was stated as a fundamental human right in the Constitution of 1848. In 1857, however, a new School Law was passed mandating a strict observance of regulations on teacher quality, school size, facilities and equipment, and other such aspects of educational quality. After having been apparently regained, the freedom of education thereafter became subject again to an 2

For the historical events that resulted in acquisition of the freedom of education, reference was also made to Estelle (1986), pp. 113-137.

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ongoing, repeated tug of war between the supporters of private education and the supporters of state education. The struggle was ultimately resolved, more or less, by the School Law of 1920, which was based on amendments to the Constitution that were made in 1917. This law provided that (1) the establishment and administration of schools was to be considered primarily a matter for the citizenry, and (2) private schools for general education were to be maintained and managed by public funding according to the same standards as public schools. This is the principle of financial equality that still constitutes the backbone of education in the Netherlands today. It is because of this principle that, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, private schools in the Netherlands enjoy not only a freedom but an equality that are virtually unparalleled in the world. Looking back in this way at the history of educational administration in the Netherlands since the 19th century, that history is seen to comprise a series of school struggles. The freedom of education is found to be a right, and in particular a right of denominational private schools, that was won after a century or more of struggle. The spirit of this law continues to live into the present day, and is expressed to the following effect in the current Constitution, which was instituted in 1983: ‘All persons shall be free to provide education, without prejudice to the authorities' right of supervision and, with regard to forms of education designated by law, its right to examine the competence and moral integrity of teachers, to be regulated by Act of Parliament.’ (Article 23(2)) An addition made to the Constitution of the Netherlands in 1984 provides that ‘the provision of education shall, excepting supervision by the government, be free.’ These are the fundamental constitutional rights that are referred to as the freedom of education.

Freedom of Education as a Positive Freedom Texts that advocate civil liberties generally tend to convey a passive sense of freedom from the national government. In the case of freedom of education in the Netherlands, however, it is proper to emphasize that this freedom is seen as a positive, active freedom on the part of the citizen to start a school. That freedom can be broken down generally into the above-mentioned freedom to establish a school, the freedom of school policy, and the freedom of school organization. From the perspective of school participation by parents (or guardians), however, there are, for example, (1) the freedom of home education and private education, (2) the freedom to set up a school, (3) the freedom of school choice, (4) the right to select teaching staff, (5) the right to participate in school education (administration), and so on. These various freedoms of education were explained by Yuuki (1994, pp. 96-98) as follows.

Freedom of Home Education and Private Education In the history of educational legislation, the primary substance of freedom of education has taken shape in addressing the freedom of religious private schools.

Freedom to Set up a School Parents (private individuals) have the right to establish schools for themselves in order to educate their children in accordance with their own beliefs and educational views (right of school establishment). When that is done, it is not, as a rule, necessary to receive accreditation from government education agencies. Still, when a school seeks to receive subsidies from the government, however, it must satisfy certain

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requirements for the establishment of a school, including educational objectives, educational plans, schedule of classes, qualifications of teaching staff, and a minimum number of students proportionate to the local population according to the local government body.

Freedom of School Choice Freedom of school choice applies, as it should go without saying, not only to private schools but also to public. There are no school districts. The schools, for their part, are required to provide parents with information (school prospectuses) about their respective educational policies, curriculum, school organization, special educational activities, and so on.

Right to Select Teaching Staff An important part of the law deals with educational self-governance of schools. This includes the right to select teaching staff, and parents are allowed to participate in that process.

Right to Participate in School Education (Administration) A law concerning parental participation in school education has been enacted. This assures joint rights of the parents and joint decision-making rights in connection with every type of matter involved in school education (administration), including the above-mentioned faculty personnel matters. Although item (1) listed above specifies the freedom of home education, the Netherlands does not as a rule recognize home schooling.3 Again, and to reiterate the emphasis, every school is also given discretion concerning teaching methodology, textbooks, and so on, in addition to the various freedoms noted above. The interviews I conducted in January 2002 at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands and at the Central Office of the Inspectorate of Education regarding school administration and establishment confirmed that, since the late 1990s,school supervision has been made more rigorous, and there has been a tendency toward considerable restraints on the establishment of schools. We will return to this point later.

The Authority of Educational Administration Educational administration in the Netherlands does in some senses have the nature of a central authority. This central authority, however, displays a preponderance of characteristics that are unique to the Netherlands, and so are not found in other countries. Consequently, some of the main features of this educational administration will be noted here. The role of the central government in the educational system of the Netherlands has a distinctive characteristic, which is that the details of educational content are entrusted to the individual school, subject to the advice and guidance of the Inspectorate of Education, while the fixing and adjustment of general standards and the control of finances are entirely the purview of the central government. According to information

3

In fact, home schooling is practiced, though in small numbers. One example is the homeschoolers who are enrolled with the Aventurijn School, which will be discussed later.

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materials from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, that ministry sets general standards in the following areas.4

x

The types of school that may exist;

x

The length of courses in each type of school;

x

For some types of school: - The subjects that must or may be taught in each type of school ; - The minimum and maximum number of teaching periods to be devoted to each subject in each type of school; - The minimum and maximum number of teaching periods per year; - The length teaching periods;

x

The norms for splitting up classes;

x

Standards of competence for teaching staff;

x

The maximum number of teaching periods per staff member;

x

The salaries and main elements of the legal status of teaching staff;

x

Arrangements for admitting pupils to special schools and secondary schools;

x

Arrangements for examining pupils;

x

Opportunities for participation by staff pupils and parents;

x

The norms for the establishment and closure of schools.

Yuuki (1998, p. 41) also identifies the following five areas in which the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science sets general standards. They are (1) organization, composition, and operation of the educational system, (2) supervision of schools, (3) educational finances, (4) examination systems, and (5) scholarship grant systems. As to item (1), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science provides not only public schools but also private schools with suggestions on appropriate standards for types of primary and secondary schools, periods of study, required and elective subjects, minimum number of classes, hours of instruction, number of students per grade, qualifications and salaries of teaching staff, and so on. Regarding item (2), it is not the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science but rather the Inspectorate of Education, which has locations throughout the country, that evaluates the schools in local communities. It has the authority to submit reports and make recommendations to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the following three areas: (a) assuring that education laws and regulations are observed, (b) visiting schools to conduct school evaluation, and (c) handling consultations and inquiries, including from people who establish private schools. The educational finances in item (3) come under the direct jurisdiction not of local governments but of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science at the national level, which has the responsibility for this area. As explained earlier, government spending does not discriminate at all between public and private schools, and every school is given considerable discretion over its financial operations. Item (4) refers to Ministry regulation of the system of graduation examinations administered in the last year of primary school. The majority of schools, in addition to their own local school testing, participate voluntarily in nationwide common examinations administered by the National Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO). Nationwide common examinations are administered annually 4

Much of the information in this section is from OCenW (n.d. (a)).

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

63

in secondary schools, for example, and the results are used to qualify students for graduation. At the same time, the qualifications for entry to higher vocational training schools and universities are also determined by those examinations. Important roles of local educational administration at the municipal level include having schools in their area of jurisdiction submit yearly plans and disbursing facility, equipment, and operating funds for schools. These local authorities also accept applications for the establishment of new schools, provide opportunities for language instruction to immigrants, maintain school buses and other means for commuting to schools, keep records on numbers of students who drop out of school, and so on. The role of local educational administration at the province level is to monitor education to ascertain whether the above general rules are being observed. Their monitoring is not of the content of education, however, but of such matters as the appropriate number of schools. Responsibilities concerning school operation and curriculum are assigned to the Inspectorate of Education. Individual schools are also given considerable discretion. The school board makes the decisions on the school's administrative structure, operating costs, personnel costs, and other financial matters, curriculum, personnel matters (hiring and firing), school admissions, and so on.

Growing Prominence of the Alternative Stream in Education How much freedom to establish schools do the people of the Netherlands actually enjoy under their freedom of education? Here we will first look at changes in the proportions of public and private schools since the mid-19th century, after which figures will be presented to show how much growth has taken place in the number of alternative schools. It is said that such schools have been growing increasingly prominent in recent years. Table 5.1 shows the changing proportions of public and private schools starting from around the time of the struggle in 1850. The data shown here cover the years up to 1980. It is apparent that private schools gradually began to occupy a growing proportion of the educational system in the Netherlands from the early 20th century. According to Estelle James (1986, p. 117), the proportion of private schools increased after the institutionalization of public subsidies. The principle of the financial equality of public and private schools was established around 1917. At that time private schools made up about one quarter of the total, and their numbers have been increasing since. By 1980, Protestant schools had come to make up approximately 30% of primary and secondary schools, while Roman Catholic schools made up approximately 40%. The totals for private schools show that the 70% mark in primary education was passed during the 1950s, and in secondary education during the 1970s. In the number of schools, they far surpassed public schools. As will be explained later, the alternative education stream referred to in this study comes under the private schools categorized as other in the tables. Since the 1930s, they have made up 2–3% of primary schools and 4–9% of secondary schools.

64

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Table 5.1

Proportions of Public and Private School Enrollment (Primary Schools): 1850–1979

Year

Total

Public

Private Total

Protestant

Catholic

Other

1850

100

77

23

㧙

㧙

㧙

1900

100

69

31

㧙

㧙

㧙

1910

100

62

38

㧙

㧙

㧙

1920

100

55

45

㧙

㧙

㧙

1930

100

38

63*

25

36

2

1938

100

31

69

26

41

2

1950

100

27

73

28

43

2

1960

100

27

73

27

44

2

1970

100

28

72

27

43

2

1979

100

31

69

28

38

3

Source: Estelle James, 1986, p. 118. Notes: 㧙: No data available. *: 62 in source text emended here to 63.

Table 5.2

Proportions of Public and Private School Enrollment (Secondary Schools): 1850–1980

Year

Total

Public

Private Total

Protestant

Catholic

Other

1850

100

100

㧙

㧙

㧙

㧙

1900

100

91

9

㧙

㧙

㧙

1910

100

87

13

㧙

㧙

㧙

1920

100

75

25

㧙

㧙

㧙

1930

100

61

39

13

18

8

1938

100

53

47

17

22

8

1950

100

43

57

19

29

9

1960

100

35

64*

22

35

7

1970

100

28

72

27

41

4

1980

100

28

72

27

39

6

Source: Estelle James, 1986, p. 118. Notes: 㧙: No data available. *: 65 in source text emended here to 64.

Let us look next at the more recent proportions of public and private schools. The changing proportions of private education during the five-year period from 1995 are shown in terms of the number of schools (Table 5.3) and the number of students (Table 5.4).

65

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

Table 5.3

Proportion of Private Schools in the Netherlands (%)

School Type

1995/96

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

Public

33.3

33.1

33.0

33.1

33.1

Protestant

29.7

29.6

29.6

29.5

30.0

Catholic

29.8

30.1

30. 1

30.1

29.9

7.2

7.2

7.3

7.3

7.1

Other private schools

Source: OCenW (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen), Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands: Facts and Figures 2001, 2001, p. 37.

Table 5.4

Proportion of Private School Enrollment in the Netherlands (%)

School Type

1995/96

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

Public

31.8

31.9

31.8

31.8

31.8

Protestant

27.6

28.0

27.2

27.0

27.3

Catholic

33.1

32.8

33.4

33.5

33.3

7.5

7.3

7.6

7.7

7.6

Other private schools

1999/2000

Source: OCenW (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen), Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands: Facts and Figures 2001, 2001, p. 37.

These tables show that public schools and the Protestant and Roman Catholic private religious schools each make up approximately 30% of the total. In other words, despite the reputedly thoroughgoing secularization of society in the Netherlands, Christian-affiliated private schools account for approximately 60% of the total. Schools affiliated with these two major forms of Christianity could be said to make up the mainstream in private education. Apart from these, the category of other private schools accounts for somewhat over 7%. Let us consider this in terms of innovativeness, which is frequently identified as a distinguishing characteristic of alternative education. It would not be far wrong to identify those private schools in the ‘other’ category, which form the group of nontraditional schools within the educational system of the Netherlands, as the stream of schools that represent alternative education. Let us see, then, how that ‘other’ category can be broken down. Materials obtained during the interviews I conducted at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science indicate that the category can be broken down as shown in Figure 5.1 and Figure 5.2. Alternative schools without religious affiliation in the Netherlands include Dalton Plan schools as advocated by Parkhurst, schools on the Jena Plan of Petersen, Montessori schools, Waldorf (Steiner) schools, Freinet schools, and so on. According to my interviews at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, other small unaccredited schools number 11 in all. As of 2002, the Jena Plan has 223 schools, the largest number. Dalton schools, however, have shown conspicuous growth over the last ten years, doubling or more in numbers during that decade. This is a remarkable increase. On being asked about this phenomenon, an official in charge of secondary education at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science said that the move away from religion accompanying the diversification of values has caused Protestant and Roman Catholic schools to suffer from declining enrollments. In order to attract students, this official said, many such schools have adopted more liberal-oriented pedagogy, and renamed themselves as schools adhering to the popular Dalton Plan for progressive education. In other

66

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

250

220

207

223 18 4

200 150

166 100

89

100

89

1992 2002

50 0

13 15 Dalton Plan

Jene Plan Montessori

Waldorf

Freinet

Figure 5.1 Other category Source: Algemene Onderwijsbond, Het Onderwijsblad 2, January 26, 2002, pp. 8-9.

250

213

202

200

162

150 75

100 18

50

10

0

Dalton Plan

Jene Plan

Primary Schools

22

Montessori

14

Waldorf

15

0

Freinet

Secondary Schools

Figure 5.2 Other category in Primary and Secondary Schools Source: Algemene Onderwijsbond, Het Onderwijsblad 2, January 26, 2002, pp. 8-9.

words, the majority of Dalton schools that are considered to have established themselves in recent years are not new schools. Looking next at Figure 5.2, we can see that alternative education is a larger presence in primary education than in secondary. Table 5.1 showed that the ‘other’ category accounted for a larger proportion of secondary education than primary. Recently, however, the proportion made up by primary education appears to have been growing conspicuously. Dalton schools and Jena schools make up the overwhelming majority

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

67

of such primary schools. In secondary education, the largest number of alternative schools are Montessori schools, which could be termed the traditional schools of the alternative stream. Freedom of education is a concept that originally came into being from the struggle between the two powers of state and church. The system of school choice in the pillarized society of the Netherlands was brought about from the denominational awareness of the citizenry, who wanted to give their children an education based on their own religious beliefs. As secularization progresses, however, this stream founded initially upon religious values has been transforming into one based on individual values. That change has manifested as the increase in alternative schools. Alternative education in the Netherlands developed out of the past history of struggle, and the rise to prominence of alternative schools in recent years has, in its background, the system that was established through that struggle and the secularization that represents a change in the consciousness of the people of the Netherlands. The sectarian consciousness that gave rise to the freedom of education has attenuated. This, in combination with the growing prominence of secular individualism, could now be seen as weakening the very foundation for the existence of freedom of education itself.

Diversity of Support Organizations Figure 5.3 was created by me based on my translation of a figure presented at the 3rd International Seminar on Alternative Education 5 by a Dutch staff of the Alternative Education Resource Center (located in Bangkok), which was established to promote alternative education in Asia. At this seminar, he affirmed that the educational system of the Netherlands should provide a useful reference when the people of Asian countries engage in creating their own schools. As noted earlier, the educational system of the Netherlands can be divided generally into the public schools run by local governments, the private schools with Roman Catholic and other religious affiliations, and the private schools without religious affiliation, such as those following the Dalton Plan or the Montessori Method. All of these have their own support organizations that provide professional advice concerning school establishment and operation, management, negotiation with government agencies and the Inspectorate, and so on. For example, there were 89 Waldorf schools as of 2002, and all of them belong to the Waldorf Educational Association. This office has four staff members, with duties in public relations, educational affairs, accounting, and office administration. They receive annual membership fees of 302 guilders per student, for which the office provides all its services without any other charge. Two general meetings are held every year to decide on organizational matters and budget, and to select a board of six to seven members, including the office administrator. Although this is just a single example, support organizations of this kind exist for each school group, and they conduct active support activities.

5

The Seminar was held at the Children's Village School in Thailand in November 2001.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

68

Parliament Central Government

Evaluation

Funding

Democratic Elections

Ministry of Education, Culture and Science Inspectorate of Education

Education Council

Local Governments

Religious Groups (Christian, Islamic, Hindu, etc.)

Alternative Streams (Montessori, Waldorf, Dalton, Freinet, etc.)

Schools Teachers Parents & Students Evaluation by Inspectorate

Figure 5.3

Assessment Process

Union

Evaluation Report

Educational Mechanisms in the Netherlands

Source: Compiled by the author from materials presented by Hans van Willenswaard at the 3rd International Seminar on Alternative Education.

Quality Control Mechanisms As described earlier, the Netherlands imposes no restrictions on either public or private schools regarding teaching methodology, textbooks, or hiring of teaching staff. Although the Netherlands enjoys this freedom of education, however, it is not necessarily the case that the creation of schools is freely allowed. The addition to the Constitution cited in Section 2 of this chapter contains the phrase ‘excepting supervision by the government.’ Additionally, Article 23(2) of the current Constitution also reserves ‘the authorities' right of supervision.’ Thus, while respect is given to the freedom of education, a control mechanism also functions in the central government for the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality of education. There is a tendency to emphasize freedom of education in connection with the Netherlands, but it would not be misleading also to emphasize the exceptional strength of government controls on education. Not by any means does freedom of education mean that the attendant freedom to found schools, freedom of school policies, and freedom of school organization, discussed earlier, are simply approved

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

69

without any restraint. A checking function is at work so that freedom of education does not become chaotic. There are various factors that control the quality of alternative education in the Netherlands. The first to note here is mandatory school attendance. The Netherlands is unlike Denmark, New Zealand, and other such countries that have mandatory school attendance but officially recognize private education, such as home schooling, as an alternative to public education. Rather, education in the Netherlands presupposes that education will be received in school. The educational system reform of 1985 integrated pre-school education and primary education. This resulted in the formation of a system of eight-year basic schools that children attend from the age of four. The second factor to identify here is curriculum. In inspections of primary schools, the general standard for evaluation of curriculum is that it should be socially relevant, up to date, and educationally wholesome (Inspectie van het onderwijs 1998, p. 19). Decisions on such matters as what time classes start and stop are left to the school boards. In the case of primary education, however, the annual number of units of instruction and related matters are determined using the national standard of the onehour class as one unit of instruction. The maximum hours in school per day, excluding recesses, is set at 5.5 hours. Children receive 22-25 hours of instruction per week (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen (OCenW (n.d.(a)), p. 19). This time configuration of school education is an important element in determining public subsidies. The third factor, control functions, relates to exit examinations and nationwide common examinations. As noted above, there is a system for administering graduation examinations in the last year of primary school, and the majority of students also take the nationwide common examinations administered by the National Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO). These tests are used by approximately 80% of schools in the Netherlands at the primary level (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen (OCenW (n.d.(a)), p. 22). The results from nationwide common examinations administered every year at secondary schools are used in determining whether students are eligible to graduate, as well as whether they are qualified for admission to higher educational institutions. The fourth factor is inspection. In the Netherlands, all schools that provide compulsory levels of education must undergo a full inspection every four years. In between those inspections, they undergo simple, short-term inspections. When inspectors in the Netherlands evaluate a school, they employ what are called features of quality, which are, in other words, perspectives from which to measure quality. These include results of learning, educational environment, school operation, and so on. The statements of achievement goals, testing programs, timetables, educational objectives, and so on that schools submit upon accreditation and registration also serve as important criteria during the evaluation. Multiple inspectors spend several days at a school examining quality in these terms and compiling an evaluation report. There is an additional point to raise in concluding discussion of this factor. Inspections in recent years have been starting to be applied more rigorously as a nationwide standard, and it would be possible to consider this as running counter to the freedom of education. Future developments in this direction will be closely watched. The fifth factor that should be pointed out here is the duty to disclose school information. Insights into recent trends and future policies regarding information disclosure were received during a visit to the Central Office of the Inspectorate of Education in Utrecht, where I was a member of the visiting party. We spoke with a

70

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

staff-inspector and coordinator for international cooperation there, who told us: ‘At present, schools are making pamphlets that include self-laudatory public relations content in an attempt to capture the interest of the parents and children who are choosing a school. However, we do not consider this to be a desirable state of affairs, and we are trying to have the schools quantify everything that can be quantified and make the data as objective as possible. The aim is to make the pamphlets into 6 materials that provide parents with a basis for judgement.’ Working from this policy and as part of its active measures for school openness, the government is notifying schools of their obligation to create descriptive pamphlets. At the same time, the government is providing parents and children, who make the actual selection of schools with instructions about the criteria for making a judgement about school choice. The instructions for households with children entering primary school are published as a ‘Guide for Parents and Guardians (Primary School),’ and for households with secondary school children, ‘Guide for Parents, Guardians, and Students (Secondary School).’ A recent trend in information disclosure by schools that is worthy of attention is the issuance of quality cards. Such cards first appeared after a certain newspaper company conducted its own survey and published the results. These presented, in tabulated form, the average scores in the nationwide examinations, together with information about dropout and year repetition rates, for every secondary school in the country. This new precedent of activity in the private sector prodded the Central Office of the Inspectorate of Education to disclose school data from a more impartial perspective. The Inspectorate began devoting considerable resources to creating cards giving school sizes, facilities, courses offered, scores on nationwide common examinations, and other such information, and undertook the commitment to publish the cards. The sixth factor is the control function, and what should be pointed out in this regard is the financial control exercised by the central government. The Netherlands is a rare country that has implemented what is in all but name a voucher system for a relatively long number of years. Although the country practices school choice, this has not resulted in elite schools being formed, and children there are known to have enjoyed relatively equal educational opportunities. Part of the background to this situation is the active participation by the government in educational finances.7 Teaching staff are paid according to a fixed standard established by the central government, regardless of whether they teach at public or private schools. The number of teachers at a school is determined by the number of students, and there are also uniform regulations that govern the number of hours they work. Standards are also set for the amount of school facilities-related expenses at both public and private schools. These controls make it effectively impossible, for example, to economize on spending for school facilities in order to apply the savings to offer higher salaries for superior teachers, or to make individual teachers work longer hours in order to improve student scores. Standardization of this kind exercises control to maintain the quality of education at relatively uniform levels throughout the country as a whole, and to prevent conspicuous disparities among schools. Finally, some attention should also be given to the constraints on setting up a school as they relate to the freedom to found schools. It is not as though a school can be put up anywhere at any time in the Netherlands. There are restraints based on the number of residents under the local government body concerned. In other words, when setting up a new school, it is required that the new school attract a certain minimum number or more of students proportionate to the number of residents in the area in question, and that there be no other school that adheres to the same educational approach within 6

Interview at Central Office of Inspectorate of Education (January 30, 2002).

7

One study that has summed up the educational system of the Netherlands as a voucher system is Estelle (1986; 1997).

71

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

that local government jurisdiction. Since 1994, the key to the establishment and closure of primary schools has been the number of children ages 4 to 12 per square kilometer of the region in question. These numbers of children are coordinated among the different areas in order to arrive at a permissible range for the number of schools. The minimum number of enrolled students used as an index for school consolidations, together with the minimum enrollment size considered when founding a new school, are both currently fixed in proportion to the school-age population for each area concerned (Table 5.5). Table 5.5

Minimum Enrolment Required to Continue or Establish Accredited Schools for Primary Education

City

Minimum Enrollment per School Required to Continue Operation of One Primary School

Minimum Enrollment per School Required to Set up a New Primary School

Amsterdam

193

322

Utrecht

187

312

Rotterdam

184

307

Enschede

139

232

Apeldoorn

97

200

Axel

51

200

Beemster

38

200

Ameland

23

200

Source: Created by the author from ‘Primair onderwijs,’ Uitleg Gele katern No. 25, 29 October 1997 (no page number).

It is evident from Table 5.5 that the age when small groups of citizens created schools to realize their freedom of education is now over, and it is also evident how demanding the conditions have presently become for starting a new school. According to the Minimum Enrolment per School Required to Continue Operation of One Primary School column, a school in a large city like Amsterdam can avoid closure or consolidation with another school so long as enrollment does not drop below 193. In order to start a new school, however, 322 students must be found. Looking at the Minimum Enrolment per School Required to Set up a New Primary School column, we can get an idea of how difficult it is to start a new school. Municipalities the size of Apeldoorn or smaller differ considerably in the Minimum Enrollment per School Required to Set up a New Primary School, and there are some locales where a school can continue with an enrollment of 23 students. On the other hand, schools in any municipality, regardless of the size of its school-age population, must gather together at least 200 students or they cannot receive permission to start operation. In other words, a new primary school in the Netherlands cannot open unless it gathers at least 200 students (260 students for a secondary school). As will be noted in the next section, this movement toward standardization has had a great impact on the continuation of alternative schools on the household scale.

Standardization and Alternative Education: Toward a New Struggle School supervision, which started in the Netherlands in 1801, has a relatively long history there. In 2001, the system of school supervision in the Netherlands marked its 200th anniversary, and this became the occasion to institute a new law on inspection, which went into effect in 2002. The past 20 years have seen decentralization proceed in the Netherlands, bringing schools an unprecedented degree of autonomy while also,

72

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

at the same time, demanding of them accountability. Coupled with the movement toward decentralization, the supervisory system has been strengthened at the national level. Every year, about 200 inspectors make 10,000 or more visits to 8,000 primary and secondary schools (Snel and Bruggen 2001, p. 23). Enactment of the 2002 law on supervision further strengthened this system, and is intended to maintain and improve the quality of education throughout the country. This is not to say, however, that all schools necessarily welcome the recent strengthening of the school supervision system. The practitioners of alternative education, in particular, find that this law on supervision threatens to eliminate the uniqueness of individual schools, and resistance to the law is strong in that sector. Some even take the view that the noble principle of freedom of education, established constitutionally as the result of numerous struggles spanning the centuries, may be breached.8 Alternative education can be considered to be uniquely characterized by an essential innovativeness, a deviation from norms, an overcoming of stereotypes and so on. With that in mind, it is not hard to imagine that the practice of alternative education would not fit comfortably with the very conduct of supervision itself, which cannot help but measure all things with a single uniform measuring rod. In fact, the teachers at a Waldorf school that I visited with a party to conduct an on-site survey in January 2002, emphasized that they could not feel comfortable using the methods based on the distinctive philosophy of Waldorf education under that supervision, which was tending to become more rigorous inrecent years. Meanwhile, an spent many years in charge of the evaluation of alternative schools pointed out the difficulty of evaluating the special characteristics of alternative schools. She remarked (paraphrase), ‘It is not impossible to supervise alternative schools. However, Waldorf schools and other such alternative schools that possess their own distinctive systems are exceedingly difficult to evaluate.9 The move toward standardization has become more marked over the past decade than ever before. It is evident in areas other than supervision, as well. One example is the nationwide common examinations (CITO tests). At the end of January 2002, when I was involved with the party conducting an on-site survey, the Netherlands was in the midst of a great controversy over the program to reinforce the nationwide common examinations. Articles about alternative schools that voiced opposition to the increasingly thoroughgoing application of CITO tests even appeared in the newspapers. The threshold of government standards restricting the number of students per school was also being raised. As mentioned earlier, a new school could not be established without gathering at least 200 students for primary schools, and at least 260 students for secondary schools. Some existing public schools would therefore become subject to possible consolidation and elimination. An administrator of the Waldorf Schools Association, spoke as follows about this trend toward nationwide standardization (paraphrase): “There used to be small schools everywhere around the whole country, and the average commuting time for every child was about five minutes. Then, however, the pace of school consolidation picked up, and small schools have been disappearing from the scene.” Under these circumstances, the alternative schools in the Netherlands, and especially the small alternative schools that do not receive any government subsidies, find themselves squeezed between the freedom of education and the new demand of the 8

The author interviewed a senior employee of a semipublic expert advisory council for primary education, and she spoke critically about the current situation (paraphrased): ‘Today, when it is no longer possible to enjoy the freedom to establish schools to same extent as before, the freedom of education is under threat.’ (Interview on January 29, 2002)

9

Interview with an inspector on January 30, 2002.

CASE STUDY: THE NETHERLANDS

73

times for accountability, and so they are being challenged as never before. As of January 2002, there were 11 such unaccredited free schools in the Netherlands. Since 2001, however, the inspectors have been required to go to every school, so that unaccredited schools of this kind have also become subject to their evaluation. One of these is the Aventurijn School, a small school in Apeldoorn, which also appears in Table 5-5. This small school, which receives 11 children who commute daily and one homeschooler who commutes about once a week, was nevertheless evaluated in 2001 by inspectors in charge of the Apeldoorn area using the same standards applied to accredited schools. The school was ordered to make improvements for the reason that it was not providing an adequate education, and the case ended up in court. However, the lawyers for the Aventurijn School claimed that it met all the basic requirements expected of a school, such as facilities, curriculum, teacher quality, and so on. Thus the school was ‘accredited’ by the Constitution itself. Ultimately, the court ruled that inspectors should conduct their supervision from a different perspective than for accredited schools. It also ruled that the determination of whether private schools were accredited or not was not to be made by municipal authorities, but rather by the central government. The case therefore ended in favor of the school. This trial symbolically expressed how strengthening the supervisory system resulted in a considerable and ongoing rise in expectations and demands for accountability among the public, who up until then had been enjoying the freedom of education without any particular difficulty. It also showed how central government policies for standardization were being framed in such powerful terms that the interpretation of the freedom of education as proclaimed in the Constitution had virtually been placed on the chopping block.10 I stated earlier that the school struggle was resolved, more or less, by the School Law of 1920. The people who are actually involved in the alternative schools themselves, however, sense how difficult it is to uphold the unique identities of their schools within the state system. So far as they are concerned, therefore, the historical school struggle appears to be continuing in a new form.

10

This account of the case of the Aventurijn School was written on the basis of communications on Aerolist, an international mailing list on alternative education of which the author is a member, and on personal letters exchanged with the co-founder of the school (personal communications, November 14, 18, and 21, 2002). For information about this school, see http://www.aventurijn.org

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Case Study: The State of Oregon in the United States of America A Pluralistic Education System and Alternative Education Supported by the Law and the Key Initiators

The Center for Appropriate Transport

75

76

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Introduction ‘Alternative education program’ means a school or separate class group designed to best serve students’ educational needs and interests and assist students in achieving the academic standards of the school district and the state. (Oregon Revised Statute 336-615) In implementing alternative education programs, district school boards shall maintain learning situations that are flexible with regard to environment, time, structure and pedagogy. (Oregon Revised Statute 336-625) When necessary to meet a student’s educational needs and interests, the parent or guardian with the approval of the resident district and the attending district may enroll the student in one of the proposed appropriate and accessible public alternative education programs or private alternative education programs of instruction or instruction combined with counseling registered with the Department of Education. (Oregon Revised Statute 336-635) In order to provide innovative and more flexible ways of educating children, school districts may establish new alternative education options within the public school system. (Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-1350) Oregon is one of very few states in the United States. to have ground-breaking legislation and administrative rules concerning alternative education. The groundbreaking nature of that legislation consisted in positively reconceptualizing alternative education in terms of the children's interests rather than how it had tended to be understood, as education for problem children (Kellmayer 1995, p. 27; Barr and Parrett 1997, p. 23). As will be discussed in greater detail at a later point, the laws and regulations listed at the beginning of this chapter specify not only educational needs but also interests. This is expressed in the explicit statement that alternative education is ‘to provide innovative and more flexible ways of educating children.’ In fact, public subsidies in Oregon have also been institutionalized under this law, so that educational opportunities are being provided to a diversity of children according to their individual needs and interests without bias in favor of any particular social class. 1 The private alternative programs referred to by the law mentioned above includesome that practice a considerable degree of freedom on the basis of principles similar to those of Summerhill School in England and the Sudbury Valley School in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. Where alternative schools in Oregon differ conclusively from the Summerhill and Sudbury Valley schools, however, is that they receive public funding.2 Oregon is said to provide the only instances in the entire United States of a democratic school on the pattern of the Sudbury Valley School that is being operated with public subsidies. Attention is presently being directed toward charter schools for the possibility that they might satisfy the demand for the creation of their own unique 1

There is a problem with certain practical constraints imposed by the referral system, which will be discussed later. Despite this, however, the cited laws open up possibilities for creating diverse forms of education, and a considerable number of children actually are being provided education in line with their interests by means of public subsidies.

2

Approximately 5,000 dollars per student per year is supplied by the state, of which 80% is provided as subsidies to alternative schools, with the remaining 20% applied to the budgets of school boards in the school districts where the alternative schools are located.

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

77

schools by members of the public. The state of Oregon had passed legislation to bring about publicly funded, privately operated schools even before it adopted the Charter School Law, and some of the people of the state had been receiving the benefit of that earlier legislation. This case study will focus particularly on schools in the private stream of alternative education, including the case of Lane County, which presents the most varied forms of alternative education practice we have so far seen, even for Oregon, as well as the charter schools that have been rising to prominence in recent years. They will then be contrasted with other streams of education. Before proceeding with that discussion, however, it seems appropriate to provide an overview, based on on-site surveys and interviews, of why Oregon provides such a fertile field for alternative education.3 The people involved in alternative education programs in Oregon, and particularly the founders and faculty of private alternative education institutions there, include many who were involved in the free school movement around the 1970s. At that time, there were many former flower children who married after that movement passed its peak, had children, and sought to make their lives with families and communities on the West Coast in California and Oregon. Eugene is one of the towns in Oregon where many young people from the counter culture moved and established their lives. When their children grew, they naturally began to think about school education, and as the inheritors of the spirit of the civil rights movement, they participated in the creation of their own schools and engaged in movements for public funding of democratic educational practices. Among them were a considerable number of individuals who taught at the University of Oregon. People involved with the University of Oregon, which is also one of the largest employers in Lane County, exercised a major influence on educational administration in the area. As a result, innovative elements began to be incorporated in the public education system during the 1970s. The majority of schools today that are considered to belong to the public alternative stream were founded during that time. As further new practices were taken up and put to use, the resistance to innovative education diminished, and the legislative framework for alternative education was developed by government administrators and citizens working together in cooperation. Reforms of public education were certainly also seen, to greater or lesser extents, in other states. Magnet schools, whose curriculums emphasize particular courses, were among the schools that came into being in every part of the United States. However, their principals, faculty, facilities, equipment, and so on were basically on the same level as public schools, so that many such schools lost their initial innovativeness to the extent that, in those terms, they differed very little from ordinary public schools. In Oregon, on the other hand, those schools termed private alternative schools (or programs) were institutionalized. Even as late as the 1990s, the innovativeness of alternative education was protected under the law, so that new practices flowered through citizen initiatives and by means that were in accordance with legal procedure. Here we will introduce CAT, an alternative learning place that was created in the early 1990s. 3

Much of the material presented in this section is based on interviews with a founder and a faculty of the Blue Mountain School, which is patterned after the democratic educational practice of the Sudbury Valley School (February 20, 2003).

78

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

The Center for Appropriate Transport In Eugene there is a place of learning (an educational program) with a rather unusual name. This is the Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT), which was founded in 1992. Local people refer to it by its acronym, ‘CAT.’ No matter how it is interpreted, this name would be very difficult to make out as applying to a school or an educational program. The name ‘appropriate transport’ can be traced back to the appropriate transport movement, an environmental conservation movement that received federal budget backing during the Carter administration. The director of the centre has been pursuing the possibilities of appropriate technology ever since that movement enlightened him about its potential. A hardcore bicycle enthusiast, he has never owned an automobile. While operating a bicycle repair, manufacturing, and sales business, he also engages in the education of local young people, environmental conservation activities, organic agriculture, and a sustainable transport operation (delivering organic vegetables and other such products by bicycle) with nine permanent employees and 36 local young people also working for him. He is known to the community as an innovative entrepreneur and as an educator who has gained the deep trust of former ‘problem’ children. It should be noted, by the way, that his handmade bicycles are marketed and purchased not only throughout the United States but in Japan and other foreign countries, as well. The CAT bicycle catalog contains a statement, rather unusual for a bicycle catalog, explaining that the CAT credo is that education is the key to resolving the problems of society. 4 The importance of education is then further explained in the following following terms: At CAT, we believe that education is the key to solving many of society’s problems. The bulk of our programs are devoted to education, offering teenagers a real-world approach to a diversity of subjects. Journalism and photography, industrial sewing, bicycle mechanics and business skills – all subjects which we have in practice at CAT – offer a sense of relevancy which is often lacking in traditional education.

The founder, who has gone so far as to use a bicycle catalog to publicize his appeal for the importance of education, remarked that he had always wondered, as a child, why he had to study a particular subject at that particular time rather than some other.5 The founder conceived of combining a bicycle business with education in the first place because of his own experience with alternative culture in Germany. During the 1970s, people in Germany would remodel old factories to make restaurants, craft workshops, bicycle shops, theaters, and so on. Local children could also be seen learning in those places. A decade later, the founder was operating a small bicycle repair business in Eugene when he was approached by a group of young boys aged 14 to 15. They had been expelled from school and had nowhere to go, so they would hang around the shops in the town. These young boys, who people called shop rats, came and asked him, as a joke, to let them work on the bicycles. When he let the boys use his tools to do some repairs, he realized they had considerable skill. The sight of these young people doing machine shop work combined with his memory of the young people he had seen learning in Germany, and this made him decide to start

4

See Catalogue 2002. Center For Appropriate Transport: Human Powered Machines, 2002. n.p.

5

Interview (February 22, 2003). Other statements by the founder of CAT referred to in the following are also from this interview.

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

79

teaching regularly as part of vocational training in manual skills. The encounter with these young people was what led to the present educational program. Subsequently, the founder entered into a contract with the local school board to have them send young people to him on a regular basis. Some of them were children who had caused considerable trouble, but the founder, declaring that there is no such thing as a problem child, explains proudly that when the children come to CAT, they display an unbelievable amount of concentration and also demonstrate their own aptitudes. At the time CAT was founded, education in Eugene offered virtually no specialized curriculum or practical training in mobility and transportation. CAT was founded to provide young people with a variety of opportunities to recover their self-confidence by challenging them with a range of possibilities extending beyond making and repairing bicycles. It is further intended to let them restore their good name with respect to the curriculum used in the disproportionately intellectually-oriented education of today. Therefore it is also a center for the purpose of empowering young people. The children form work teams of five students, which is the small class size prescribed by Oregon educational legislation, and they tackle their various assignments by teams. Their assignments include everything from welding to painting bicycle frames, fabricating and assembling parts, design work using CAD/CAM computer software, and editing the Oregon Cycling Magazine, which sells 15,000 copies ten times a year, mainly in West Coast cities. The center also operates the Chain Links Program for developing film and processing photographs, an industrial sewing program for sewing gloves and other bicycle-related garments, the Bike Lab Program for repairing and selling bicycles donated by University of Oregon students and other people, and the Eugene Rack Works Program for manufacturing tubular bike racks that are placed on streets, in parks, and so on (LEARN (n.d.), pp. 8-11). Apart from these permanent programs, CAT also provides a wide range of practical activities, including a bicycle messenger service within Eugene, guides for elementary school students who visit their museum booth, and the temporary installation of bicycle racks at events held in town parks and other such locations. These activities have yielded good results, and the efforts of the former problem children are much appreciated by the people of the town. Eugene residents have particularly welcomed the bicycle called The Long Haul, which has a fiberglass container that can carry a load of up to 90 kg. This bicycle with its unorthodox appearance is being used in a service to deliver vegetables and eggs from organic farms in the Eugene suburbs to households in town. The people of Eugene have welcomed this as a business that is well-suited to the slow life approach of the times. This small business has also become a source of pride for the young people who head into town riding these highend bicycles, which cost as much as $2,100 apiece. This process of learning and its results, including the designs for bicycle frames and parts designed using computers, together with images of the completed products, are recorded onto CD-ROMs in the form of portfolios for all the young people, who use them in their job searches and related activities. At present, the founder is working out plans to establish a Network Charter School that will make the entire town of Eugene into a charter school.6 This plan, of course,

6

The Lane County educational system is very interesting because there are not only schools but also programs distributed around the town. The activity of education is not just to be realized in closed spaces called schools. There are signs that lifelong education spaces are coming to be realized in ways that allow learning of all kinds to take place at any time and any place. In this sense, the notion of having city-wide charter schools appears to be a realistic one.

80

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

will be impossible to realize without the full cooperation of the Eugene School Board. As it happens, however, the local school board has required the founder to make various amendments and other adjustments in the innovative projects he has proposed up to now. When CAT was setting out as an initiative under the alternative education rubric, there was an administrative directive specifying that the center must not become the town's junk heap for education, where only problem children would hang out. The founder claims that the alternative education legislation cited at the start of this chapter is superior to the Charter School Law. The inclusion of a provision that alternative schools must have the permission of the school board in the school district concerned has resulted in his coming up against obstacles that had to be overcome again and again. He explained this as the fly in the ointment for this legislation as it is written, and insisted repeatedly that it had to be improved.

Diverse Educational Opportunities Lane County, to be discussed below, has a population of approximately 318,000. Eugene is its cultural and industrial center. The county comprises 16 school districts. There are places of alternative learning like CAT at 16 locations scattered throughout the county. These meet the various different needs and interests of young people in the county, and provide educational homes for students who do not fit into the schools. Table 6.1 shows the names and attributes of the various places of alternative learning. It is evident from the above table that alternative education in Lane County provides a broad diversity of educational opportunities. Most of these schools (or educational programs) are at the primary and secondary levels, and they belong to the alternative education category. Charter schools are not numerous by any means, but their numbers are tending to increase.7 Schools that follow Montessori or Waldorf educational methods have been founded as charter schools, and also other kinds, such as charter schools that are intended for children who have caused problems, by helping them get back in school using military discipline. There are also four schools where the minimum qualifications for graduation from secondary school can be acquired. Only one of the schools provides the General Equivalency Diploma (GED), which is said to be equal to the ordinary diploma, though it is a disadvantage for job seeking and other such uses. It is not as though students at schools (or programs) that do not grant this kind of certification will find their way to further education blocked. As of February 2003, for example, three of the four students graduating from the Blue Mountain School had passed the entrance tests for the community college in Eugene and began their studies. Some of them will actually go on to university. The founder of Home Source, explained that homeschooling posed virtually no disadvantages for advancing to university or other such higher education. 8

7

As of February 2003, there are said to be 23 schools opened throughout all of Oregon, and about 55 schools on the list of candidates (interview with a Charter school specialist with the Oregon Department of Education, on February 21, 2003).

8

Interview at Home Source (February 19, 2003).

81

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

Table 6.1

Characteristics of Private Alternative Schools (or Programs) in Lane County

Creative Minds

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Full Circle Community Farm

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Home Source

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Impact! Theatre

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Emerald Valley School

Looking Glass Intensive Day

Ɣ

Ɣ

Looking Glass Job Center

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Looking Glass New Roads

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Northwest Youth Corps

Ɣ Ɣ

Pioneer Youth Corps

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ridgeline Montessori School

Ɣ

Village School

Ɣ

Wellsprings Friends School

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Credit Recovery

Ɣ

Alternative Education

Child’s Way

Charter School

Ɣ

Grants Credits

Ɣ

Diploma

Full Day

Ɣ

Adult Basic Education

High School

Ɣ

GED

Middle School

Ɣ

Half Day

Grade School

Ɣ

Center For Appropriate Transport

Blue Mountain School

Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Ɣ Ɣ Ɣ

Ɣ

Source: LEARN, Choices: A Resource Catalog of Publicly Funded, Non- Profit Educational Choices in Central Lane County, undated, p. 72.

Five out of 16 Lane County institutions of alternative education are schools (or programs) that have been certified to issue high school diplomas. The accreditation of such schools is entrusted by the school board for the school district to the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, which is the accrediting organization for educational institutions in Oregon and other states. Home Source, which is listed in the above table, is a program for children who practice home schooling. Home schooling has also been accorded active recognition in Oregon, and the number of homeschoolers has increased by a factor of 1.7 over the past six years. Their number is said to be four times greater than it was ten years ago ago.9 According to the most recent data (March 2003) acquired by the author from the Oregon Department of Education, there were approximately 18,543 students receiving homeschooling in the state, representing 3.36% of the school-age population.10 The official procedure for becoming a homeschooler requires 9

Interview at Home Source (February 19, 2003). Oregon Department of Education data show that the number of homeschoolers grew from 10,764 in 1995 to 18,543 in 2002.

10

Oregon Department of Education, 2002, p. 25, shows 2.5%, or approximately 15,000 homeschoolers. However, the author's data are based on on-site surveys that include children who are attending parttime.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

82

registration at the educational service district (ESD) office, and meeting nation-wide minimum standards in standardized tests specified by the federal government. Those tests are taken every year. The founder of Home Source, however, explained that this was not a high hurdle at all.11

Envision and Research Ideas

Contact School District Maintain Communication

Contact Oregon Department of Education for information

Register with Oregon Department of Education

Formal Proposal to School District

File Incorporation or Business Paperwork

Fire, Health and Safety Inspections

Proposal Rejected

Proposal Approved

Contract signed

File Tax Exempt Paperwork if applicable

Fingerprinting/Background Checks

Register as Special Education Siteҏ

Figure 6.1

File Employer Identification Number and Business Identification Number Paperwork

Private Alternative School Start Up Process

Source: L. Rubinstein, Y. DeYoung, and J. V. Tuin (eds.), Alternative Education Manual: A Start-up and Operations Guide for Private, Publicly Funded Alternative Education Programs and Charter Schools in Lane County, Oregon, Eugene: LEARN, not dated, p. 12.

11

The tests are not so difficult, and few students fail them. If a student fails, there are two possible courses. One is to send the student to attend a public school. The other is to hire a qualified teacher to provide private instruction, then have the student take the test again. People more often take the latter course. Students can also have their performance in art, sports, and so on examined to have their achievement certified.

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

83

The distinctive characteristic of mechanisms for quality assurance not only in homeschooling but in alternative education in Oregon is that, as a rule, they look at the results without inquiring into the processes. If the process—namely, such aspects as teaching methodology, teaching materials, number of hours of instruction, and so on—should ever be questioned, it will only be when the results have failed to achieve a certain standard. These alternative places of learning are as a rule created by citizen initiative, and that process was eased, needless to say, by the alternative education-related legislation cited at the beginning of this chapter. Next, Figure 6.1 diagrams the standard school foundation process in Lane County. Figure 6.1 shows that three general processes must be followed when private citizens want to found a school in Oregon. First, the applicants must submit documents to the local school board, which examines the documents. Second, the applicants must notify the state Department of Education and arrange for inspection of building safety and of emergency equipment and related items. Third, they must register as the school operators and go through procedures to obtain tax-free status. According to on-site interviews, the state government is providing support on comparatively favorable terms, and registration as a school operator is not such a great obstacle. However, the first process involving the school board has to do with educational content, which means that it is relatively more time-consuming than the other processes. It is this part, they say, that is the difficult hurdle.

Changes in the Definition of Alternative Education Alternative education is defined in Oregon state legislation as follows: ‘Alternative education program’ refers to a school, or a classroom established apart from a school, that is designed to best answer students' educational needs and interests and to help students achieve standards for scholastic skills for their school district and Oregon state (ORS 336.615). The school board of a school district is also to set flexible conditions for learning, such as environment, hours, structure, and teaching methods, for alternative education programs that are to be implemented (ORS 336.625(1)). As this indicates, alternative education in the state of Oregon sets the highest priority, by law, on the needs and interests of the students, and it assures the creation of a flexible educational environment. There were some twists and turns, however, before Oregon arrived at the existing law. The manual for LEARN (one of the alternative education support organizations in Lane County, which will be discussed later) has a section titled Defining Alternative Education (LEARN (n.d.), pp. 3-4). This says, in effect, that twenty years before, alternative education programs were only for students who could not keep up with learning in school. At present, however, these programs are for any and all students, and they have theories, learning environments, curriculums, and staff in great variety. The concept that ties together this diversity of the alternative schools is no doubt their contrast with traditional public schools. While emphasizing the distinctive characteristics of alternative education as a positive choice, this section points out, on the other hand, that alternative education even today is also sometimes seen as a departure from education based on the standard classroom model. The definitions of alternative education show that various interpretations still actually have currency today. While conducting on-site surveys, the author was privileged to have an opportunity to observe some regular meetings of the Alternative Education

84

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Coalition, a group composed of alternative education program operators in Salem, the Oregon state capital. Even in their meetings, the term alternative education was used with two implications. One is of corrective education that is targeted to referred students whose behaviour had caused problems. The other is of progressive education or freedom-oriented education that was developed by teachers and parents who had doubts about standard education and wanted to put their own particular educational programs into action. The term is used in Oregon in both these senses, and when the usage became confused, someone would point it out. The mission statement for this coalition is framed in terms of effective reforms to provide equal learning opportunities built out of the diverse possibilities that are inherent in all young people. The majority of representatives from the various groups who gathered there were, in fact, representing correctional educational facilities and other such organizations with the purpose of helping young people who had been taken into custody, and restoring them to society. On the other hand, it was also emphasized at the regular meeting mentioned above that the children at these facilities also include a significant number who did not respond to standard education and who are seeking a learning environment that will develop their own individual interests. There is an interesting episode that comes to mind when thinking about the changing interpretations and definitions of alternative education. The Educational Law 581022(5)(a) for the Oregon State Department of Education provides that students who are registered in alternative education programs are to be those students whose educational needs and interests would be best fulfilled through participation in such programs. This includes but is not limited to those students who are specified by ORS 339.250(9) and OAR 581-022-1110(5). ORS is the abbreviation for Oregon Revised Statutes, and OAR for Oregon Administrative Rules. The former set out the general principles, while the latter specify the detailed regulations regarding administration and operation of educational programs. The students specified by ORS 339.250(9) and OAR 581-022-1110(5) are drop-outs and underachieving students. This legislation was written in the early 1990s, but amended into its present form in 1997. Until then, the law referred only to fulfilling educational needs. In other words, it did not contain the word ‘interests.’ Where its provisions had been limited to the kinds of students who would be referred, the language was revised to specify that it was not to be limited to those students. The people who carried out this work were one of the faculty members of the Blue Mountain School, and then an alternative education specialist in the Oregon Department of Education.12 These two people set out to amend the legislation with the purpose of repositioning alternative education, which had tended to be taken as education for problem children, and situating it instead as education offering greater diversity of choice. The founder remarked that this incremental addition to the law came about as a result of her ‘snooping around’ the loopholes in the law as it existed then (Interview with the faculty member (February 20, 2003)). In this way, alternative education was positioned within the law as a concept that also contains a more positive meaning. This added language opened up the way for children who were not referrals, making it possible for them, too, to actively receive alternative education like the students of the Blue Mountain School. The faculty members had the previous experience of founding a free school in California during the 1970s. This means she has devoted 30 years or more to promoting alternative education. She explains that in California in the 1970s, the administrative problems required 18 months to clear up, and the free school could 12

Interview with the faculty member (February 20, 2003).

85

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

open its doors three months after government permission was received. In Oregon, 20 years later, a similar attempt took much longer. It took five years to amend the laws so that it would be possible for citizens to freely develop their own education. She participated in the founding movement for the Blue Mountain School, which required one additional year before it could open.13 It was due to the dedicated efforts of such key people that Oregon realized the private alternative school with public subsidies, a form of education that was rare throughout the United States, and which will be discussed next.

Three Streams of Alternative Education Progressive schools that inherited the stream of the 1970s free school movement survived in Lane County from an early time. As noted earlier, many of the people involved with these schools are professors or other staff of the University of Oregon, which is one of the largest employers in Lane County. With their correspondingly high social status, they have stood up to government officials to protect the educational practices they themselves are involved in, and to maintain any advantageous position for those practices. As of February 2003, there were at least 13 magnet schools and other such public alternative schools in Lane County.14 Most of them are schools that were started in the 1970s, and a significant number were founded for the primary purpose of serving at-risk children. From the perspective of a practitioner at a private alternative school, such as CAT, most of those schools do not differ very much from ordinary public schools in practice. Table 6.2 shows that public alternative schools and private alternative schools differ essentially in their various characteristics. It is sometimes said that the former are not truly alternative. According to interviews at the Oregon Department of Education, students who are both attending ordinary school and engaging in homeschooling are counted as public school students in Figure 6.2. Students in that category apparently make up 4-5% of the total number of students in public schools. Moreover, schools identified above as private schools are not necessarily all private alternative schools. When such factors are taken into account, then the number of students enrolled at private alternative schools, charter schools, and home schools that belong to the alternative education category are estimated to amount to less than 9% of the total. Given the rapidly growing number of homeschoolers and the increasing number of charter schools, however, it would appear that the number of alternative schools in Oregon has been on an increasing trend in recent years. Table 6.2

Definition

How Created

Accountability

Distinctive Characteristics of Alternative Education Programs in Oregon Public Alternative

Private Alternative

Charter Schools

Learning environments created and operated by local school districts

Learning environments created and operated by private entities

Learning environments created and operated by charter school developers in sponsorship with local school district or State Board(on appeal)

By district

Created by registering with ODE

Application process as spelled out in SB 100

State content standards and assessments annual

State content standards and assessments annual evaluation by

State content standards and assessments annual evaluation by Board of Governors, reported to

13

Personal communication (hereafter PC) on the international alternative education mailing list, February 24, 2003.

14

Counted from the Lane County telephone directory and interviews with people involved.

86

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION evaluation by operating or contracting school district

operating or contracting school district

sponsor

District responsibility

Own, lease, rent or use donated space

Own, lease, rent, use donated space or negotiate with District

Same as District’s per pupil operating expense

Lesser of cost of program’s tuition OR district’s per pupil operating expense

K-8: 80% of ADM(Average Daily Membership); 9-12: 95% of ADM (negotiated with District)

Certification

Any Oregon teaching license is valid for any grade or level

Oregon teaching license is not required

50% of FTE (Full-Time Equivalency) must be licensed and registered

Special Education

Approved under separate sets of rules (OAR Chap.15 and ORS 343)

Approved under separate sets of rules (OAR Chap.15 and ORS 343)

District assumes responsibility; negotiates provision of services with charter school

District employees, belong to local collective bargaining unit

Employment may be at will or by collectively bargaining with school operators

If district is employer, would belong to collective bargaining

Facilities

Funding

Collective Bargaining

Governance

If charter school is employer, could organize a separate collective bargaining unit Local School Board and Site Council

Board of Directors, sole proprietorship, partnership or other

Separate Board of Governors

Expulsion

Same as public alternative, plus contract provisions

Open to all District students

Exceed ALL benchmark standards Eligibility and Student Selection

Not meet ALL benchmark standards

Applicable Laws Application Process Appeals Transportation

Only requirement can be age and grade

20% of students may come from outside district, providing space is available

Referred by school or school district

Not required

Application process

Students lottery if there are more applicants than spaces available

Recommendations may be made by student and/or parents Tax Exemption

If charter school is employer, would not belong to collective bargaining

Minimum of 25 students

Not required

501(c) (3)

Must adhere to all Federal laws and applicable ORS’s, OAR’s and school district policies

Must adhere to all laws OAR’s and ORS’s as specified in contract with local school district

Are exempt from all laws except those specified in Section 12 of SB 100

District specific

District specific

Specific application procedure and appeals process spelled out in SB 100

Provided or reasonably accessible

Provided by program, parent or student

District is responsible; do not have to add new or add to existing routes

Local school board may request additional information

Source: L. Rubinstein, Y. DeYoung and J. V. Tuin (eds.), Alternative Education Manual: A Start-up and Operations Guide for Private, Publicly Funded Alternative Education Programs and Charter Schools in Lane County, Oregon, Eugene: LEARN, not dated, Appendix E.

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CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA







Public Schools Private Schools Home Schools Charter Schools



Figure 6.2 Numbers of Students in Oregon by School Type (2001–2002) Total Enrollment: 604,760 Students Source: Oregon Department of Education, ‘Percent of K-12 Student Enrollment by Type of School 2001– 2002,’ Oregon Report Card 2001–02, 2002, p. 25.

Table 6.3. Numbers of Schools in Oregon (Percentages) School Category

Number of Schools (%)

Public Schools

1176 (68.1%)

Public Alternative Schools

72 (4.2%)

Traditional Private Schools

351 (20.3%)

Private Alternative Schools

106 (6.1%)

Charter Schools Total

23 (1.3%) 1728 (100%)

Sources: Oregon Department of Education, Oregon School Directory 2002–03, 2002. Office of Curriculum Instruction and Field Services, Oregon Department of Education, ‘Private Alternative School Directory 2002’, ‘Alternative Education Programs’, ‘Charter Schools in Oregon 2002-2003,’ February 2003.

Table 6.3 includes home school programs in private alternative schools. Public alternative schools differ in that teaching emphasizes certain subjects. Otherwise they are said to be basically interchangeable with public schools in terms of teaching staff compensation, teaching schedules, and other such matters. Therefore, if only the numbers of private alternative schools and charter schools are counted, without including the number of public alternative schools within the alternative education category, then 7.4% of the total can be said to consist of schools (or programs) that practice alternative education. In short, alternative education can be inferred to make up 10% or less of the educational system of Lane County, whether counted in numbers of students or numbers of schools. However, this percentage can be expected to increase further as the number of charter schools increases. As noted earlier, there are many groups within the alternative schools (and programs) today that are considering converting into charter schools. A University of Oregon professor, one of the children of a founding couple of the Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, sent his children to the Blue Mountain School, where he is also a member of the board. According to him, when private alternative schools such as the Blue Mountain School change into charter schools, the advantages they receive are not limited to the matter of referred children. The change makes it easier to accept a greater diversity of children. In addition, contracts could have longer terms, so at the longest they could be renewed every five years rather than every year. The disadvantages he identified include the requirement that half of the faculty have teaching credentials and the requirement for supervision that is generally stricter.15 15

Interview with the University Professor (February 23, 2003).

88

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

LEARN: A Self-Help Organization for Alternative Schools and Networks Among the information sharing and mutual aid organizations related to alternative education in Oregon are the Oregon Association of Independent Schools (OAIS) and the Oregon Association for Alternatives in Education (OAAE). The former is a federation of private schools in every American state, and its focus is on traditional private schools. The latter was founded in the 1970s and was initially a support organization, but its emphasis on alternatives in education was weakened from the 1980s, when the notion of alternative education as education for problem children became dominant. 16 The single greatest distinctive characteristic of the alternative education support mechanisms in Lane County is that they have formed their own, active organization apart from the above type of official, established support organizations. The private alternative schools in the county exchange information, provide each other encouragement, and support each other in the bottom-up self-help organization called LEARN. The name LEARN is an acronym formed from the initial letters of Lane Educational Alternatives Resource Network. The group was founded in 2000. Up until then, the detailed tasks involved in administrative procedures, responses to the school board, methods of evaluation, and other such matters had to be handled by each school in its own way. The schools often found themselves stymied, but they had no occasions for exchanging information with each other. The person who stepped forward to act as go-between in order to better this situation was the founder of CAT. He got in touch with staff members at the Blue Mountain School and other such schools, and proposed that CAT provide a meeting place where representatives of the Lane County private alternative schools could gather. This met with their approval, and regular scheduled activities were begun. One of the outcomes of recent LEARN activity has been the creation of a manual for alternative education. This manual is written as an introduction to the subject that members of the public can also understand quite easily, in addition to being a solid practical work on alternative education practice.17 LEARN obtained a subsidy from the state of Oregon, and also created a catalogue of schools in order to spread the practice of alternative education among the populace. Since their initial meeting in 2000, they have held monthly meetings at the CAT office where representatives of the various schools gather, decide on an important issue, and discuss it together. The issue they are currently considering is the possibility of making the transition to a charter school. The charter school study group has also invited State Department of Education officials who handle charter school matters to attend meetings so they could get to know each other. The range of LEARN activities has been steadily growing broader, but as the group does not have any permanent source of funding, they are currently getting by with unpaid services received 16

Interview with a retired faculty member of Blue Mountain School (January 20, 2003). She herself was also a member of the OAAE board as of February 2003.

17

This manual (Rubinstein, et. al., no date) explains the procedures that members of the public must follow when starting an alternative education program, a charter school, or a home school, together with the tax system, the necessary documents, the authorizations, the relevant statutes, the distinctive characteristics of the various forms of alternative education, and other related matters. It consequently serves as an excellent introductory work on alternative education and also as a specialized work on the subject.

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

89

primarily from CAT members. They say that they are planning to found a more formal organization with a membership system and annual membership fees of $200 per member group. The LEARN group respects the unique characteristics of individual member groups while also sharing a common objective for the LEARN group as a whole, together with the shared determination to realize that objective, and in this it can be said to symbolize the pluralistic educational community.

Mechanisms Function by School District Even within Lane County, there are subtle differences in how alternative schools (and programs) are handled in different school districts. Such differences in degree of receptiveness have a considerable influence on the practice of alternative education. A look at the application procedures that an alternative school must go through before parents can send their children to it will show that the way government administration deals with these schools varies with the locality (LEARN (n.d.), pp. 68-71). The differences may at first appear to illustrate the diversity of school districts. However, they also represent the other side of the localism that is characteristic of Lane County. The reception that government administration gives to activities carried on by members of the public will vary considerably with the locality, and it will be influenced by the strongly conservative or innovative tendencies of localities and the size of the areas under the jurisdiction of the school boards. When members of the public select an alternative school, therefore, they will find their way through approaches and by means suited to the situations in their particular localities, as shown in the appendices. This kind of difference between localities is conspicuous in the understanding of referrals. Children sent as referrals are the only students receiving alternative education at CAT and other such alternative schools in the Eugene school district. In the South Lane school district where the Blue Mountain School is located, however, the school board takes a more tolerant attitude toward alternative schools. In fact, there are virtually no children at the Blue Mountain School who were sent there by the school board as referrals because they had caused trouble at public schools. In other words, the dominant viewpoint is that students will not, as a rule, receive alternative education until they represent a serious problem in terms of behavioral norms or grades. However, the statutes and administrative rules make allowance for extenuating circumstances, so cases may be handled differently according to the judgment of the responsible district official. The state legislation quoted earlier in this section referred to the ‘educational needs and interests’ of the students, and stated that the recipient ofalternative education ‘is not limited to’ the conventional at-risk child. Disparities in treatment no doubt also arise from the differing extents to which responsible officials understand these phrases consciously and perceive value in them. It was noted above that the members of LEARN are presently studying the possibility of making the transition to charter schools. One of their reasons for this is that charter schools do not require referrals. School districts also differ considerably in their acceptance of academic credits, and this is said to be a longstanding source of frequent frustration for alternative programs (LEARN (n.d.), p. 35). Differences between localities are found in testing, as well. Many of these schools give tests, even though they are alternative schools. The Blue Mountain School, however, values the students' independence, and follows a policy of not requiring them to take tests until the students themselves sense the need for the test and ask for it. Under this policy, about one-third of the students receive the tests that are legally mandated in the third, fifth, eighth, and tenth grades. The remaining two-thirds of the students have a notation on the report sent to the State Department of Education to the

90

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

effect that testing was refused by the parents. Neither the state nor the school district has ever responded with advice or guidance. It is clear that the South Lane district takes the most liberal approach to regulation in the conduct of public administration in Lane County. This circumstance is due in part to the active efforts of certain key people to work with the school board. These were key people who had done all they could, including amending the language of the statutes, to lay a foundation such that educational practice would reflect their own values. One of the founders of the Blue Mountain School as well as a member of the South Lane school board explained that ‘The South Lane School District, which has jurisdiction over the Blue Mountain School, is a relatively small district, so the alternative schools and the education officials in charge of them work together on a basis of direct knowledge and familiarity. We understand each other better than is the case in large school districts like Eugene that have jurisdiction over a number of different alternative schools. 18 As one of the board members of the school relates, ‘Up until the Blue Mountain School opened its doors, we took the time to explain to the local residents and the members of the school board what kind of school we were trying to create. Thanks to that effort, the school and the local school board still enjoy an extremely positive relationship.’ He points out that ‘The school board in this school district is aware that everyone in the community is benefiting from the interpretation of the law.19

The Desired Modality of Pluralistic Quality Assurance As is also apparent from Table 6.2, alternative education that receives public funding will be subject to controls of some kind or other. In general, when controls take the form of centralized standards, then there is some danger that alternative education will lose something of its essence, or, in other words, its uniqueness, its initiative, its spontaneity, or other such qualities. In the case of Oregon, however, a pluralistic quality is also to be found in the quality controls (which would probably be more appropriately termed the quality assurance) that guarantee the quality and public character of alternative education in that state. One example is the evaluation of students' scholastic skills. A variety of methods for evaluating scholastic skills are legally accepted. Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-1350(1) states, ‘In order to provide innovative and more flexible ways of educating children, school districts may establish new alternative education options within the public school system.’ OAR 581-022-1131 states that alternative education programs can grant the credit units required for graduation, given that students have successfully completed classroom or equivalent work, and it recognizes not only tests administered in the classroom, but also presentation of student work that demonstrates knowledge or skill equivalent to that acquired in classroom learning. In other words, this takes a view of scholastic skills that allows for various different kinds of evaluation, providing that those skills are effectively acquired at a level equal to or better than that of public education. The spirit of the law could be said to enable a pluralistic view, and this is also apparent in the language that relates to school evaluation. Oregon Revised Statute 336, Section 615, specifies that in operating an alternative education program, the school board of a school district is to arrange flexible learning conditions as related to the learning environment, hours, structure, and teaching methodology. According to LEARN's alternative education manual, the flexibility referred to in this statement places this area's alternative education program at the leading edge of educational innovation. Flexibility is also an important criterion for school board evaluation of 18

Telephone interview with the teacher (February 23, 2003).

19

Interview with the board member (February 23, 2003).

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

91

schools (and programs). The state government has adopted a system whereby the selection of professional evaluators is entrusted to each local school board, and their reports are passed on to alternative education specialists in the Oregon Department of Education. The language of the statute cited above functions as a standard for this kind of evaluation, as well. The author obtained a list of evaluation items from a certain school district in Oregon during an on-site survey. The list opens with a group of questions asking whether the learning conditions in the program being evaluated are flexible in terms of the learning environment, whether they are flexible in terms of time, whether they are flexible in terms of program structure, and whether they are flexible in terms of teaching methodology. These questions are supposed to be answered yes or no. Apart from this group of questions, the list only covers discrimination, accounting, whether or not the development of individual students is evaluated, whether or not the school or program is accredited by any public agencies, special education, whether evaluation by the school board of the school district is conducted at least once a year, acceptance of academic credits, safety of facilities, assurance of a minimum level of learning, and criminal records of employees, all phrased so that they can be answered simply yes or no. Although different school districts evince different degrees of receptiveness toward them, alternative schools generally receive supervision that is liberal. In the case of CAT, for example, inspectors from the Eugene School District visit about five times during the year. Each time they spend about two hours interviewing students and staff members and looking around the school, but apparently have never attempted any detailed, in-depth checks of student attitudes, behaviour, or scholastic skills. The varied modalities of quality assurance applied to varied forms of education are reflected in financial standards, as well. Compared to public schools, private alternative schools in Oregon are provided 80% of the educational expenses per pupil by the state, with the remaining 20% of the cost being assigned to the school board. Charter schools receive 80% at the primary and lower secondary levels, and 95% at the secondary level. There is more than just uniform standards like these, however. The Oregon Department of Education has created formulas for calculating financial support in a relatively flexible manner, in order to accommodate a variety of forms of education. Private alternative education receiving public subsidies grew to its present prominence over a period of more than ten years since the 1990s, during which period the formulas are said to have been worked out by a process of repeated trial and error. 20 The ADM (Average Daily Membership), a figure representing educational expenses per student, is defined so that it can be calculated appropriately by the form of education (home schools, alternative education programs, individual instruction, and so on) and by such parameters as full-time and part-time, number of students, whether or not students have handicaps, and other such diverse modalities of alternative education (Bunn 2001). This may be taken as one case that suggests how such finely-tuned, flexible modes of accreditation are required in a pluralistic educational community.

Issues for the Future ‘What countries (or states) have laws that favor the development of alternative education?’ When this question was posed on a mailing list devoted to international alternative education, the result was a number of responses that were quite conscientious. As the majority of responses from America referred to the state of Oregon, preliminary contacts were made with individuals there who seemed to be key people. Frequent intensive exchanges of e-mail left the strong impression that 20

Interview with a school finance, data and analysis specialist, Oregon Department of Education (February 21, 2003).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

something was there in Oregon that could not be conveyed fully by remote communication, and it was consequently decided to proceed there to conduct an onsite survey. After interviews were held with key people on the ground, the notion formed that what made alternative places of learning vitally active and empowered the children in them was not formal statutes and regulations as much as it was informal arrangements, not static systems as much as it was dynamic mechanisms. This brought renewed awareness that laws stand or fall according to the people involved. It must be remembered, of course, that the kinds of arrangements and mechanisms found in Lane County are able to function upon a foundation made up in part of the laws, regulations, and administrative rules cited earlier. It did appear, however, that the people there were constantly engaging in efforts to influence the local and state governments so that their pluralistic educational community, which had been built up over time, could be encouraged to develop rather than being nipped in the bud. The state of Oregon conveyed the impression of such efforts more strongly than any of the other study locations.21 It is not that a stable system for this purpose exists there. Rather, it is that there are also numerous occasions for members of the public and government officials to confront each other. Even under adverse circumstances, the work of developing relationships of creative tension can be said to have resulted in the implementation of innovative educational practices and the formation of local networks.

As suggested in the body of this section, alternative education in Oregon has produced numerous positive results, and at the same time presents a number of issues. One of these issues is the system of referrals.22 A passage in the state law to the effect that the permission of the school board in the school district concerned must be obtained was cited near the beginning of this section. As noted earlier, this was influenced by ORS 339.250(9) and OAR 581-022-1110(5), in which the students who receive alternative education are identified as problem children and students with learning disabilities. In fact, there are a significant number of school districts in which students will be unable, as a rule, to receive private alternative education unless they have been referred to it. However, there are also those localities such as the South Lane school district, where the Blue Mountain School is located, that attach importance to the statement that alternative education is not to be limited to problem students, and allow students to attend private alternative schools without a letter of referral. In this way, differences between localities are to be found even within the same state, and this fact can be considered the result of differences between those localities where there are key initiators like the founder/faculty member of Blue Mountain School and those localities where there are not. There can be no doubt that these individuals are practicing alternative education in accordance with legal procedure. At the same time, however, they are also spending considerable time and effort in seeking the understanding of government administrators while making the most of the exceptional regulations noted above. The question is whether to assign

21

In fact, a mailing list has been formed to watch trends relating to new draft legislation in Oregon, and upto-date information is being exchanged there, primarily by members of the public associated with LEARN, on an everyday basis. Furthermore, the retired faculty member of the Blue Mountain School, referred to earlier in this chapter, reports that parents are considering the possibility of participating in the formulation of educational legislation (Personal Communication by e-mail on March 5, 2003).

22

There can be no doubt that the limitations imposed by referrals have caused practitioners of alternative education to take greater interest in charter schools. As can be seen from Table 6.2, however, charter schools are generally held to higher standards of accountability in every respect. Even if the present alternative schools were to make the transition to charter schools in the near future, it would be necessary to pay close attention to see how this might alter the relaxed expansiveness that has invigorated alternative education so far.

CASE STUDY: THE STATE OF OREGON, USA

93

significance respectively to the qualities of those individuals who are capable of inquiring closely into the law, and to the circumstances (mechanisms) that depend largely on the present statutes with their leeway for extenuating circumstances. Alternatively, should matters be systematized to a greater extent, even if this is accompanied by a certain amount of regulation, and should a foundation that allows more of the general public to receive a diverse education be built up as a system? These are the questions being posed to the educational community about the current state and future vision of alternative education.

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Case Study: Denmark Alternative Education Fostered by Support Mechanisms Cultivated Through the History of the Common People

N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783 - 1872) 95

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Introduction Denmark, an enthusiastically education-minded nation, is among the European Union (EU) countries with the highest spending on education (as a percentage of GNP). That enthusiasm, however, does not take the heated forms of competition in scholastic skills or examination hell. Rather, it appears to be fostering movement toward greater care for the psychological peace and well-being of individual children and young people. This is an education that is in a certain sense free of pressure, but by no means does this mean that public literacy in Denmark is low. Indeed, it is among the highest in Europe.1 It does not necessarily follow from this that a thoroughly efficient system of education and training exists in Denmark, but we can say that a free and noncompetitive educational community that values dialogue has come into being there. This case study will proceed to examine the modality of alternative education in such a society by placing the focus on its support mechanisms.

Denmark's Educational System and Its Background An Educational Community that Emerged from the History of the Populace There is no compulsory school attendance in Denmark as there is in Japan. Parents do not have to send their children to school. The rights of parents with regard to education were recognized by law in the early 19th century, and the people of Denmark have subsequently taken on the notion that education is conducted as a matter of parental responsibility. One might say that home schooling and people's right to start their own schools has been officially recognized for nearly two centuries. The tradition of bottom-up educational movements being highly approved not only by the populace but by the government is deeply rooted in Denmark. The relationship between the government and the people is such that it cannot be described by a simple scheme of binary opposition.2 It is important to grasp the country's popular educational history from the 18th century in order to understand this relationship. There are two individuals who absolutely must be mentioned when relating the popular educational history of Denmark. They are N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) and Kristen Kold (1816-1870). Grundtvig, who has been called the father of people's education, was an educator, a minister, a poet, a politician, and a grass-roots activist. He wrote School for Life in order to improve the lives of farmers who were suffering in poverty, and launched an educational movement that emphasized independence 1

OECD/CERI, 2001, p. 49. There is no doubt that some data, as in the analytical results of the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted in recent years, also suggest that student performance is clearly not high in comparison to educational spending (OECD 2001, p. 91). It must be emphasized, however, that humanistic education of the kind to be touched on later, or educational results based on social self-awareness of the people, cannot necessarily be measured by the criteria used in international comparative studies. The world competitive rankings by the Swiss International Management Development Institute for 2003 show Denmark in third place among countries with small economies and populations of 20 million or fewer, after Finland in first and Singapore in second place (IMD 2003).

2

A pamphlet on education created by the government of Denmark shows considerable confidence in grass-roots movements as well as a surprising pride in that kind of culture. (See, for example, Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1994.) Interviews the author conducted with staff members of the Ministry of Education also revealed a highly supportive attitude toward citizen's movements among them.

CASE STUDY: DENMARK

97

and dialogue.3 Grundtvig's philosophy was taken up by Kold, who put Grundtvig's ideas into practice. So the friskole came into being as free basic schools that did not use memorization or drills. These schools spread throughout the country, and what they did also came to have an influence on local public education. The philosophy and practice of Grundtvig and Kold further stimulated the foundation of efterskole, secondary school versions of the friskole, which were founded throughout the country. As will be described later, they receive public subsidies, but are not subject to any demands regarding teaching methods, textbooks, or similar matters. They are also free to set their own curriculum, apart from including basic subjects. These form an alternative stream of education that is different from the mainstream and yet is approved.

Constitutionally Guaranteed Parental Rights and the Increase in Independent Schools As noted above, Denmark does not have compulsory school attendance as many countries do, but instead has what might be called compulsory education. The constitution enacted in the mid-19th century stipulates that parents themselves have the right to educate their children, and the actor in providing education is explicitly not limited to the public school. The influence that this democratic constitution had on alternative education is beyond reckoning. The Education Act (Public School Act) was instituted in accordance with the spirit of that constitution, and Article 33 of this law states that children who are receiving home schooling shall not be required to participate in education at a municipal school.4 The act thus openly recognizes homeschooling. The existence of alternative schools is legally provided for by the Independent School Act (more properly, the Friskole and Private Basic School Act), which also defines the rights of parents. Article 9 states that the education should measure up to the content ordinarily required at public elementary and lower secondary school. This and other aspects of overall activities are supervised by the parents of the students who attend the friskole. The law further states that the parents' assembly at the school will decide for itself the methods by which supervision should be carried out. A Ministry of Education official in charge of private independent schools, and who was involved in formulating and revising the Independent School Act, emphasized that Article 9 makes education in Denmark idiosyncratic in a positive sense.5 Denmark, this official says, is the society with the most strongly-rooted awareness that the actor in school creation is not the state but the parents, the members of the public, and the local community. Among the rights of parents that are assured in Denmark is the parental right of educational choice. In general, when giving education to their own children, parents can choose among three alternatives. One is to send their children to public school, where there are, of course, almost no schooling expenses. The second alternative is to send their children to an existing non-public school of the type known as an independent school.6 In this case, the schooling expenses are higher than at a public school, but parents do not feel this as such a great burden because, as will be explained later, these schools receive public funding at the rate of about 75% of the funding pro for public schools. The third alternative is homeschooling. The awareness of parent's rights has traditionally been deeply rooted in Denmark, and that country officially 3

For details, see Lund and Skerninge (eds.) (2003).

4

Such schools are called folkeskole in Danish. These are public schools at the primary and lower secondary levels. It was decided to use a translation that faithfully reflects the sense of the Danish term.

5

Interview at Ministry of Education (September 10, 2001).

6

The literal translation of the Danish friskole is free school. Here this kind of school will be termed an independent school rather than a private school, in line with the reasoning of Henrik Køber of the Danish Ministry of Education (Køber, 2000).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

recognizes the education of children at home by their parents. According to the Ministry of Education, homeschooling is practiced by 1% or fewer of the country's households, and the number of homeschoolers is by no means large. The right to homeschooling, however, has been protected for many years. Table 7.1. Changes in the Number of Students (1970s to 1990s) Fiscal Year (19__)

Public Schools (%)

Independent Schools (%)

Overall

70/71

682,413 (94.0)

43,535 (6.0)

725,948

75/76

757,369 (94.2)

48,800 (5.8)

806,169

̆

̆

̆

̆

80/81

725,269 (92.6)

57,982 (7.4)

783,251

85/86

642,792 (90.6)

66,372 (9.4)

709,164 ̆

̆

̆

̆

90/91

549,262 (89.1)

67,200 (10.9)

616,462

91/92

534,723 (88.9)

66,793 (11.1)

601,516

92/93

525,720 (88.7)

67,088 (11.3)

592,808

93/94

516,988 (88.5)

67,294 (11.5)

584,277

94/95

512,415 (88.3)

67,704 (11.7)

579,270

95/96

513,695 (88.3)

68,095 (11.7)

581,253

96/97

519,964 (88.1)

70,468 (11.9)

590,254

97/98

529,202 (88.1)

71,391 (11.9)

600,593

98/99

541,187 (88.1)

72,916 (11.9)

614,103

99/00

551,567 (87.9)

75,699 (12.1)

627,266

Source: Undervisnings Ministeriet, De Frie Grundskoler i tal 1999/00, 2000, p. 11. Note: Data in source abridged here by author.

There is a fourth alternative, in addition to those above, that the author would like to point out. This is the choice to found an independent school oneself. In this case, too, the school can receive public subsidies to be used for teacher salaries and other operating expenses if it meets certain basic conditions, which will be explained later. Here again the government will interfere almost not at all in regulations related to the acquisition of teaching licenses, the details of the curriculum, and other such aspects relating to the content of education. The head of the Secretariat of the Danish Association of Private Primary and Secondary Schools (Danmarks Realskoleforening), which will be further described later, said that in Danish society, ‘When something that already exists does not suit a person, then the person can choose an alternative. If the alternatives do not suit us, then we can create other alternatives ourselves. It is important that such an opportunity is always available as a social institution.7 Students who study at independent schools make up more than 12% of the school-age population. This proportion has been tending to increase, however slightly, in recent years (see Table 7.1). Meanwhile, the number of public schools tended entirely downward during the decade of the 1990s, while the number of independent schools increased (see Table 7.2). Trends like these have also been influenced by the cases of public schools that, on the verge of closing because of declining student bodies, turned into independent schools. 7

Interview with the head of the Secretariat, Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools (Danmarks Privatskoleforening) (September 10, 2001).

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CASE STUDY: DENMARK

Table 7.2

Changes in the Number of Schools (1990s)

Fiscal Year (19__)

Public Schools (%)

Change

Independent Schools (%)

90/91

1,779 (81.3)

́51

409 (18.7)

91/92

1,722 (81.2)

́57

399 (18.8)

Change

Overall

Change

6

2,188

-45

́10

2,121

-67

92/93

1,688 (80.0)

́34

421 (20.0)

22

2,109

-12

93/94

1,680 (80.0)

́ 8

421 (20.0)

0

2,101

- 8

94/95

1,677 (79.9)

́ 3

421 (21.1)

0

2,098

- 3

95/96

1,675 (79.7)

́ 2

426 (20.3)

5

2,101

3 3

96/97

1,671 (79.4)

́ 4

433 (20.6)

7

2,104

97/98

1,672 (79.4)

1

433 (20.6)

0

2,105

1

98/99

1,668 (79.2)

́ 4

437 (20.8)

4

2,105

0

99/00

1,671 (78.6)

3

452 (21.3)

15

2,125

Total

́159

49

18 -110

Source: Undervisnings Ministeriet, De Frie Grundskoler i tal 1999/00, 2000, pp. 7, 11.

School for Life: Relative Autonomy from the State System and Market System Denmark is said to place little reliance on evaluations based upon test results. In fact, children there are rarely pressed with preparation for tests. According to the head of the Secretariat of the Danish Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools, ‘Equality is an extremely important keyword for the Danish people. Very few people are interested in competitive tests that lead to differentiation between human beings, and such tests effectively cannot take place. The kind of school hierarchy found in England does not exist here, and the Danish people do not believe in ranking.’ 8 As this suggests, there is a strong sense of respect for dialogue and for human qualities, so that there are also many people involved with independent schools who do not place much value on differentiation between people by means of quantitative measures. Ranking is associated not with the educational community but with the industrial world, and it appears that the term is, if anything, depreciated by the Danish people, who esteem human qualities and equality. Of course, standard tests can be taken at the end of the ninth or tenth grades in Danish, English, and German languages, mathematics, and physics. Many students take these tests, but nobody struggles to study for them. Although a large amount of tax money is spent on administering simultaneous nation-wide tests, the results of those tests are rarely put to use in students' lives. Thus a significant number of parents and teachers are said to be skeptical about the very raison d'etre of the tests themselves.9 In most industrialized countries such as Japan, the parents might become anxious if they did not administer the tests to the children. In Denmark, however, those parents who entertain doubts about the examination system are likely to choose independent schools. There are a good number of independent schools at the primary level that do not administer tests, and there are even some efterskole, which are independent schools at the secondary level, that do not require testing. Therefore it is not rare to find graduates of independent schools who have gone from kindergarten through later secondary education without ever taking an examination. Part of the context of this strong tendency to avoid competitive testing is a traditional influence from Grundtvig and Kold, who advocated humanistic education based on 8

Interview with the head of the Secretariat, Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools (September 10, 2001).

9

Interview at Osted Efterskole on the outskirts of Roskilde (September 13, 2001).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

the notion of the School for Life. Grundtvig asserted the idea that education is ‘for life,’ and Kold, also carrying on that philosophy, put it into practice. People involved in independent schools are very well aware of Kold's dictum that ‘If we want to determine whether our children are able to chew their food properly, we don't force food into their mouths and then make them spit it back out.’ The humanism of Danish society, cultivated by internal motivation, is one factor that has enabled independent schools to maintain their relative autonomy with respect to state and market systems that readily incorporate competitive principles.

Pluralistic Networks that Foster Diversity in Alternative Education Diversity in Alternative Education Of the primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark, 1,671 are public schools, and independent schools, which compose the alternative school group, number 452 schools (2000). Approximately 12% of the school-age population receives an alternative education (see Tables 7.1, 7.2). Though this can be summed up under the term alternative education, the reality is truly diverse in its specifics. The century-anda-half old tradition of alternative education in the lineage of the philosophy and practice of Grundtvig and Kold includes the friskole and their secondary boarding school versions known as efterskole, the lilleskole that reflect left-wing thought since the 1960s, and the realskole, which are medium-sized schools that place an emphasis on curricular education. It includes, in addition, the schools affiliated with Protestant denominations, which form the mainstream of religion in Denmark, the Roman Catholic-affiliated schools, the schools for German students who live near the border with Germany, the Waldorf (Steiner) schools, the Montessori schools, the schools operated by Islamic immigrants, and the schools for children with learning disabilities and other handicaps. The major school groups are broken down in Figure 7.1 farther below. The average number of students per school is also differentiated characteristically by school group. The realskole have about 300 students, while the lilleskole are mostly smaller schools with around 100 students. Parents who were dissatisfied with run-of-the-mill public education tended to send their children to lilleskole if they were progressives and to realskole if they were conservatives. Long ago this was a very distinct division, but the lines dividing up alternative schools have been growing more indistinct in recent years.10

Networks (Associations) that Link Together Independent Schools Each alternative school group has its own network organization, and there are virtually no schools that do not take part in their networks. Independent schools that stand up to the government on their own, as do the Summerhill School in England and the Children's Village School in Thailand, are extremely rare. They also have a long history of forming networks of this kind. The friskole established their association in 1886.11 and the efterskole established theirs in 1908. The independent schools that belong to the various associations all respectively display their distinctive common characteristics. For example, the Association of Alternative Small Schools is a support and advocacy organization for the small progressive lilleskole, which were born out of the left-wing political reform movements among smaller schools. The realskole are organized in the Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools, which is an association of independent schools that place an emphasis on curricular education, as noted earlier. The largest network is formed by the Friskole Association, which is 10

Interview with the head of the Secretariat, Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools (Danmarks Privatskoleforening) (September 10, 2001).

11

The first friskole was founded in 1852.

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not as homogeneous as the other school associations because it includes the group of schools strongly influenced by Grundtvig and Kold, the religious and ethnic minority schools, the Waldorf (Steiner) schools, and so on. While displaying this kind of diversity, the friskole, the efterskole, which are their sister organizations for juveniles, and the folkehøjskole, which are for adults, also proclaim five principles of freedom, shown below, as their common founding principles (The Danish Friskole Association 1995, pp. 13-16): x Principle of Ideological Freedom: The people have the freedom to establish schools based on any ideology that they may adhere to. x Principle of Pedagogical Freedom: The people have the freedom to establish schools that teach any educational content by any methodology. x Principle of Economic Freedom: Schools have the freedom to operate with subsidies from the government. x Principle of Freedom of Employment: Schools have boards, and the freedom to decide the qualifications and skills of employees hired by the schools resides in their boards. x Principle of Student Freedom: Students can apply for entry to any school, and schools for their part have the freedom to refuse admission to students who they do not find suited to school principles. Here the Association of Alternative Small Schools will be introduced briefly as an example of the school support associations. This organization was until very recently named the Lilleskole (Small School) Association. The lilleskole make up the group of schools that emerged from the pacifism of the postwar period and the educational innovation movements of the 1960s and on. Their educational philosophies are mainly influenced by A. S. Neill of Scotland/England, J. Dewey of America, etc. Their political philosophy is in the line of leftist radical thought, and the name ‘lille’ (meaning ‘little’) came from the ‘small is beautiful’ alternative movement. The first lilleskole was founded in 1949, and most of these schools were established with the advent of the baby boom. Denmark experienced a financial crisis in the 1980s, and the Lilleskole Association was founded to obtain funding from the government in order to solve the financial problems of the individual little schools. Presently the association has 47 member schools. However, only about one-half of the schools in this group are named with the ‘lille’ prefix, and the association has come to place emphasis less on the initial ‘small’ slogan and more on freedom and independence. It has therefore changed its proper name to the Small Schools - an association of independent schools (The formal name in Danish is ‘Lilleskolerne - en sammenslutning af frie grundskoler,’ but in this paper ‘Association of Alternative Small Schools’ that is normally used in the association itself as English translation is being used). The main purpose in establishing this association was to negotiate with the government, on behalf of small schools that lacked the necessary social standing on their own, to obtain ‘minimal restrictions and maximum budgets.12 In addition to this purpose, the association currently conducts a number of activities, including public information and political work, preparation and implementation of training for board members, principals, teaching staff, and so on, arbitration when problems arise due to conflicts between school employees and principals, between boards and principals, and among employees, organization of various kinds of seminars, public information activities over the Internet and by telephone, and so on. A general meeting for all board members is held once every year, a general meeting for principals is held once, and weekend or half-day conferences on special topics are held five times. 12

Interview with the head of the Secretariat, Danish Association of Alternative Small Schools (September 10, 2001).

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The association also advises groups of parents who want to establish a new lilleskole. The board convenes six times a year, when they meet with the chairman and the head of the secretariat. Administrative expenses are met by levying 265 kroner (approximately 38 US dollar 13 ) per student of each member school per year. It is not just the Association of Alternative Small Schools that has so few administrative staff members. The same is true of the other associations, as well. The largest organization belongs to the Friskole Association, which has three consultants and three administrative staff members for a total staff of six. The associations are handling all the various different services and duties described above with these small groups of employees. These duties include even the important task of collective bargaining, which affects the lives of all the individual teachers. Even though these are independent schools, such negotiations do result in the imposition of certain working conditions. For example, all independent school teachers have minimum working hours of 1,672 hours annually (24 hours per week). Umbrella groups such as the Association of Alternative Small Schools have a parent organization that coordinates among them and negotiates funding and other such issues with the government. This is the Joint Council of Independent Schools (Frie Grundskolers Fællesråd), which supports the activities of the associations (Figure 7.1). The head of the Secretariat of the Danish Association of Private Primary & Secondary Schools (Danmarks Privatskoleforening), emphasized repeatedly that ‘One aspect of the culture created in Denmark is the culture of associations,’ and that ‘Every town has its soccer or other such sports association where people of like interests gather and enjoy a feeling of lateral solidarity on an everyday basis. This kind of solidarity is also deeply rooted with respect to school creation, and it is safe to say that not a single independent school is fighting its battles all alone.14

Parental Participation and Freedom in School Creation It is likely that Denmark is among the countries that lead the world in the strong belief that parents themselves should conceive of and create their education. There are a considerable number of instances of parents actually having gathered together to realize the creation of their own school. One reason that school creation of this kind at the grass-roots level can be found nationwide is the existence of support mechanisms provided by the government. When a private school is founded in Denmark, the municipal authorities must be informed that a school is to be established that will be attended by children from that locality. According to an official responsible for related matters in the Ministry of Education, however, there is no particular need to obtain the authorities' approval. Nevertheless, if the new school is going to need public subsidies, it must submit an application for registration by February 1 of the year when it commences instruction. The various conditions for the establishment of a new independent school will be described in the next section. Note, however, that the application fee is 30,000 kroner (approximately 4,300 US dollar), which must be deposited with the government at the time of registration by 1 February. In the event that the school actually enters operation, these funds will be returned. Applications are received from various different groups every year. There has been an increase in the number of immigrants who are followers of Islam, and they have already established about 20 independent schools. These schools are operating while receiving public subsidies from the Danish 13

Calculated at the US dollar exchange rate as of December 2004. The same is true of the calculations below.

14

Interview with the head of the Secretariat, Association of Private Primary and Secondary Schools (September 10, 2001). For further discussion on the development of Danish associationalism, see Hirst and Bader (eds.) (2001).

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government under the same conditions as other schools. Let us note in passing that the Friskole Association handled 11 consultations on the formation of new schools in fiscal 2000, and all of those schools are said to have opened. In fiscal 2001, they were approached for consultation by three groups of parents (as of September 2001). Article 1 of the Independent School Act provides that independent schools are in principle free to determine their curriculum so long as they provide education on a level similar to public schools. This means that whether children are educated at home or at independent schools, they must be taught reading and writing of the Danish and English languages and arithmetic at the primary education stage, as in the public schools. Apart from that, however, matters are left up to the people who are directly involved. A licensed teaching staff is not necessary to receive accreditation. Teachers who do not have teaching licenses can also be paid salaries that are funded from public subsidies. Larger schools tend to have more teachers who are licensed, and smaller provincial schools tend to have fewer. According to the head of the secretariat for efterskole, approximately 85% of teaching staff at efterskole have teaching licenses, and most of the remaining 15% are artists, engineers, workers, and so on.15 Many of the teachers, I was told, feel greater pride in having become teachers by alternative training than in any form of training for the purpose of acquiring a teaching license. The schools may also use any textbooks they like. The board of trustees and the teachers select the teaching materials, and they conduct classes that they devise out of their own individual creativity. They are free to require examinations or not, as they wish. The friskole and efterskole that the author visited did not recognize the of the examination itself, and they conducted no testing at all. However, although on the one hand they enjoy this freedom, on the other hand they pay the price of the risks that freedom entails. The fact should not be overlooked, therefore, that sacrificial efforts must be made in order to avoid that risk. An independent school is not very difficult to get started if only the buildings, the property, and the requisite number of children are found. It is extremely difficult, however, to constantly maintain the student body size and administer the school efficiently. (The total subsidies received by each school vary with these three conditions: (1) Number of students, (2) age of students, and (3) geographical region in the country.) They are provided with 75% of the funding that is given to public schools for their operating costs, but their property and buildings must as a rule be furnished by the school organizers themselves. The government does not provide support or special loans for such property. There are quite a number of friskole and other school organizing bodies that converted from public schools, in which case they have their original buildings and property, but this is not necessarily true of all independent schools. It is not at all unusual to come across independent schools with handmade classrooms that were built by the parents in their free time. The establishment of schools by people for themselves in this way is considered to be very natural, and there are said to be few parents who would entrust their local education to others. Visitors to independent schools will frequently see parents there. They are not there just to bring or pick up their children, but are involved in many different projects and events, and take part in volunteer work. There are some parents who design school buildings and contribute to the actual construction work by the sweat of their brow. On weekends, parents can be found engaged in weeding, painting school buildings, and other such tasks. Fathers are also active in weekend school events such as grilling lunch outdoors. Parents take active part not only in projects and events like these, but also in everyday education, including the creation of school policies and educational principles, so that parents have a strong sense that they are themselves creating their own school. They go beyond just asserting their rights, and actually make commitments to school creation in a variety of ways. 15

Interview with the Secretariat of Efterskolerne (September 12, 2001).

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A System that Enhances Freedom As pointed out above, Danish society has an educational system with a relatively great degree of freedom, which could be considered a favorable field for the development of alternative education. However, there is at work in the background of this situation a tension that operates, as will be described below, in the form of a system of public subsidies, a system for school supervision and evaluation, a system of school boards, and other such factors that function positively to enhance that freedom. Brief descriptions of these individual systems will be given below.

Public Subsidies As noted earlier, independent schools receive subsidies from the government amounting to approximately 75% of a public school's budget. The remainder is made up largely by tuition and other such fees paid by parents. Schools must meet the following conditions in order to receive subsidies (Henrik 2000, p. 5): x They must be non-profit organizations. x They must not be controlled by any persons or organizations other than the school, but rather be independent organizations whose income is applied to the school itself. x Their buildings and property must all be located together at the same place. (They must not have branch schools.) x They must have a board of directors with at least five members (At least two of the members must be parents of the school children.). x The directors must perform their duties without compensation. x There must be a head teacher who is responsible for the school's teaching activities. x The government and the independent school's labour body must have reached a certain agreement regarding working conditions, and all teachers must abide by the regulations regarding those working conditions. x There must be at least 28 students. (It is sufficient to have 12 in the first year, 20 in the second year, and 28 in the third year). All parents at the Enghaveskolen, for example, which is a friskole on the outskirts of Faaborg that was visited by the author, must pay tuition fees of 585 kroner (approximately 74 US dollar) per month. The budget of this friskole breaks down to 71% received from the government, 17% from parents, and the remaining 12% from donations, bazaar receipts, and so on. Of its expenditures, 56% goes for teacher salaries, 11% for day-care center operating costs, 10% for teaching materials, 10% for building maintenance and upkeep, 2% for administrative costs, and 11% for other expenses. Tuition fees vary from school to school. In general, however, they are lower in rural areas and higher in cities. Depending upon the region, there are some rural schools that may charge 400 kroner, and some city schools that may charge twice or more of that amount. Independent schools that have day-care centers do not receive municipal subsidies for their day-care centers. There are also some schools, therefore, that impose a separate fee of 400-900 kroner. A unique method has been adopted for calculating subsidies, called the taximeter system. This original method is based on keeping a balance with public schools.16

16

For details, see Henrik (2000). http://eng.uvm.dk/publications/ factsheets/taximeter.htm

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Ministry of Education / Finance Ministry of Education / Finance

Financial Committee

Independent Schools Joint Council

22 schools 35 schools 17schools 21 schools

Friskole Association

Private, Gymnasium Schools Association

German Schools Association

Protestant Schools Association

Catholic Schools Association

Private Primary & Secondary Schools Association

Alternative small schools Association

47 schools 98 schools

5600 pupils 30500 pupils 6000 pupils 4800 pupils 1300 pupils 9800 pupils

220 schools 23000 pupils

Independent Schools (Primary and Secondary Levels) 440 schools / 78000 pupils Figure 7.1 Support Mechanisms for Alternative Education Source: Materials created by the secretariat of the Association of Alternative Small Schools, 2001.

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Evaluation of the Education and Supervision of the Administration at Independent Schools The creation of schools of, by, and for the members of the public occurs as an everyday commonplace in Denmark. A question that arises, then, is how the supervision (evaluation) of schools is handled. As explained earlier, there are no difficult hurdles that must be overcome to receive accreditation when founding a school, except in the number of students and similar conditions. When public funds are given to a school, however, then they are accompanied by a corresponding degree of supervision. Though this is supervision, it is not the detailed, systematic kind of supervision that is seen in the supervisory system of the Netherlands. That is to say, every independent school has its parents’ assembly, whose members choose an auditor from outside usually every four years to make a report that is a few pages long. That is the basic extent of the supervision here.17 Anyone can in principle be such auditors, providing they are chosen by the parents, but in fact the people selected are members of occupations like those shown in Figure 7.2 TXXeachers of Other Schools School Consultants Scholars

18%

1%

31%

Pastors

3% Educationists

5% Managers

8%

3%

3%

10% 18%

Self-Employed Others Unknown Local Government

Figure 7.2. Occupations of Auditors Source: Dansk Friskoleforening, Dansk Friskoleforening Arsberetning 2000, 2001, p. 30.

If no suitable person can be found locally, the city (local government) can be asked to conduct the inspection as a proxy, and nearly 20% of the schools actually do request the city to do it. The selected person visits the school for anything from several days to about 10 days during the year, and evaluates whether or not the minimum required subjects are being taught, whether or not the school is stable in terms of management, whether or not the prescribed number of days of school attendance (200 days annually) is being observed, and other such matters. After visiting the school to check these matters, the evaluator creates a report and submits it, not to the Ministry of Education or to the municipal authorities, but to the annual general meeting of the 17

For details of the supervision exercised by parents’ assembly, see ‘Vejledning om undervisningspligtens opfyldelse i friskoler og private grundskoler og tilsynet hermed (Guidelines for the Implementation and Supervision of the Obligation to Provide Education in Friskole and Private Basic Schools)’.

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parents’ assembly (an event that also includes a meal and group singing, and with deliberations extending usually to four or five hours) and to the school board. These reports are at most several pages in length, and there are cases in which the reports are not particularly specialized or professional in nature. Evaluation has been practiced in this friendly manner in Denmark for a very long time, but recently the government has been trying to make the practice more professional. It is true that the chosen auditors themselves have expressed some uncertainty, having no idea at all of what kind of report they should write. There are also some politicians who are calling for more professional inspections in order to keep educational standards from slipping. Reflecting these expressions of concern, guidelines for inspection were created for the first time in 2001 (Undervisningsministeriet 2001). If it were to be found as the result of inspection that adequate education was not being provided, then a demand for improvement would be made by the auditor to the school. In some cases, a report should also be made to the municipal authorities. If it is determined that further improvement is necessary, then the Ministry of Education can conduct a special inspection. There have been few cases of action taken by municipal authorities, but it has recently become more common for such action to be directed against schools for immigrants. However, there have only been 10 cases that reached the point of supervision by the Ministry of Education since the Independent School Act was enacted in 1992. Five of those cases have been concluded, with the result that just one bilingual school (a school for immigrants whose native language is not Danish) was closed down, while four schools were improved and continue to operate. As of March 2002, the remaining five cases were under deliberation. 18 sum, only one school has been closed down as a result of inspections over the past decade or so, and that case was a singular exception. In other words, a number of schools close down practically every year because of administrative problems, but very few schools have been shut down due to problems with educational content. In the case of efterskole, three schools were closed during the past decade. All of these closures were due to administrative problems. (Two of these schools were in the Faeroe Islands or other such remote areas and were forced to close their doors due to a decline in the number of students. The other school was losing students to a nearby efterskole because the administration was in difficulties, and it ended up closing down.19 The sense of this on the ground, however, as related by the principal of the Osted Friskole-Efterskole, is that ‘There is still a considerable degree of freedom in educational development, but the content of demands from the government, and particularly demands made of independent boarding schools, have become even more exacting in recent years. 20 Supervision has been especially severe since the administrative problems with the Tvind schools led to a court case.21 A considerable number of schools have been made to reevaluate their management. Section 2, Article 21 of the Independent School Act states that: ‘Schools that do not obey this act or 18

Interview with an official in charge of private schools at the Danish Ministry of Education (March 11, 2002).

19

Interview with an official in charge of private schools at the Danish Ministry of Education (September 10, 2001).

20

Interview with the then principal of the school (September 12, 2001).

21

The Tvind schools are alternative schools that were born out of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. It is noted both inside and outside Denmark for its extremely radical activities. There are 10 or more Tvind schools in Denmark, and the organization has grown to include management of hotels and television stations in developing countries in the Caribbean and other such regions. Suspicions arose on whether tax money was being spent by the schools for educational purposes, and their accreditation was canceled in 1996. This incident, however, raised a great public controversy as a possible violation of freedom of education by the government. See also Table 9.1.

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the regulations of the Minister of Education may have their subsidies suspended or invalidated by the Minister of Education, and if there is any error in the basic conditions for calculation of subsidies, schools may be required to pay back their subsidies.’ There were seven independent schools that had their subsidies stopped on the basis of this provision during the five years ending in fiscal 2000. As noted earlier, too, there are five independent schools that are presently being required to undergo reassessment. It is said to be possible, depending on the situation, that they will be pressed to close down. 22 Political circles have called for independent schools, as recipients of tax monies, to undergo evaluation not only of their administration, but also to receive due evaluation of the quality of the education they offer, as provided in the Independent School Act. They also say it is necessary to realize an education system, including the independent schools, that can withstand international competition. In 1999, the Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) was established for the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality of education at all schools throughout Denmark, and the evaluation of independent schools also came to be conducted through this organization. The association of independent schools strongly opposed making such evaluation mandatory, however, so that was avoided. Instead, evaluation is conducted on a request basis. As of March 2002, the Joint Council of Independent Schools and the government were engaged in negotiations concerning methods for the evaluation of independent schools. 23

School Boards and Principals One more distinctive characteristic of the independent schools is their school boards. School boards are ordinarily made up of five or more members, most of them parents. Although there are cases where the majority of board members are parents, there are also cases where the members include people from the local community. In addition to parents, the meetings are attended by the principal and vice principal and by teacher and student representatives. Ordinarily, however, the principal and teachers do not have a vote. 24 Small Schools was deliberating the possibility of including teachers as board members with voting rights. It is by law decided that the principal is not allowed to have a vote. This reflects the delicate situation of the school board, which conducts both hiring and dismissal of the principal and teachers. It is rather unusual that the students attend the school boards meetings. The school boards generally hold meetings monthly and spend several hours discussing educational content, finances, and other such matters. The school board is thus the supreme decision-making organization in the school, and the principal is its employee. Considering the relative placement of these two parties, it may seem that the school is not structured to allow the principal to exercise any leadership, but this is actually not the case. Every friskole, efterskole, and lilleskole the author visited was a community in which the principal was, without exception, a professional in education who exercised superior leadership. That leadership, however, was founded upon agreement reached through discussion with the school board. The author interviewed a principal, who had been engaged to reform the rundown a lilleskole in a relatively well-to-do local community on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Following a philosophy that valued both individualism and solidarity, he was working with the trust and cooperation of the parents to reform the school. 22

23 24

Interview with a specialist of independent schools of the Ministry of Education (September 10, 2001). A field study by the author in March 2004 revealed that a few bilingual (Islamic) schools under the umbrella of Friskole Association have been closed down because they do not teach Danish language and the history of the country in appropriate way. Interview with a specialist of independent schools of the Ministry of Education (March 11, 2002). As of September 2001, the Danish Association of Alternative Small Schools was deliberating the possibility of including teachers as board members with voting rights. It is by law decided that the principal is not allowed to have a vote.

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This is only one example, but it seems reasonable to say that the administration of independent schools is carried on under the leadership of their principals always on the basis of dialogue with the parents’ assembly.

The Relationship Between the Ministry of Education and the Independent Schools The principal of the lilleskole remarked that ‘the government is treating us fairly,’ and this probably represents the impression of most independent school principals.25 When the staff and principals of independent schools were asked about the attitude of the Ministry of Education toward alternative education, they all responded without exception that they had an agreeable impression. The heads of secretariat of four independent school associations were also interviewed, and they all had a similarly positive feeling toward the Ministry of Education. The head of the Secretariat of the Association of Alternative Small Schools said that ‘The Ministry of Education is always receptive and cooperative, they are friendly, and they are trying to help us. I have never felt antagonism or distance from them.’26 A description of independent schools found on the Ministry of Education Web site explains that there are detailed specific regulations related to the registration of independent schools for public subsidies, but there are no more than some general rules imposed regarding educational content. Schools can seek advice from the Ministry of Education whenever it is necessary, and the Ministry of Education can take special measures as circumstances require. 27

Interviews with people involved in independent schools suggested that although their relationships with the Ministry of Education were cooperative, some interviewees found that their relationships with the Ministry of Finance, which they had dealings with when acquiring their funding, were antagonistic. On those occasions, they said, the Ministry of Education backed them up. This differs greatly from the situation in most countries, where alternative education practitioners are situated in opposition to government officials. It is also the case, however, that independent schools and municipalities (local governments) come into conflict over small, practical problems. A friskole visited by the author, for example, faced a problem with the municipal swimming pool, which allowed public school students entry without any charge, but required children from independent schools to pay, and with the use of city school buses, which gave priority to public schools. School staff members said that they would negotiate matters like these whenever they arose. Both government officials and members of the public share the understanding that freedom is important to alternative education. A Ministry of Education official with responsibility for independent schools, said that ‘Independent schools in England are forced to choose between obtaining their freedom or acquiring subsidy payments. Summerhill gave up subsidies in order to choose freedom. In Denmark, however, schools can enjoy both freedom and subsidies28 There have been some10 independent schools in the past that failed financial inspections. However, there have been very few schools that experienced such problems with their educational content. This supports the view that independent school quality is high and that the degree of government confidence in that quality is high. Although independent schools and municipal authorities may dispute the details, 25

Interview with the principal (September 12, 2001).

26

Interview with the Head of the Secretariat, Danish Association of Alternative Small Schools (September 10, 2001).

27

'Undervisningsministeriet,' retrieved March 3, 2003 from http://www.uvm.dk/eng

28

Interview at the Ministry (September 10, 2001).

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the central government can be said to take an extremely cooperative stance toward independent schools.

A Flexible Organized Movement The people's education movements in Denmark originated under the influences of Grundtvig and Kold. These movements continue to grow more widespread even today and alternative education as a whole is by no means declining, but rather is growing in number of students and schools (Tables 7.1 and 7.2). One reason for this is that the movements are endowed with a creativity that maintains the basic core of parental rights and freedom while seeking active change in those things where change is possible. For example, the efterskole have continued during the past century and a half to create alternatives within the alternative. At one time, almost all efterskole followed the educational philosophy of Grundtvig and Kold. During the 1950s, however, some schools were established under the devotional religious tenets of the YMCA and YWCA movement. From the late 1960s into the 1980s, when the labour movement and left-wing politics were at a peak, there was an increase in schools that proclaimed progressive slogans. From the 1980s through the 1990s, schools for children with learning disabilities were set up in every part of the country. At present, there are more schools that, reflecting the diversity of contemporary tastes oriented toward interest in and concern for the individual, provide their focus from such diverse perspectives as sports, music, drama, the natural environment, and so on. As of September 2001, the Grundtvig and Kold schools made up 36%, religious schools made up 22%, music, drama, and other such art schools together with physical education schools made up 15%, and schools for children with learning disabilities or impediments made up 14%. Thus these schools coexist in great diversity, and their total number also continues to increase.29 It should be emphasized, however, that their fundamental spirit, as expressed in the five freedoms cited earlier, is an even more universal principle existing constantly in these schools than is this kind of anticipation of the particular needs of specific eras described above.

Issues for the Future Permissible Limits of Freedom The supporting associations of independent schools, as described above, receive requests to become association members from groups of citizens who are forming new schools. The individual association that receives such a request must determine whether or not to accept the applicant school as a member. In the course of interviewing the heads of secretariat and others of the various associations for this study, the following subject would come up in conversation. What would the association do if a group of neo-Nazis applied, saying they wanted to start a school? One of the staff members of the Friskole Association responded to this question as follows: ‘Even if they were neo-Nazis, we would have to take them into the association as long as they observed the five freedoms. So long as Nazis are a minority, it would be difficult even for the government to find cause to deny them permission to establish their school. It is entirely conceivable, however, that problems would in fact occur after they had founded their school, and that operation of the school would become difficult.30 The Secretariat of the Efterskolerne explained that, ‘As a rule, the Ministry of Education would probably have to respect their values, even if they 29

Efterskolernes Sekretariat, The Danish Efterskole, 2000, pp. 14-16, and interview with the head of the Secretariat of Efterskolerne (September 12, 2001).

30

Interview with an expert of the Friskole Assotiation (September 11, 2001).

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were Nazis, and recognize their rights as a minority group. In the case of the efterskole and the folkehøjskole, however, there is a very distinct requirement to provide 'education for life,' which is a fundamental part of the school values. In the case of the efterskole, there is a fixed educational objective of 'general education, coexistence and enlightenment for life.' If these values and objectives do not agree with the thinking of the Nazis, then their application for membership in the association can be rejected.’31 An official responsible for efterskole at the Ministry of Education, said that ‘The government would have to take measures of some kind against a school that did violent harm to society after it was established.’ He also affirmed, however, that, ‘Even if a neo-Nazi group applied to establish a school, the government would have no basis for denying their application so long as that group is a minority.’32 According to the official, “Even if a group with Nazi ideas were to try to found a school, the government would not try to make them close it down from the very beginning. The government would recognize the establishment of the school according to the principle of minority advocacy.” He also said, ‘The government would probably judge whether the group was dangerous or not after observing it for some time. If it was dangerous, then they would stop its subsidies or take some other appropriate measure.’33 A document explaining the efterskole has a passage titled ‘Freedom of the Efterskole’ that says: ‘Freedom of curriculum and ideology: …. the state will not interfere when schools define their curricula along political, religious, or pedagogical lines. In principle, the government will approve curricula with the stated goal of preparing the students for the eventual overthrow of the state - or a curriculum based on literal pietistic reading of the Bible - or a school where classroom-teaching is substituted by work in different shops and in the fields - or a school with just one subject in the curriculum and where the students and teachers together, period for period, decide what topic to study.’ (Efterskolerne 1992, p. 8). Ove Korsgaard, an Associate Professor of the Danish University of Education in Copenhagen, who has worked in the field of the Danish Folk High School movement for more than twenty years, said that ‘It is a difficult question. But there are words that may lead us towards a solution. In 1930s Frederik Borgbjerg, the then Minister of Education who advocate social democracy said that one should distinguish what people believe and what people do.'34 What they argue here is whether a group takes a violent approach in its activities. In other words, the problem is less with ideas than with methods. Many societies would show themselves rather sensitive to any involvement in education by cult groups, and statements like those above might therefore be viewed as extremely dangerous. Would it be too ironic to point out, however, that allowing neo-Nazis is itself the behaviour farthest from Nazism, and that recognizing Nazis as a minority may be the most effective means of preventing the rebirth of Nazism. In interviews with both government officials and private citizens, the author received the impression time and time again that he was coming in contact with a spiritual culture that could be said to represent the sensibility of Danish education, or, in other words, the wisdom of a small country, cultivated by popular movements over the years.

Recent Changes in Society The view that the role of the government in school creation by members of the public is more one of support than of control is deeply rooted on both the public and the 31

Interview with the Secretariat of Efterskolerne (September 12, 2001).

32

Interview with the official (December 17, 1999).

33

Ibid.

34

Interview with Ove Korsgaard (March 26, 2004).

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government sides. Of course, the government bears some of the burden of checking school quality for maintenance of healthy administration and basic scholastic skills. Nevertheless, that role has not functioned in ways that would interfere with the creative endeavors of the public. In recent years, however, the government's trust in the public has gradually been shaken. the head of the Secretariat of the Efterskolerne, said that ‘The government has recently stopped leaving educational development up to the public.’35 The context of this statement is the problem of immigration that troubles Danish society. The majority of immigrants to Denmark come from Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, and other such Islamic countries, and from the former Yugoslavia. Immigrants make up approximately 6% of the country's total population, and this share is expected to continue increasing unless special measures are taken. The size of the school-age immigrant population, which made up approximately 6% of the total in 1994, rose precipitately in just six years to nearly 10% of all school-age children and students.36 This added population has built its own schools in the places where they have settled, and is operating those schools with public subsidies received from the government as members of the Friskole Association. As it happens, however, it has been pointed out that the content of the education that is provided at some of these schools does not place emphasis on the Danish and English languages, nor is adequate instruction provided in the history of Denmark. Given these circumstances, politicians have been speaking out as concerned Danish citizens and affirming that it is essential to have standards for acquiring a minimum level of education. In 2000, therefore, the Ministry of Education for the first time assigned staff to be responsible for the education of Islamic minority groups. They started to hold discussions with such groups concerning the educational content offered at schools operated by people whose mother tongue is not Danish, and they sought improvements where necessary. In September 2001, the Ministry of Education distributed guidelines, under the name of the Minister of Education, regarding educational content at friskole and other such independent schools. This was an anomalous event in Denmark's century-and-a-half history of popular education, and future developments will bear watching.

The Significance of Being a Minority It is not unusual to encounter views that take the educational system of Denmark as an ideal model. People involved in alternative education, in particular, appear to be inclined to praise this country's educational system, which has developed without paternalism. In interviews with the author, many scholars and practitioners of alternative education remarked that the educational system of Denmark is unbelievably functioning. A homeschooling researcher from South Korea called Denmark an ‘edutopia,’ meaning a utopia for education.37 There is no question that there is much to learn from Danish education. It is relatively easy to extract very important elements of mentality from education in Denmark, such as the notion of School for Life, an emphasis on dialogue in everyday life, the culture of solidarity, and so on. There is also a great deal to be learned on the technical side, such as school participation by parents, school creation involving members of the local community, original self-evaluation methods, modalities of financial support for alternative education by the government, and so on. 35

Interview with the head of the Secretariat (September 12, 2001).

36

‘Private Schools in Denmark,’ retrieved March 3, 2003, from http://www.uvm.dk/eng/publications/factsheets/fact9.htm

37

Interview with an associate professor at Sogang University, who practices homeschooling in South Korea (October 15, 2001).

CASE STUDY: DENMARK

113

Another point that should be emphasized is that the Educational Act and the education system itself comprise a framework of considerable scope, and that what determines the actual substance of its content is the common sense, and the good sense, of the individual parents, students, and other school personnel. The curriculum, too, has absolutely no prescriptive rules, for example, as seen in the government curriculum guidelines (course of studies) in Japan. There is a sense that students should learn the Danish and English languages, arithmetic (mathematics), and other such basic subjects, but everything else is left up to the people involved. One could say that this kind of mechanism that is found in Denmark which avoids detailed regulations has fostered good sense and judgment among members of the public. It should be pointed out that when trying to learn something from the Danish education system, however, it is necessary to look not just at alternative education but at the entire system. Education in Denmark performs extremely difficult tasks even under a state system and realizes them with apparent ease. At first glance, it appears to be a system in which anybody at all can create a school in total freedom, and that is not necessarily mistaken. Alternative education is enabled to work as an institution by a number of factors, including a subtly antagonistic relationship with the public schools and a system of checks and balances between government bureaucracy and the citizens. Even the method for rating the amount of subsidies, which works with the original taximeter system, can be said to depend upon the extremely subtle relationship between the independent school system and the public school system. Alternative education in Denmark must forever remain a mystery if attention is not also paid to the complexities of details such as these. Here it would be good to provide some explanation of the relationship between alternative education and public education in Denmark. The independent schools and public schools in Denmark are in a mutually complementary relationship whereby each uses the other to confirm itself. The innovative practices generated by independent schools have historically had an alerting effect that has stimulated reforms in public education, as well. The principal of the Hørsholm Lilleskole emphasizes the importance of the independent school education system as a whole: “If a teacher came to me and said that he wanted to try a teaching experiment here, I could immediately say, 'Go ahead and try it.' At the public school where I was formerly the principal, however, that kind of freedom would not have been allowed. There it was not possible to take advantage of teachers' forward-thinking experiments or initiative. That is why forward-thinking projects are commonly initiated at independent schools and then spread also to public schools."38 The principal of Enghaveskolen friskole spoke as follows about the relationship between independent schools and public schools: “Public schools and independent schools in Denmark have built up good, mutually stimulating relationships. In most cases, experimental practices came into being at independent schools, and then their effects spread also to the public schools.39 In actual fact, the ideas that have currently been adopted in this way at public schools include team teaching and project based work, as well as coordination between kindergarten and primary school teachers (whereby the kindergarten teachers, who place more emphasis on living experience than on academic subjects, improve the classroom environment and other such aspects of primary school). All of these are ideas that originated in independent schools. Finally, let us conclude by briefly discussing how being a minority is significant for alternative education. The author visited the Friskole Association secretariat and spoke with one of the staff members, who provided an occasion to rethink the meaning and significance of alternative education. He spoke as follows about the 38

Interview with the principal of Hørsholm Lilleskole (September 12, 2001).

39

Interview with the principal of the Enghaveskolen (September 11, 2001).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

social function of minorities: ‘It is highly significant that alternative education is in a minority. For groups like ours that value freedom, it is less important that we become the mainstream than that we continue having an influence on the whole of society as a minority. About 10% of children in Denmark are receiving an alternative education, but the significance of being included within that 10% is exceedingly great. The crucial thing is the balance of society as a whole.’ 40 This sensibility that is being given voice here by the staff provides us with the following pointer: Discussion of alternative education directs our attention to elements that have to do with the quality of education, which includes, for example, the autonomy and self-identity of children, and children's rights. These tend to become increasingly more widespread as universal values. In this context, however, the perspective of the quantitative balance in the educational system as a whole may be exceptionally important. The meaning lies in the creation of a system that allows more play and adventure, and, according to the occasion, even some degree of unconventionality and moderate discretion, or, in other words, the recognition that over time there is being formed and fostered a culture that places value on leaving open a space to allow leeway of about 10% in the social system. This is a key point for educational reform. The above statement reminds us of the words of Yutaka Saeki, who spoke about the importance of adopting a perspective that ‘deliberately forces the introduction of the quality of the unknown,’ and ‘carefully protects the existence within the institution of factors that deny and falsify that institution itself, and then cultivates those factors, and at some point carries out thoroughgoing reforms.’41 People who are involved with alternative education in Denmark talk less about freedom and being child-centered and other such catchwords of the new/progressive education movement, and rather more often advocate minorities or minority rights. This is also a point of great interest when discussing the topic of system reform. It may be that Denmark affords us opportunities to re-envision, from the bottom up, the significance of assuring the creation of ‘wonderful mystery of 10%’ within the system, the importance of society giving value to that 10% and fostering it, and, beyond that, the desired vision for the educational community as a whole.

40

Interview with a specialist of the Friskole Association (September 11, 2001).

41

Concerning Yutaka Saeki's argument for ‘institutional adoption of the unknown,’ as well as ‘the unknown as an ethical stance’ and ‘the ethicality of reliance on the unknown,’ see Saeki (1980), pp. 299310.

How Much Alternative Education Is There?

Classification in Terms of Private Schools and Consequent Problems Alternative schools can be understood as ‘schools designed to provide special pedagogy, programs, activities, and settings for children and families seeking experiences other than the ‘traditional’ ones offered by the standard ‘public’ or ‘statecontrolled’ schools (Husén and Postlethwaite (eds. in chief) 1994, p. 260).’ In this case, then the number of private schools as a percentage of the total number of schools (those at the basic levels of education) in a country could be used as one measure or index of alternative education in that country. This percentage of private schools has, in fact, been used as an index for quantification of alternative education taken as the diversity of demand for education, given the understanding that privatization of education is the phenomenon of a search for alternatives not provided by public education (ibid., p. 261). However, private schools as a percentage in education statistics ordinarily encompass accredited and registered schools, whereas alternative schools include many unaccredited schools that exist outside the education system. In Japan, for one example, unaccredited free schools and free spaces exist throughout the country. They also function as receptacles for children and students with special needs who refuse to go to school, in other words as an alternative education (Nagata and Kikuchi 2002). In New Zealand, alternative schools were designated integrated schools and positioned as a part of the public school system from around 1990.1 They operate as public schools on the publicly funded, privately operated model. On the other hand, there are cases such as the Netherlands, where 1

Tamariki School is a free school founded on the same liberal principles as the Summerhill School in England, but it is operated with public funding as an integrated school. For details, see Nagata and Manivannan (2002), pp.116-133.

115

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

the percentage of private schools is high, but many traditional religious schools are also included in that category. It is also necessary to take into account the groups of schools on the publicly funded, privately operated model, such as the recently prominent charter schools in the United States. We must acknowledge, therefore, that taking the percentage of private schools alone as representing the diversity of demand for education presents problems for international comparative study, since it is difficult to discern there the equivalence on which such study is predicated.

A Quantitative Grasp of Alternative Education in Countries Where Alternative Schools Are Positioned as Institutions As pointed out above, the simple use of private schools as a reference category is not a sufficient method for obtaining as accurate a number as possible of practising schools that display the characteristics of alternative education. This will require flexible and refined classifications that differ from country to country. Here we will attempt to determine how many groups of practising schools with the various characteristics of alternative education given in the first chapter exist in each country. Certainly alternative schools are placed outside the public education system in most countries, and it is difficult to ascertain how many alternative schools of the different types exist. Countries (states) that situate alternative schools within the education system may be few, but they do exist. Here the focus will be narrowed to those countries (states), and the attempt will be made to determine the situation of alternative schools and their students quantitatively. Three countries and one state will be dealt with here, namely the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, and the state of Oregon in the United States. The education systems of these countries (states) will be mapped out below. First the alternative school groups in those systems will be identified, and then the numbers of those schools and their students will be presented, together with their proportions to the school education system as a whole, for each location.

The Netherlands The first country to be taken up is the Netherlands, a pillarized society in which private schools, including alternative schools, have come to form streams of their own. Public schools, private schools in the Catholic school system, and private schools in the Protestant school system each make up approximately 30% of the schools in this country. The remainder of approximately 10% comprises non-religious schools. As suggested by the non-religious schools shown in Figure 8.1, this group includes a diverse range of schools. The Netherlands allows freedom of education, and private schools also enjoy considerable freedom. In that sense, they could also be considered schools that practise alternative education. However, the Catholic schools and Protestant schools are not by any means in a minority, nor do they necessarily carry on innovative practices.

117

HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE?

7,735 Schools

Private Schools

Public Schools 33.1%

Non-Religious Schools 9.6%

Religious Schools 57.3%

Dalton Schools

(220 Schools)

Roman Catholic Schools 28.6%

Protestant Schools

28.7% Jena Schools

(223 Schools)

Montessori Schools (184 Schools)

Waldorf Schools (89 Schools)

Freinet Schools (15 Schools)

Others (11 Schools)

Figure 8.1.

School Groups in the Netherlands as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels)

Sources: Compiled by the author from Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen (OCenW), Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands: Facts and Figures 2001, 2001, Zoetermeer: OCenW, pp. 15 and 37; Algemene Onderwijsbond, Het Onderwijsblad 2, 26 January 2002, pp. 8-9; and interviews at the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Table 8.1. Percentages of Students by School Type in the Netherlands

Public Schools Protestant Schools Catholic Schools Other Private Schools

1995/96

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

31.8 27.6 33.1 7.5

31.9 28.0 32.8 7.3

31.8 27.2 33.4 7.6

31.8 27.0 33.5 7.7

31.8 27.3 33.3 7.6

Source: OCenW, 2001, p. 37.

Therefore, the Other Private Schools should correspond to the alternative schools within the private school group, and this should serve as an appropriate dividing line to separate the traditional group of private schools from the innovative group. In fact, this group of other schools is made up of schools proclaiming a wide variety of educational principles, including Parkhurst (Dalton plan) schools, Petersen (Jena plan) schools, Montessori schools, Waldorf Schools, Freinet schools, and so on. These make up approximately 10% of the total number of schools (742 out of 7,735 schools). Their students, on the other hand, make up a slightly lower percentage of the total, at 7.6%, as shown in Table 8.1.

New Zealand Taking New Zealand as the next example, we find that religious schools can be divided into 16 categories, such as Roman Catholic, Anglican, Seventh-Day Adventist, and so on. Other Christian schools from relatively small groups also exist that are difficult to categorize.2 From an overall perspective, however, Roman Catholic schools make up a majority of the integrated schools with a religious affiliation, and constitute a mainstream within alternative education. The percentages of each relative to the whole are as shown in Figure 8.2. It is necessary to note, when measuring alternative education, that the total numbers and percentages can differ considerably according to how religion-affiliated schools are handled. In the case of New Zealand, it would be inappropriate to take the view that a school is not an alternative school because it is public. This is because, as pointed out earlier, there are free schools such as the Tamariki School, which is known for operating on the same liberal principles as the Summerhill School in England, and was previously financially independent. These schools are also presently enjoying considerable freedom even while receiving public subsidies.3 If the characteristics of alternative education pointed out in Chapter 1 are taken into account, then it would be desirable to posit the following variations when deriving the percentage of alternative schools. First is the approach that considers alternative schools to be all those groups of schools apart from the mainstream public schools, religious schools, and private schools with religious affiliation in Figure 8.2. The proportion of these schools to the total number of schools, which was calculated as 4.6%, thus represents the percentage of alternative schools in this approach. In the second approach, if private schools with religious affiliation are practising education according to a religious creed, and have a distinctive identity that resists being aligned with national guidelines as a member of the integrated school group, then they may be 2

These categories and data are based on materials provided (November 2002) by the Data Management and Analysis Division, Ministry of Education of New Zealand. Their website for school-related statistics is http://www.minedu.govt.nz/.

3

Concerning Tamariki School, see Nagata and Manivannan (2002), pp. 116 -133.

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HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE?

considered alternative. In this approach, those schools should be included as alternative schools, so the percentage would be 6.9%. Third, there is the approach that considers the total of integrated schools without religious affiliation and non-religious private schools, together with just those designated character schools considered to be public alternative schools, as forming the group of alternative schools. This group makes up 2.4% of the total. Regardless of which approach is chosen, the number of alternative schools in New Zealand remains below 10% of the total. The numbers of students by school type shown in accordance with the format used in Figure 8.2 are as given in Table 8.2. This group of schools accounts for 1.7% of the total. This is the figure for all schools apart from the traditional public schools, or the so-called traditional schools, the integrated schools with religious affiliation, and the private schools with religious affiliation. A method of calculation like that above can also be applied to Figure 8.2 to add the 3.0% for private schools with religious affiliation, yielding the figure of 4.7%. This figure can be taken as the percentage of students in alternative schools in the broader sense. If only designated character schools are added to the total of integrated schools without religious affiliation and non-religious private schools, then the figure is 1.0%. This represents alternative schools in the narrow sense. Regardless of the approach taken, the number of students attending alternative schools in New Zealand remains below 10% of the total, and the percentages for alternative school students are even lower than the percentages for alternative schools shown above. Home Schoolers 1% or Less of Students of School-Age

2,699 Schools

(Approximately 6,000 Children)

Private Schools 4.1%

Public Schools 95.9%

Integrated Schools 12.1%

Designated Character Schools

Religious Affiliated Roman Catholic, Anglican, etc. 11.6%

Non-Religious, Other Waldorf, Montessori, etc. 0.5%

Maori Schools 2.2%

Mainstream 81.5%

Religious Affiliated Roman Catholic, Anglican, etc. 2.3%

Non-Religious, Other Waldorf, Montessori, etc. 1.8%

Figure 8.2. School Groups in New Zealand as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels) Source: Compiled by the author from materials provided (November 2002) by Data Management and Analysis Division, Ministry of Education of New Zealand, and interviews at that Ministry and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Table 8.2. Numbers and Percentages of Students by School Type in New Zealand (Fiscal 2002 Only) Traditional Integrated Public schools Schools with Religious Affiliation 636,962 FY 2002 (85.1%)

Integrated Designated Kura Private schools Kaupapa Schools Character Without with Maori Schools Religious Schools Religious Affiliation Affiliation

NonTotal Religious Private Schools

75,828

1,808

493

5,401

22,092

5,500

748,084

(10.1%)

(0.2%)

(0.1%)

(0.7%)

(3.0%)

(0.7%)

(100%)

Source: Materials provided by Data Management and Analysis Division, Ministry of Education of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) (March 2003).

Denmark Next we will examine the case of Denmark. The past century and a half or so of educational history in Denmark has given rise to a stream of independent alternative schools. Unlike New Zealand, which has been in the midst of reforms over the past decade or so, the stream of alternative schools in Denmark appears to be solidly established in society. A look at schools by type, as given in Figure 8.3, shows that approximately 20% of schools are alternative schools (independent schools), and that percentage has been on a rising trend in recent years (Chap. 7). Here again, if traditional Catholic schools and other such types of schools with religious affiliations are excluded, and only the Lilleskole (‘Little School’) and Friskole (‘Free School’), which are considered to have an atmosphere of innovation, are taken as alternative schools, then these make up 12.2% of the total. With the further inclusion of Realskoler, which are mid-sized schools that emphasize curricular education, the figure becomes 16.7%. The number of students as a percentage of the total, as shown in Table 8.3, is 12.1% on the basis of data for 2000 (Undervisningsministeriet 2000, p. 11). When the number of students is examined by school type, working from data compiled by the Lilleskole Office (Lilleskolernes Sammenslutning), the Lilleskole and Friskole alone account for 4.3% of all students. Adding the number of students at Realskole to this, the figure becomes 8.8%.4 These figures are even lower than the percentages for numbers of schools shown above, suggesting that the number of students at each alternative school is not at all large.

4

The Realskole is a group of schools that traditionally place emphasis on curricular education, and it could be considered inappropriate to bundle them together as alternative schools. For the respective characteristics of the Friskole and Lilleskole school groups, see Chap. 7.

121

HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE?

2,125 Schools

Public Schools 78.3%

Home Schoolers 1% or less of school-age children

Independent Schools 21.7%

Others 11.3%

Friskole 10.4%

Lilleskoler (47 schools)

Realskoler (98 schools)

Catholic Schools (22 schools)

Protestant Schools (35 schools)

German Schools (17 schools)

Private Gymnasiums (21 schools)

Figure 8.3. School Groups in Denmark as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels) Source: Compiled by the author using Undervisnings Ministeriet, De Frie Grundskoler i tal 1999/00, 2000, København K: Undervisnings ministeriet, pp. 7 and 11, materials furnished by the Association of Alternative Small Schools, and interviews at the Danish Ministry of Education.

122

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Table 8.3. Percentages of Students by School Type in Denmark School Type

1995/96

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

Public schools Independent schools

88.3 11.7

88.1 11.9

88.1 11.9

88.1 11.9

87.9 12.1

Source: Undervisnings Ministeriet. 2000. De Frie Grundskoler i tal 1999/00. København K: Undervisnings Ministeriet, p.11.

Oregon State The last location to examine here is Oregon state, which is notable even in the United States for its unique laws concerning alternative education and its education system based on those laws. Alternative education in Oregon state is established as part of the state education system. Furthermore, alternative schools can be broken down into public and private school (or program) groups. Existing in parallel with these is a growing number of charter schools. The author conducted an on-site survey in March 2003 during which representatives of the Oregon Department of Education and of alternative schools were asked which of their categories coincided with alternative schools as dealt with in this study. Their responses were ‘private alternative schools,’ ‘charter schools,’ and also the now rapidly-increasing ‘home schools.5 With the former two types of school included, these schools make up 7.4% of the total number of schools. Incidentally, the inclusion of public alternative schools brings this figure to The foregoing has presented indices for three countries and one state. The findings can be summarized as follows. To reiterate, alternative education must be defined as clearly as possible in order to obtain a quantitative grasp of it. Some countries appear to have a considerable number of schools located on the borderline between innovative alternative schools and traditional schools. Therefore, the narrow sense of alternative education and the broad sense are treated separately in this discussion. In the case of the Netherlands, it is difficult to distinguish the narrow and broad senses in terms of the group of private schools without religious affiliation alone. In New Zealand, however, the narrow sense would include integrated schools without religious affiliation, designated character schools, and non-religious private schools, while the broad sense would further include Kura Kaupapa Maori (Maori Schools) and private schools with religious affiliation. In Denmark, the former would include the Friskole and Lilleskoler, while the latter would include all independent schools. In the case of Oregon, the former would include charter schools, private alternative schools, and home schools, while the latter would additionally include public alternative schools. 5

Public alternative schools also exist, but as most of them provide educations substantially the same as in ordinary public schools, this was not considered an appropriately corresponding category (interviews with Department of Education alternative education specialists and others on February 21, 2003).

123

HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE?

Home Schoolers (18,543 students)

1,728 Schools

Public Schools 73.6%

Mainstream 68.1%

Charter Schools 1.3%

Private Schools 26.4%

Public Alternative Schools 4.2%

Traditional Private Schools 20.3%

Private Alternative Schools 6.1%

Figure 8.4. School Groups in Oregon State as Percentages of the Total (Primary and Secondary Education Levels) Source: Oregon Department of Education. Oregon School Directory 2002–03. 2002. Compiled by the author using Office of Curriculum Instruction and Field Services, Oregon Department of Education, ‘Private Alternative School Directory 2002,’ ‘Alternative Education Programs,’ ‘Charter Schools in Oregon 2002-2003’ of Feb. 2003, and database (March 2003) obtained at the Oregon Department of Education.

Table 8.4. Numbers and Percentages of Students by School Type in Oregon State School Category Traditional Public Schools Public Alternative Schools Traditional Private Schools Private Alternative Schools Charter Schools Home Schoolers Total

Number of Students (%) 551,522 (87.8%) 15,396 (2.5%) 35,879 (5.7%) 5,858 (0.9%) 1,031 (0.2%) 18,543 (3.0%) 628,229 (100%)

Source: Compiled by the author from databases and interviews at the Oregon Department of Education Note: The majority of traditional private schools are said to be registered with the state's Department of Education. However, registration is voluntary, so not all private schools are necessarily registered.

Table 8.5 presents the numbers of schools and students involved in alternative education. For every location other than the Netherlands, the figures are given for both the narrow and broad classifications above. The numbers of alternative schools according to these categories reach about 20% of the total at most, even under the broadest classification, while in the narrow classification they amount to about 10%.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

The numbers of students reach about 10% of the total at most, even under the broadest classification, and they clearly tend to be even fewer under the narrow classification.6 Table 8.5.

Numbers of Alternative Schools and Students as Percentages of the Total in Countries (States) that Position Alternative Education as Part of the Education System (Figures in parentheses are based on the narrow sense of alternative education.) Traditional Schools

Alternative Schools

Number of Schools

Number of Students

90.4% 93.1% (97.6%) 78.3% (87.8%) 86.4% (92.6%)

92.4% 95.3 % (99.0 %) 87.9% (95.7%) 93.4% (95.9%)

Netherlands New Zealand Denmark Oregon State

Number of Schools

Number of Students

9.6% 6.9% (2.4%) 21.7% (12.2%) 13.6% (7.4%)

7.6% 4.7% (1.0%) 12.1% (4.3%) 6.6% (4.1%)

(%) 25 20 15

Schools

10

Students

5 0

s

la er

th Ne

Figure 8.5.

nd

w Ne

a Ze

lan

d n De

k ar m

n

o eg

Or

Numbers of Alternative Schools and Students as Percentages of the Total in Countries (States) that Position Alternative Education as Part of the Education System (Based on the broad sense of alternative education)

The above can be summarized as follows: In countries (states) where the alternative education stream is established as part of the educational system, generally about 1020% of schools are alternative schools. Likewise, about 10% of the students are

6

The Netherlands is unlike other countries in that the number and percentage of alternative schools and the number and percentage of their students do not diverge as much in the Netherlands as elsewhere. This suggests that alternative schools in that country do not differ very much from the traditional schools in their scale and number of students. This is probably due in part to new policies on school size in recent years that call for newly established private schools, including alternative schools, to have at least 200 students registered at the primary level of education and at least 260 students at the secondary level. Other countries, meanwhile, show a divergence between the percentages of schools and the percentages of students that is much more marked than in the Netherlands. It can be inferred from this that alternative schools provide smaller group education with fewer students per school than traditional schools.

HOW MUCH ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IS THERE?

125

receiving alternative education. These estimated figures are probably not wide of the mark. It is worth noting that in Denmark alone, the proportion of alternative schools considered in the broad sense exceeds 20%. This could be due to a variety of possible reasons, but one worth pointing out here is that Denmark is among those countries that have the oldest historical alternative education movements (Borish 1991).

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Quality Assurance in Alternative Education: Current Circumstances and Issues

It is only recently that there has been any exploration of the possibilities of situating alternative schools, which are created by members of the public, as parts of the national education system. This is an issue that has emerged during and after the 1990s in the different countries being examined. At present, there is a small but definite number of countries that have discernible mechanisms for assuring the quality of alternative schools by means of official accreditation and inspection (evaluation). Here these mechanisms will be treated as methods of quality assurance (hereafter QA). QA extends to various conditions that shape school education. These range from regulations governing the curriculum, which determine what subjects must be taught, to the use of authorized textbooks, the hiring of qualified teachers, and the assurance of safety in school facilities and equipment. QA is the totality of all the elements that make up the essence of the alternative school, and it is also a crucial issue for policy, which additionally relates to public subsidies. As it happens, however, not very much is known about how different countries are dealing with these issues, and what is actually being done in those countries. No doubt there is a general impression regarding the formation of schools by members of the public, to the extent that people will say the East Asian countries display a stronger management orientation, while the northern European countries, on the other hand, are freer. They may find themselves hard pressed to answer, however, if they are questioned in further detail, as in the following questions: (1) What kinds of laws and regulations give alternative schools their social status in the different countries? 127

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

(2) What kind of guarantees are alternative schools thought to acquire by being accredited and evaluated, and what kind of price are they expected to pay? (3) What kind of meaning does that price have for each school and for society as a whole? (4) How do government administrators and the government interact with an alternative school that refuses to pay that price, or that decides that accreditation itself is unnecessary? (5) In cases when that method of interaction is considered unfair by an alternative school, what kinds of problems arise, and what effects do those problems have? This chapter and the following chapter will attempt to answer the above questions in terms of specific instances. The focus will be primarily on countries (or states) that situate alternative schools within the system. First, as an occasion for approaching the essential nature of the problem regarding modalities of accreditation and inspection of alternative schools, we shall begin by introducing some cases from other countries of disputes that involved the survival or otherwise of alternative schools.

Cases of Disputes Involving Alternative Schools As shown by the examples in Chapters 2 to 7, the practice of alternative education is characterized by rich diversity. At the same time, however, such education cannot avoid accreditation and inspection procedures by public agencies that are carried out according to set standards. In other words, a diversity of practices is measured by a unitary yardstick. In the course of undergoing accreditation (inspection), alternative schools tend to a greater or lesser extent to standardize their own distinctive practices in some form or other. It is natural, therefore, that various problems should arise at those times. By gaining public accreditation, schools gain social credibility and become eligible for public subsidies. At the same time, however, they may lose their own uniqueness. This means that accreditation and inspection are a double-edged sword, and their outcome may turn out to be either positive or negative for an alternative school. Consequently, there are no few alternative schools and supporting groups that reject accreditation itself, and some that seek to make administrations and governments relax their requirements for accreditation. It is also the case that countries (and states) that place value on a centralized education system may refuse outright to accredit alternative schools, or may tolerate them on certain conditions, or may in some cases require them to improve their educational content or even to cease operation. Strife between alternative schools and governments is, in fact, commonly found everywhere. The number of such cases appears to be increasing in recent years. Table 9.1 shows cases of disputes involving alternative schools that occurred in the different countries concerned from the latter half of the 1990s, the time from which clear results from international comparative study became available.1 1

The international comparative study referred to in this chapter is Orutanatibu na kyoiku jissen to gyosei no arikata ni kansuru kokusai hikaku kenkyu (International Comparative Study concerning the Practice of Alternative Education and How the Administration Should be Run [English title]), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (2000-2002) , research representative: Yoshiyuki Nagata. For this study, visits were made to schools practising alternative education and to government administrative agencies, and these involved both participant observation and interviews.

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As illustrated by these cases, there are a considerable number of alternative schools that have carried on repeated struggles with national or regional governments, whether or not these cases were ever taken to court.2 When these conflicts and the cases occurring before the 1990s are all taken into consideration, one might almost think that alternative schools are endowed with some essential characteristic that generates disputes between them and national governmental systems. There is not enough room here to discuss all these cases in detail. However, there are certain problem areas that such disputes can be seen to have in common, and four of these will be identified here.

The Alternative School as an Achilles Heel From the perspective of the education system as a whole, alternative schools are a negligible presence in terms of their total numbers. The fact that cases in every country have gone as far as court trials, however, suggests that some schools exist which governments cannot leave alone because they have the potential to shake the very foundation of the education system's existence. A classic pattern is evident in the case of the dispute involving the Summerhill School, which fought against the government as a small school with a student body that did not even amount to 100 students. As this indicates, governments tends to perceive alternative schools as major problems even though those schools are small in size. In other words, the alternative school can be treated as ‘a square peg in a round hole’ in the education system.3 Government has become sensitized, however, and its handling of these problems suggests that those schools are taken not just as nonconformist but as a bone stuck in the throat. In other words, they are viewed as the Achilles' heel of the system of education. Consequently, governments tend in general to take an authoritarian stance when confronting alternative schools. This is apparent in the closure orders issued by the governments of England and Australia (Queensland state). To be sure, there are cases such as New Zealand, where the government institutes school assistance programs and encourages school reform. Even there, however, the government takes an authoritarian approach toward alternative schools, for example by urging a shift in their essential policies. This problem of the power structure is a perceptible factor underlying the fact that societally disadvantaged entities such as alternative schools have resorted to the method of going to court.4

2

One example is the case of the Children's Village School in Thailand. Although this did not reach the point of conflict, the dispute with the government has gone on continuously since the founding of the school (Nagata and Manivannan 2002, pp. 167-177).

3

This was the subtitle of a television program about Summerhill that was produced and broadcast by the BBC in 2001, after the Summerhill court case had ended.

4

The Auckland Metropolitan College in New Zealand did not place confidence in the Ministry of Education. To the suggestion that the school reopen as a publicly established special character school after being closed, the School Board turned down the proposal. (Vaughan 2002a, p. 96.)

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Table 9.1. Cases of Dispute (Controversy) Involving Alternative Schools from the late 1990s on Year Dispute Arose 1996

Country

School

Point of Contention

Outcome of Suit (Controversy)

Denmark

Tvind schools

Suspicion of running a chain of commercial operations as schools in Denmark and other countries, and using subsidy funds for other than educational purposes (developing for-profit enterprises in developing countries).

The schools won the case. However, this resulted in stricter application of regulations on the operation of independent schools.

1999

England

Summerhill

Low educational levels, poor student attendance due to the school's educational philosophy of freedom, narrowness of the educational process, problems with toilets and other such dormitory facilities and equipment and their operation, low welfare levels.

The trial ended in a settlement, but it was substantially a victory for the school. Schools will be in a stronger position regarding evaluation of studies, including judgement based not only on classes but on school life as a whole, respect for students' voices, and other factors involved in future supervision.

1999

Australia

Booroobin Sudbury School-a centre of learning

Delay in the accreditation process and in the disbursement of subsidy funds because of State government authority's doubts regarding application of the school's Natural Learning Curricula, approved previously by the State government in 1999.

Delay in disbursement of subsidy funds caused the forced sale of the school's campus. In 1999 the school took legal action against the local government for seeking to impose unfair conditions on its land use. Friends of the school purchased the campus, and the school now rents the campus. However, the dispute has continued off and on since then (see below).

2001

South Korea

Gandhi School

Suspicion of illicit diversion of subsidies to the lower section of a combined lower and higher secondary school of which only the higher section was accredited.

Resolved by reorganizing the lower secondary school into a center for continuing education. Its educational results were given a high rating, and the principal and other staff members who had been accu sed by local authorities were found innocent.

2001

Taiwan

Experimental Independent Study Class Project, Peicheng Junior High School

Conversion of the program to an experimental class as the result of a change of government.

Appeals from inside and outside the country went unheard, and the program was forced to move off of a public school campus. The school is slated to close down after the graduation of students in their final year.

2001

New Zealand

Auckland Metropolitan College

Lowering of the quality of education (especially of student learning and attitudes) in connection with the introduction of market principles to the education system.

The Ministry of Education suggested the possibility of reopening the school as an accredited school, but the school refused to compromise its educational principles and it was closed down.

2001, 2002

Netherlands

Aventurijn School

Inadequate study plans, refusal to administer tests, inadequate learning environment.

The school brought suit. It was pointed out that municipal authorities had interfered improperly in school accreditation, and problems of inspection standards for unaccredited schools were brought to light.

2003

Australia

Booroobin Sudbury School-a centre of learning

Teaching curriculum not according to State requirements; not assessing persons who may have a disability; and not having a written policy that requires students to report matters of concern to two members of staff.

The school was and is supported by people in Australia and overseas with letters and petitions being sent to the Minister and the State Premier. They, however, had no effect, and the school’s accreditation was withdrawn. The school brought action in the Supreme Court in January 2004 based on claims that it was denied Natural Justice and Procedural Fairness. The school is now self funding.

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The Difficulty of Evaluating What is Unique These various cases of dispute suggest the inherent difficulty of measuring the uniqueness of an alternative school according to traditional standards of accreditation and evaluation. The alternative schools given in Table 9.1 represent practices that governments have found to be problematical in terms of the safety of facilities and the suitability of measures for scholastic skills and general student welfare. However, the precedent of the Summerhill School revealed the nature of the problems connected with inspection.5 There are numerous other cases that also demonstrate how this kind of evaluation largely tends to be based upon one-sided or arbitrary judgement. There is also the case of the school in Germany that practises Freinet education. The school was charged by the government administration with lacking pedagogical techniques that were scientifically supported. This case ended up in court. The verdict, which was rendered in the German Federal Constitutional Court in 1992, provided another precedent pointing out the arbitrary judgements made by the government administration.6 Disputes relating to alternative education not uncommonly result in verdicts in favour of the school or settlements that are advantageous to the school. As this fact suggests, the practice of alternative education has been viewed positively for its legitimacy in recent years. Not only that, but this also suggests the existence of excessive or unjust interference by governments and administrative authorities. In recent years (since the 1990s), there have been movements in the European countries toward increasingly rigorous inspection, and there are situations in which alternative schools that have inherent uniqueness are diverging from what is considered the standard. However, those countries have constitutions that proclaim parental rights over education, along with other rights, and in this light, any active involvement by governments is viewed as excessive interference. This has proven to be to the disadvantage of the governments involved when such cases go to trial. Alternative schools and their support groups are inclined to proclaim freedom, equality, and fairness as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the constitutions of most countries. When the alternative schools are faithful to these principles and further show appropriate consideration for the healthy development and safety of their students, then, to the extent of the author's knowledge, those schools commonly appear to be victorious in court. It is entirely conceivable, as well, that guidance and advice based on enforcement ordinances and administrative notices may result in inconsistency with constitutional and international laws for the protection of human rights. When the authorities attempt to evaluate or guide alternative schools according to the same principles applied to public schools, as shown in Figure 9.1, then we often witness the self-contradictory phenomenon whereby such guidance or evaluation ends by infringing upon the higher laws with which it is supposed to be in accordance. 5

Table 9.1 presents this in abbreviated form. However, the agreement from the trial included the understanding, among other things, that future inspections would fully respect the views of the schoolwide self-governance assembly and of the children. For accounts of the conflict, see The Times of May 28, 1999, and March 21, 2000.

6

For further information of such cases in Germany, see http://www.freie-alternativschulen.de/archiv.htm

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Ministerial

 Constitution  (State Law)

Education Law,

Ordinances,

etc.

Enforcement

Public Schools

Ordinances, Notifications

International Law

Alternative Schools

International Treaties International Declarations

Figure 9.1. Legal Statutes and the Relationship Between Public Schools and Alternative Schools Today, the ‘scrutiny’ and the methods used in evaluating alternative education are being questioned in many countries. As shown in the case of the Aventurijn School in the Netherlands, there is a tendency at the government administrative level to evaluate alternative schools by subjecting them to the same scrutiny that is given when evaluating public schools. The result, as indicated by the dotted lines with arrows in Figure 9.1, is that the inspection of alternative schools with a scrutiny similar to that used when inspecting public schools can sometimes evolve into a court case. The fact is, however, that practitioners of alternative education do not have their minds on education law and enforcement ordinances so much as on meshing with the spirit of their countries' constitutions and international law, as shown by solid lines in the figure. This is something entirely distinct from the scrutiny indicated by the dotted lines. The countries that have situated (or are situating) alternative schools as part of their system face a common issue. That is something that goes beyond the technical level of the modality of inspection that does not follow uniform criteria, and extends to the modality of the scrutiny that is applied when looking at alternative education in action in its own context.

Neo-Liberalistic Education Reform and Alternative Schools In recent years, school evaluation according to neo-liberalistic values has been becoming widespread in many parts of the world. Neo-liberalism is a contemporary way of thought that values market principles and competition based on the freedom and responsibilities of individual people and individual organizations. In this approach, efficiency and effectiveness become the standards for evaluation. Meanwhile, at the same time, the maturation of civil society and the diversification of values have been accompanied by the new founding of unique alternative schools. These constitute an ongoing act of avoidance, by means of their own creativity and

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inventiveness, of movements to force these schools into fixed patterns. Problems with disputes are arising in the gap between these two movements or vectors, namely, the neo-liberalistic vector that promotes self-formation from the outside, and the civil society vector that seeks to form the self spontaneously from within. The frequency of such disputes appears to be increasing in recent years. Vaughan has studied the series of incidents involving Auckland Metropolitan College and summarized her findings in a number of research papers. She points out that the school was drawn into market competition at a time when social welfare had lost its soundness and stability. As a result, it was becoming more difficult than ever before in New Zealand to establish and operate schools that would serve as receptacles for dropouts and other students in crisis (Vaughan 2002b). Many alternative schools attract students who require special care. Auckland Metropolitan College, which was the only alternative school at the secondary education level in New Zealand, was one such school. However, reforms of education according to market principles resulted in this school becoming a bottom-level school for problem students. Finally, unable to give them adequate care, the school was forced to close down. Today, neo-liberalistic education reform according to the principle of survival of the fittest is underway in all the countries in question here. Therefore, this case from New Zealand provides a valuable precedent for examining how top-down reform can affect alternative education.

Struggles of the Socially Disadvantaged It should be pointed out that debates and disputes like these force the practitioners of alternative education into sacrifices of too much time, effort, and money, that, in the main do not in any way benefit students. One of the founders as well as an elected staff of the Booroobin Sudbury School, who has had repeated disputes with the state government, remarked as follows to the author. 7 Although the Summerhill School in England receives no financial assistance, even this school with its long tradition had to raise a lot of pounds to defend itself in court against the government's inspection report. What we want to know is this: Just how many schools can we afford to subject to this kind of sacrifice?

These words no doubt express the inmost sentiments of most practitioners of alternative education. The Summerhill School finally won a substantial victory over the government of England. It was able to do so because it is a famous school and it is well-known around the world. It should be emphasized here that this is, therefore, an exceptional case in which an international network provided financial support on an emergency basis. It is not uncommon for alternative schools that have not achieved this level of recognition to be forced to struggle on alone. Even though they may frequently win their cases in court, alternative schools have a social foundation that is fragile. This is evident in case of the school in Taiwan that was pushed into crisis because of a change of government in Taipei. This case is emblematic of the fact that alternative schools may have their existence threatened by the purposes of government administrators who happen to be in power at that time, and by the arbitrary evaluations made by inspectors. When circumstances such as these are viewed in light of the public character of the practice of such education in specific times and places, a crucial issue becomes evident, and that is the issue of construction of support mechanisms and, by extension, of pluralistic education systems.

7

Interview by the author on November 7, 2001.

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Quality Assurance in Alternative Schools The problems that can be discerned in common among the instances of dispute in different countries discussed above are the accreditation and inspection (evaluation) of alternative schools. The scrutiny that is exercised by government educational authorities, which are the agents of accreditation and inspection of alternative schools, can be seen to differ considerably from country to country. Some countries accept diverse alternative schools as a system and give them official approval that is accompanied by public subsidies. Other countries may apply unitary criteria suitable only to mainstream schools, thus imposing a considerable burden of requirements on alternative schools. In the case of Japan, free schools and other such alternative schools are recognized by the government as private facilities for children who stopped going to school, but they are not given accreditation. In 1992, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued a notice (Report of the Committee of Parties Cooperating in Survey Studies of Measures Regarding Maladjustment to School, Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, Ministry of Education, ‘Concerning the Problem of Refusal to Attend School: Toward the Creation of a 'Psychological Sanctuary' for Younger Students,’ March 1992) to the effect that refusal to attend school is a phenomenon that could occur in any child, and that when opportunities for official guidance are unavailable, then it is permissible to consider private sector consultation and guidance facilities. Since this notice was issued, free schools and other such private sector facilities that have become receptacles for children who refuse to attend school are said to be receiving more and more official recognition. Although measures have been formulated for financial support extending to private sector facilities such as the Schooling Support Program (SSP) and the Schooling Support Network (SSN), however, programs such as these are premised on the return of children to school. Therefore, only a very limited number of private sector facilities have received support, and the majority of alternative schools remain unable to receive official accreditation. For them, public subsidies are one more unresolved issue that is awaiting action. On the other hand, there has in recent years been a visible, though only partial, movement in the countries of Europe and America as well as in Asian countries toward active recognition of forms of education other than traditional school education. As discussed in the previous Chapter, countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, and New Zealand have accredited alternative schools as part of their systems and are granting them public subsidies. Asian countries such as South Korea and Thailand are also on the way to providing the legal foundation for alternative schools to exist, and are assuring the social status of such schools, as will be described in this chapter. The problem is that friction, of the kinds discussed earlier as cases of conflict that occur in the process of accreditation and inspection, are actually taking place. In this case, the question is what kinds of standards public agencies in these different countries are actually applying in order to conduct their accreditation and inspection. The international comparative study that was carried out with others by the author made it clear that regulations are imposed in some form or other for the purpose of quality assurance (QA) (control 8 ) when alternative schools (or programs) are being 8

The choice between the terms quality assurance and quality control when discussing the quality of alternative education has a great deal to do with the attitude and the perspective of the person discussing alternative education. An attempt will be made to distinguish the terms here as follows: When the former term is used, the emphasis is on the sense of support, and when the latter term is used, the emphasis is on management. The author takes this approach in part for the purpose of stressing the perspective on alternative education not as the object of management but as the recipient of support and nurturing.

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officially accredited (and particularly in cases when they are to receive public subsidis) before and after the establishment of those schools. The ways in which the various countries deal with QA will be described below. The QA items dealt with here are what might be termed the elements that regulate how an alternative school is created. Curriculum, teachers, and textbooks are frequently cited as the crucial elements that affect the quality of school education. QA does not, in fact, limit itself to these, but extends also to such diverse items as school operation, facilities and equipment, testing, academic evaluation, education law, enforcement ordinances, guidelines, and so on. There are too many of these to take up here. This study will, instead, provide an overview of the principal QA measures concerning the establishment and operation of alternative schools in the various countries being studied.9 Before discussing the details of individual QA measures, it will be best to take up the legal statutes that could be considered the very core of QA for alternative schools.

Assurance and Regulation Provided by Legal Statutes Case studies in Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 showed that laws and regulations that are related to alternative education and that proclaim freedom and rights make their appearance against a background of conflicts in the society at large that have shaped that country's history. This takes place through the tensions between conservative interests that steer a course toward social order and reformers who are in search of uniqueness and innovativeness. Typical laws and regulations of this kind will be classified here into various types below. Countries (and states) that have established systems of alternative education will have statutes at various levels, ranging from their constitutions to ministerial or departmental ordinances and enforcement ordinances, that have to do with alternative education. These generally can be classified into the following types: (1) The type that provides that the agent providing education may be a religion, a member of the public, and so on, as well as the national government (the Netherlands, Germany); (2) the type that provides for educational opportunities other than public, or in other words, private (independent) schools, homeschools, and so on (Denmark, England); (3) the type that guarantees diversity of educational opportunity (Russia, Thailand); (4) the type that provides for the adoption of experimental and other such innovative elements (Taiwan); and (5) the type that positions programs exceptionally as special cases (South Korea). A well-known instance of type (1) is found in the Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 23, on Freedom of Education. This article proclaims that all people shall have the freedom to provide education. This principle is the basis for three further freedoms: The freedom to found schools, the freedom of school policies, and the freedom of school organization (see Chap. 5). As will be explained later, however, this does not mean that there are absolutely no regulations governing the 9

The following discussion of QA is based on (1) information collected by parties who shared in the above mentioned international comparative study, (2) information obtained by sending questions regarding QA to practitioners and government officials in other countries and compiling their responses, and (3) on-site surveys and personal correspondence by e-mail conducted by the author. For the information regarding laws and regulations in the different countries (and states) concerned, sources will be cited only where those sources are used for the first time in this study or where they have particular importance in the context of the present or upcoming discussion.

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establishment and operation of schools. It should be emphasized that the right of supervision and the right to examine teachers for suitability and moral probity are reserved to the relevant authorities. The Constitution of Germany, Article 7, Section 4, proclaims that the rights of the private school are guaranteed. Thus schools other than public schools, including alternative schools, are guaranteed establishment and operation. Several conditions are imposed on this, however, and Section 5 provides that government educational agencies should recognize ‘special educational interests’ (besonderes pädagogisches Interesse). It also provides for the foundation of Christian schools affiliated with particular denominations, schools possessing particular world views, such as the Waldorf (Steiner) schools, and so on. It further states explicitly that more than one public basic school of the same type should not exist in the same city, town, or village. Type (2) is typified by Denmark. Article 76 of this country's Constitution states that: Every child of compulsory schooling age has the right to receive a free education at a People's School (Folkeskole). However, parents or guardians who take care to see that children receive education at the same level ordinarily required in a People's School are not obligated to make their children attend a People's School to receive their education.

Here, People's School means public school. The language of this law provides the foundation for the Friskole and Private Basic School Act, which guarantees that parents have the right to educate their children at alternative educational institutions other than public schools or in their homes (see Chap. 7). Denmark had already proclaimed the right of parents to educate their children themselves in the Constitution that was promulgated in the mid-19th century. The law in this country explicitly defines the rights of parents in this regard. Denmark appears to be one of those countries where there is a particularly deeply rooted belief that the main actors in creating schools are not the national government, but rather the parents, the public, and the local community.10 In England, the current law on education is based on the Education Act of 1944. Article 36 of that law states as follows: ‘The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude, and to any special education needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.’ [emphasis added] In other words, the use of ‘otherwise’ in this law, and its suggestion of other means that may be employed, point to a recognition of alternative schools and home education. The requirements are that these provide ‘efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude.’ This passage in the law has also become a mainstay for homeschoolers, whose numbers are increasing. Russia serves as an example of a type (3) country. Article 34 of this country's Constitution proclaims support for diversity in education, with language to the effect that the Russian Federation will create federal national educational standards and support diverse forms of education and self-education. The law recognizes that, at the level of federal law on education, individual needs and possibilities are to be taken into consideration, and that the process of education is not to be carried out only by educational institutions, but in the forms of home education, individual study, and 10

In the case of Denmark, the Ministry of Education created the ‘Guidelines for the Implementation and Supervision of the Obligation to Provide Education in Friskole and Private Basic Schools’ in 2000, providing members of the public with clear, understandable explanations of the points of the law that must be observed by those who wish to found a school.

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qualifying examinations. It states that these can be combined with education that is received in a variety of forms (Article 10). The above are examples from countries in Western Europe, but countries in Asia have also been developing laws on education in recent years that are worthy of attention. A typical case of type (3) in Asia would be Thailand. As shown in Chapter 3 Thailand guaranteed the possibility that education could be provided by a variety of actors, not just schools, in Article 12 of the National Education Act, which was promulgated in 1999. This assurance is given at a level equivalent to that of the Basic Law on Education in Japan, and ministerial orders have been created on the basis of that law. A reading of recent proposed ministerial orders suggests that Thailand is building an infrastructure that is oriented toward the creation of a pluralistic educational society.11 Taiwan's Basic Law on Education, which was drafted in the same year as the National Education Act of Thailand, is a noteworthy instance of type (4). The legal foundation for the existence of alternative education in Taiwan is contained in Article 13: The government and the private sector must promote educational experiments as they become necessary, strengthen educational research and the means for evaluation, work to improve the quality of education, and promote the development of education. Article 14 of the People's Education Law, which was amended in 1999, also states that in order to guarantee the student's right to study, experimental education on a non-school pattern must be carried out at the stage of people's education, and the methods for doing so are to be determined by the city or prefectural (municipal) government that has direct jurisdiction. Other movements in the Asian countries that are worth remarking on include type (5) activity in South Korea. South Korea's Elementary and Secondary Education Law provides in Article 61 (School Operation and Exceptions in Administration of the Educational Process) that alternative schools are to be handled as special exceptions. In cases when the necessity is recognized for the particular purpose of improving or expanding the education system, including the school education system, a presidential directive will determine the operation and administration of schools or curricula that will be excepted from the usual regulations for a limited time. These include, for example, the qualifications of the principal and the head teacher, the dates of the beginning and end of the school year, academic promotion and graduation according to the student's year in school, the use of approved textbooks, the establishment of school administrative committees, and so on. The Elementary and Secondary Education Law Enforcement Ordinance allows the heads of alternative schools (special character junior high schools) to select students for admission in the way that is used at independent schools in Denmark. Such selection is not to be carried out by means of written examinations. Article 105 (Special Exceptions in School Administration) of this enforcement ordinance states that autonomous schools, which means alternative schools, are to be designated by the Minister of Education and Human Resources for elementary, secondary, and higher national public schools and private schools. It also provides that school principals who are to administer autonomous schools must be recommended by the Supervisor of Education and be designated by the Minister of Education and Human Resources. It further states explicitly that the Minister of Education and Human Resources and the Supervisor of Education must provide the support that is required for the operation of autonomous schools. Up to this point, we have looked at the legal statutes of countries (or states) where many pluralistic education systems have been or are being established. Alternative 11

Concerning the National Education Act, readers are referred to the English translation from the Office of the National Education Commission (2000).

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education has been supported and made a reality under these kinds of legal statutes. It is necessary, however, to note that the creation of schools is not taking place in total freedom from regulation. In fact, national and state governments impose a variety of requirements for recognition of the establishment and operation of alternative schools. The following section will examine some actual laws and regulations that govern the quality of alternative schools.

Equivalence with Public Education Some countries (and states) require alternative schools to be equivalent to public education for accreditation. In other words, they are required to conduct education at the same level of quality as provided by public schools in general. Denmark, which is noted as a country where members of the public can create schools freely, has a Constitution which states in Article 76 that when members of the public provide alternative education, the children should receive education at the same level that is generally required in national People's Schools. Similarly, the Friskole and Private Basic School Act also provides in Article 1, Section 1, that free schools and private schools providing elementary education (friegrundskoler) are to conduct education from the first to the ninth years of school according to the standards generally required at public elementary and lower secondary schools. Here again, alternative schools are expected to meet standards at the same level as public schools. Article 3 of this same law, which deals with inspection, states that inspections must be carried out to determine whether instruction is being provided at the same level as public schools in the three subjects of Danish language, mathematics, and English language. Germany is another country where equivalence with public education is written into the law. The Basic Law of Germany contains language to the following effect in Article 7: The right to establish private schools is to be guaranteed. Private schools require approval by the national government as alternatives to public schools, and also in accordance with state laws. Approval will be granted in cases where private schools offer academic education that is not inferior to public schools in educational purpose, facilities, and teachers, and where students are not selected based on the wealth of their parents.

In other words, the curriculum at a private school does not have to be identical to that at the public schools, but it is stated explicitly that the equivalence between them must be guaranteed. The law also does not approve of selection for admission that uses the economic disparity between households as a criterion. In the state of Oregon, Oregon Revised Statute 336, Section 615, provides that alternative education means a school, or a classroom established apart from a school, that is designed to best answer students' educational needs and interests and to help students achieve standards for scholastic skills for their school district and Oregon state. This therefore assumes equivalency with the academic standards set by the school district and the state. Where the spirit of the law is expressed in this way in Oregon, Section 625(1) of the same article of this same law also explicitly defines flexible conditions for learning. These conditions give alternative education distinctive characteristics that set it apart from traditional public schools. Although there are many regulations that emphasize the equivalence of alternative education and traditional education, it is not at all often that one finds laws that also prescribe the uniqueness of alternative education in the way that this Oregon state law does, and it is worth remarking for that reason.

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It was noted earlier that Russia places value on the diversity of education in its Constitution. At the same time, however, that country also sets nationwide educational standards for the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality of education. It is stated, even at the level of school operating regulations, that elementary and secondary educational programs can be conducted with consideration for the needs and potentials of the individual person. Even with this, however, it is further stipulated that all forms in which education is received will be subject to unified national educational standards that are binding on all (Standard School Regulations for Elementary and Secondary Ordinary Education, Articles 11 and 12). Thus consideration is given to the quality of education.

National Guidelines and Goals The equivalence with public education that is described in the preceding examples appears on further thought to form a rather ambiguous standard. The kind of equivalence that is defined in the various laws will probably not be subject to question unless a definite problem arises. Some countries (and states) in fact deal with this potential problem by setting out more detailed guidelines and goals. In New Zealand, Article 61 of the Education Act contains language to the effect that for every (school's) charter and charters that have been submitted, the inclusion of achievements, satisfaction, and accordance with national educational guidelines should be considered as part of their purpose. Thus national guidelines are employed as a reference when drafting the charters that are required in the process of establishing alternative schools (integrated schools). The principal contents of the national guidelines are as follows: National Education Goals containing high achievement standards, educational equality, and other such educational goals in capsule form; a National Curriculum Statement that establishes teaching and learning guidelines for knowledge and skills in seven major subject areas; and National Administration Guidelines that set forth guiding principles for management and administration by school boards and principals. In Australia, the ministers for education of all the states gathered in 1999 at Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, where they issued the Adelaide Declaration (1999) on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century.12 This declaration explicitly states what abilities and qualities students are expected to acquire through attendance at school. It also names eight subject areas (art, English, health and physical education, languages other than English, mathematics, science, society and the environment and technology) that are important for that purpose. This declaration does not have legally binding force. However, it is used as a standard for the inspection of alternative schools (see Chap. 4). An alternative school in Queensland actually had its accreditation withdrawn by the state government. In its rationale for this action, the government specified the school's failure to adequately achieve the goals of the Adelaide Declaration as one of its reasons for withdrawing accreditation.13

Distinctiveness There are also countries where alternative schools are required, when they are founded, to state explicitly that they must have a learning environment that is different from that of a public school. The integrated schools in New Zealand are also 12

For further details, see http://www.mceetya.edu.au/nationalgoals

13

For further details, see ‘Queensland government inspections and assessments’ on the Booroobin Sudbury School Web site (http://www.booroobin.com).

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called special character schools, referring to their distinctive characteristics. Designated character schools must also explicitly define their uniqueness and the nature of their special character when they are applying to become established. Designated character schools might be thought of as public alternative schools. Article 156 of the Education Act requires that such schools state in writing their goals, their aims, and their intention to provide education that cannot be received at an ordinary public school. Germany is another of those countries that presuppose special needs in the establishment and operation of alternative schools. As described earlier, one of the requirements for the establishment of an alternative school is that it offers special educational benefits according to Section 5 of Article 7 of the Constitution. This is one of the important standards for the approval of such schools. Oregon state probably places the most positive value, by statute, on unique aspects that are unlikely to be offered in public schools. State administrative regulations provide that ‘In order to provide innovative and more flexible ways of educating children, school districts may establish new alternative education options within the public school system.’ (Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-1350(1)) Thus alternative schools are seen to play the role of injecting a breath of fresh, innovative air into an education system that tends to become rigid. Also, as cited in Case Study (5), innovativeness and flexibility are considered important even at the level of enforcement regulations (Oregon Revised Statute 336, Section 625(1)), and on-site assessment of schools is actually carried out from this perspective.

Regulations Concerning Welfare and Human Rights There are also countries that establish regulations concerning the welfare and human rights of children in connection with the establishment and operation of schools, including alternative schools. In England, the 1989 Children Act (Article 87) provides that the proprietors of schools must guarantee the children's health and happiness and their appropriate physical development, strength and endurance, emotional development, socialization, and range of activities. Schools that have dormitories are required to place an emphasis on staff-related matters (student-staff ratio, protection of the privacy of young students, and so on), equipment and facilities (toilets, laundry facilities, and so on), and policies (bullying, corporal punishment, emergency management, and so on). In the state of South Australia, too, schools are required to show that they do not have problems in terms not only of the content of their teaching and finances, but also the safety and welfare of their students. The regulations in the Canadian province of British Columbia are worthy of particular notice in terms of human rights, and will be discussed next. School evaluation in Canada requires the signing of a pledge to work against racial discrimination and religious intolerance. Before undergoing an outside evaluation, officials of the school that is to be inspected will fill in and sign the Evaluation Catalogue for Independent Schools, and submit the original to the Ministry of Education. A copy of the catalogue is also sent to the chair and each member of the outside evaluation committee. This Evaluation Catalogue for Independent Schools provides the outside evaluation committee with information on the school and describes the school's most up-to-date operating philosophy, educational content, facilities, and other resources. One very interesting element of the catalogue is the overall declaration that schools must complete. This declaration is written as shown in Figure 8.2. The requirement to sign a pledge in this way is evidence of a mechanism utilized in British Columbia to

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OVERALL DECLARATION The school complies with Section 1 of the Schedule of the Independent School Act, which requires that:

a) no program is in existence or is proposed at the independent school that would, in theory or in practice, promote or foster doctrines of (i) racial or ethnic superiority or persecution, (ii) religious intolerance of persecution, (iii) social change through violent action, or (iv) sedition, b) the independent school facilities comply with the enactment’s of British Columbia and the municipality or regional district in which ht facilities are located, and c) the authority complies with the Independent School Act and its regulations.

The school has established and educational program for the current school year that complies with the instructional goals, time and program requirements determined by the Minister as specified in the Educational Standards Order (see The British Columbia Guide for Independent Schools – Appendix 3 - 3). ‫ڙ‬

Yes, the school complies with all of the above.

‫ڙ‬

No, the school does not comply with all of the above. Explain below.

Figure 9.2 British Columbia Declaratiom Source: Ministry of Education – Office of the Inspector of Independent Schools, British Columbia. Instructions for the Evaluation Catalogue for Independent Schools, p. 4.

institute controls on oppressive cultural elements such as racial discrimination and religious intolerance.

Accreditation and Inspection Many alternative schools receive official permission for their establishment and operation in the form of approval or accreditation and periodic public evaluation. In other words, they undergo inspection by government agencies or other specialized organizations. A survey of the circumstances of alternative schools in different countries suggests that accreditation and inspection are carried on in some form or

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other at least once every six years. The categories of inspection are diverse, and range from matters related to school operation to matters concerning educational content. The organizations that carry out accreditation and evaluation of alternative schools take various forms. First, there is the pattern found, for example, in most Australian states, where accreditation and inspection are both carried out by the same organizations. Second, there is the pattern found in England, where accreditation is carried out by the Department for Education and Skills, and inspection is carried out by a specialized organization that is independent of that ministry. Third, there is the pattern such as found in the Netherlands, where accreditation is carried out by local government authorities, and inspection is carried out by specialized organizations. Fourth, there is the pattern we see in Oregon state, where accreditation is entrusted to the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, which is one of six regional accrediting organizations that together cover the entire United States, while inspection is entrusted to local boards of education or other such public agencies. Fifth, there is the exceptional pattern found in Denmark, where accreditation is conducted by public agencies, but no specialized organization is set up to conduct inspections for alternative schools.14 which instead, as a rule, take the form of self-evaluation. The following section will take up a number of countries (and states) where alternative schools are subject to inspection, and an overview of their distinctive characteristics will also be given. In England, the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) requires private schools to undergo school inspection by an official inspection, as well as inspection by the fire department, at least once every six years. Schools with dormitories must undergo inspection at least once every four years. There are six categories that are inspected to determine how fully the schools satisfy the provisions of the 1996 Education Act: (1) the quality of education, (2) the level of students' learning achievement, (3) the efficiency of school management, (4) the development of the children as seen from psychological, moral, social, and cultural perspectives, (5) the living environment of the dormitories, and (6) the school facilities and equipment, educational content, owners, employees, welfare matters, and so on. Categories (1) through (5) are the same as for public schools, but category (6) is applied only to independent schools. Reports are submitted by the school to the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports, and must be disclosed to parents or to regional authorities. Unlike public schools, however, alternative schools and other independent schools are not obligated to disclose such reports to the public at large. The Netherlands implemented a new law on inspection in 2002. It provides that all elementary and secondary schools must undergo periodic inspections at approximately two-year intervals. Schools that are identified as having problems in these inspections will be subjected to stricter reinspection after six months or a year. Moreover, under the newly adopted system, schools that are considered to have problems due to the results of standard tests (CITO tests) will be subject to simpler periodic inspections that are closer to monitoring than to the more stringent reinspections noted earlier. These various inspections are carried out by an educational testing bureau that is semi-independent from the government. When inspectors in the Netherlands evaluate a school, they utilize certain ‘features of quality,’ which are, in other words, perspectives for the measurement of quality. These include such features as achieved results in learning, educational environment, and school operation. Other important 14

A specialized organization for school evaluation called EVA was recently established. But alternative schools are out of their control.

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criteria for evaluation include the school's objectives, testing program, teaching schedule, educational goals, and so on. The charter schools and private alternative schools in the state of Oregon must undergo an annual inspection by the district board of education. The inspections of private alternative schools, however, are said to be less stringent. These inspections are unique in their emphasis, described earlier, on flexibility in the learning environment, timetable, teaching methods, and so on. In Denmark, evaluations are conducted on an annual basis by inspectors who are selected by parents assemblies of individual schools. Schools are sent notifications of required improvements only when these evaluations reveal problems. If improvement still does not take place, then municipal authorities are notified and an outside inspection takes place. In cases where further improvement is considered to be necessary, there may also be special inspections by the Ministry of Education. It is only extremely rarely, however, that circumstances lead to inspections being conducted at this level. Since 2003, alternative schools as well as all other schools have been required to conduct public disclosure by means of their Web sites. There is a possibility that changes of this kind will also have an influence on the modality of self-inspection. In New Zealand, alternative schools must, despite their name, undergo outside inspection by the Education Review Office (ERO) every three to four years as long as they receive public subsidies just as comprehensive schools there do. Schools must submit a written document of self review to the Education Review Office before undergoing inspection. Based on the self review, teams of three to four inspectors conduct inspection visits for about a week. Areas covered by the evaluation standards include: (1) school management, (2) operating plans, (3) finances, (4) safety management, (5) working environment and performance of the teaching staff, (6) leadership by the principal and performance of the faculty, (7) curriculum operations, (8) evaluation of student learning, (9) education of aboriginal Maori children, and so on. Reports created by the inspectors are presented to the school as unconfirmed reports, and the school's views are heard before a final report is completed. A new Chief Review Officer has recently taken over the Education Review Office, and this process of incorporating the views of the parties directly concerned has been receiving greater emphasis. There is also a system that allows schools to designate one of the reviewers as a ‘Friend of the School.’ For example, not all evaluators will have an understanding of the strongly distinctive educational theories and practices of Waldorf schools or other such systems. Therefore, such a school can designate an individual who is connected with the school, and who is thoroughly familiar with its philosophy and practices, to act as a sympathetic spokesman for the school's side. As this suggests, alternative schools that receive public subsidies ordinarily undergo inspection within a six-year period. There are also some countries that have adopted a system of gradual accreditation that allows for a period of experimental operation. The special character schools that are the alternative schools in South Korea go through a period of experimental operation of up to three years. After that, they can continue operating once they receive approval from the Minister of Education and Human Resources (Elementary and Secondary Education Law Enforcement Ordinance, Article 105). The system of providing public funding after a school has gone through a period of experimental operation is also in use in the province of British Columbia in Canada. This province has adopted a phased system for disbursing subsidies under which

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schools must ‘maintain adequate educational facilities and meet municipal codes’ for a minimum of one year, even though their status does not yet allow them to receive subsidies. Alternative schools in Berlin, Germany, similarly become eligible for subsidies after passing a period of at least three years of provisional accreditation. They can then be officially accredited. Schools are inspected during this period for the quality of their education and of their facilities and equipment. If no problems are found, it becomes possible for the school to pay its teaching staff salaries with public funds. After accreditation, school finances are audited annually. Schools in Russia also go through a period of experimental operation after they receive permission to begin operating. Educational institutions that have been through such a period for three years or more will undergo reevaluation, after which they will receive accreditation as regular educational institutions. This discussion has so far dealt with accreditation and inspection as they dictate QA at alternative schools. The following section will examine the principal categories of evaluation that are applied to schools.

Curriculum A considerable number of countries establish minimum standards for educational content. In countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, South Korea, Denmark, Germany, and New Zealand, basic subjects are established that must be covered. These focus largely on reading, writing, and arithmetic (the three Rs). As noted earlier, Denmark imposes a legal obligation on schools to teach the Danish language, arithmetic and mathematics, and English language. According to the secretariat of an alternative school support association, however, these subjects are prescribed in the manner of a general guide, and individual schools actually have considerable latitude in determining the makeup and structure of their own curricula. In England, independent schools are required by the 1996 Education Act, Article 7, to have a curriculum that guarantees ‘development of character’ by the students. They are also required to provide instruction in English, arithmetic and mathematics, humanities, art, practical studies, physical education, and religion or moral education that is suited to the ages, aptitudes, and abilities of the students. Schools are not required to implement a national curriculum, but they are encouraged to do so. Some countries give special permissions for exemption that apply only to alternative schools. Alternative schools in South Korea, for example, are allowed to put together their own unique curricula if the government education agency with jurisdiction over them gives its approval. In the Netherlands, there is no centralized national curriculum for elementary education that is held in common by all schools. The creation of the curriculum is in principle left to the judgement of the individual schools. This does not mean, however, that every school has prepared its own unique curriculum. Most schools take graduation examinations and inspections into consideration, and even alternative schools usually teach the basic subjects.

Nationwide (and Statewide) Standardized Testing Many countries employ nationwide standardized examinations, but they diverge in whether or not they make such examinations mandatory. Examinations of this kind are mandatory in the American states, the Australian states, the Canadian provinces, and so on. There are some countries (and states) that exempt students of alternative

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schools that do not receive public subsidies. There are also some countries (and states) where parents can have their children exempted from these examinations by writing an appeal to the school or to the government. Students at charter schools in most of the American states must take the same tests that are required of all public school students. Educational policies that place even greater emphasis than before on standardized testing have been enacted in recent years as part of the educational reforms of the Bush administration. Most alternative education support organizations oppose such policies.15 Nationwide standardized testing has also gradually come to be implemented since the end of the 1990s in Australia. Some states have already decided to expand the tests in basic reading and writing (English) and arithmetic, which are carried out every three years (in the third, fifth, and seventh grades), so they will be taken in the tenth grade as well. Alternative school associations such as the nationwide Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia (RSSA) have expressed their opposition to involvement in testing programme to the federal government. They have not, however, had any major impact. England is another country that does not make such testing compulsory. However, students must take nationwide common examinations to complete their compulsory education and to advance to study at a university. A significant number of students at alternative schools such as Summerhill also take these common examinations. In Calgary province, Canada, students at independent schools that receive public subsidies from the provincial government are required to take standardized tests upon completion of the third, sixth, and ninth grades. Students who are at independent schools in the province that do not receive public subsidies, however, are not bound by this requirement. (Approval of the equivalent qualifications required to transfer to a mainstream school is granted only to students at those independent schools that receive public subsidies.) In the Netherlands, graduation examinations are administered in the last year of elementary school. This testing is considered to be voluntary for each school, but recently 80% or more of elementary schools have been participating in the nationwide common examinations (which qualify students to complete their secondary education, proceed to higher education, and so on) that are administered by the National Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO). Denmark also implements centralized testing that is not mandatory. Students at most schools take these tests. Alternative schools, however, have a strong tendency to view any kind of competition as being inhumane behaviour. Therefore, there are considerable numbers of students at the secondary level (efterskole) who do not participate in such testing. New Zealand basically does not conduct standardized testing in any grade of school. It is possible to take qualifying examinations in the 11th, 12th, and 13th grades, but these are not compulsory. Individual schools can choose to administer tests at the elementary level of education. However, this has not taken hold as a customary practice at most schools.

Approved (Designated) Textbooks The countries (and states) that do not require alternative schools to use textbooks that are equivalent to those used in public schools make up a significant number. The 15

See http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/about/org/HST_statement.html (Retrieved on June 10, 2004).

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American states, England, the Australian states, the Netherlands, the Canadian provinces, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and so on are among them. In England and Denmark, the use of approved textbooks is not even mandatory for public (and publicly operated) schools. There are also some countries, however, that impose relaxed regulations on alternative schools. Charter schools in California are, like other public schools, required to utilize materials that meet standards that are set by the state for every subject of instruction. The state of Oregon also encourages charter schools to use textbooks that are similar to those in public schools. Instructional staff in Russia are guaranteed the freedom to select and use textbooks and instructional materials as well as teaching methods and evaluation techniques. They are, however, required to meet a requirement for minimum essential educational content that is determined by the national government. South Korea distinguishes between general education subjects and alternative education subjects. There is a system of nationally designated, authorized, and approved textbooks that is applied in the case of the general education subjects. South Korean alternative schools are, however, allowed to create their own textbooks, although this requires them to apply to the educational agency that has jurisdiction over them and to receive the approval of the Minister of Education and Human Resources.

Teacher Licensing The approaches taken to teacher licensing can be divided between those countries (and states) that impose no conditions at all, and those that impose conditions in some form or other, such as by requiring all or only some teachers to be licensed. The former group includes Denmark, the Netherlands, and the state of Oregon (private alternative schools). The latter group includes the Australian states, the American states with respect to charter schools, South Korea, the German states, New Zealand, and so on. One country that does not impose the compulsory licensing of teachers is England. It is considered desirable there, however, that at least several teachers in a school possess teaching licenses. There is an additional requirement that all teaching staff undergo checks for criminal backgrounds. In New Zealand, all teachers at every school, including private schools, must without exception be registered at the Teacher Registration Board. In neighboring Australia, the situation varies from state to state. Teachers at independent schools in the state of New South Wales are not necessarily required to have licenses, for example, while in the state of South Australia, it is not possible to teach at any school, including alternative schools, without a license. There has been a growing trend in recent years toward compulsory licensing in most states, and teachers at Waldorf (Steiner) schools are opposing this trend. Depending upon the country, a flexible approach may be taken to teacher licensing rather than a simple binary distinction between teachers who are and are not licensed. In the state of California, teachers at charter schools must have qualifications, a license, or some other accreditation that is recognized by the Commission on Teacher Credentialling, but a flexible approach is possible for teachers of subjects that are not part of the main curriculum or a part of a college preparatory curriculum. South Korea also requires teachers to have licenses, but schools are allowed to make up one third of their faculty from non-teachers who have acquired specialized skills. A movement is presently underway to amend the law so that the proportion of such teachers with combined industrial and academic duties can be raised to one-half at

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alternative schools, in order to allow the assignment of contract teaching staff, and to make it possible to dispatch teachers from ordinary schools to alternative schools. Teachers at private schools in the German states are also obligated to obtain licenses. In the case of Waldorf (Steiner) schools, however teachers do not need to go through the national teacher training. Instead, they may work after completing that school system's own distinctive teacher training seminar.

Regulations Regarding Assets and Property Japan has recently been reevaluating the safety and security of school buildings because of homicides that have occurred at schools. In other countries, too, school equipment and facilities are an area for evaluation that is no less important than educational content. Even countries that do not impose stringent controls on the educational content at alternative schools are tending to institute increasingly stringent regulations for property management and safety of land, facilities, equipment, and so on. In fact, the majority of countries (and states) are apt to have regulations concerning the facilities and equipment of alternative schools at their preparatory stage, before they have been established as schools. Independent schools in England do not, in principle, receive public subsidies, and there are virtually no QA-related demands regarding their educational content. A variety of restrictions are imposed, however, with regard to sanitation and disaster prevention. Thus, doubts regarding the adequacy of facilities (insufficient number of toilets, and so on) at the Summerhill School eventually resulted in a court case. As this suggests, the requirements regarding facilities are by no means negligible even in cases where public subsidies are not involved. The inspection of school facilities and so on in England is carried out either by bureaus of inspection and regional offices of ministries and agencies involved in education, or by the responsible offices of local governments. According to the Fire Precautions Law, all independent schools are also subject to mandatory completion of risk assessments at least every five years. Assessment reports must be submitted to the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports, and to the fire department. Those schools like Summerhill that have dormitories must undergo inspection by local bureaus of social services. Schools that provide meals must receive accreditation under food sanitation regulations that specify such matters as the placement of food storage spaces in great detail. In South Korea, plans for the establishment of a school are submitted to the Minister of Education and Human Resources. When the construction of major school structures has already been completed at the time of application, then reports must be submitted regarding auxiliary facilities after approval and up to six months before the opening of the school. The regulations governing school establishment and operation that must be observed by private schools set forth standards regarding school property, school buildings, playgrounds and athletic fields, instructional materials, instructional equipment, and so on. The regulations governing standards for some portion of the facilities at special character schools have, however, been relaxed. Denmark imposes stringent regulations on school facilities, in sharp contrast to the freedom that this country allows in educational content. Danish schools must own their school buildings and other such property, which must, moreover, all be situated at a single location. This is the result of policies enacted after the Tvind schools trial (Table 9.1) in order to prevent schools from forming chains of commercial establishments operating as schools.

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Table 9.2. Minimum Number of Students Necessary to Establish Alternative Schools (Elementary and Secondary Levels) Name of Country (State) America (Oregon State)*

Minimum Number of Students 25

England, Canada (Ontario Province)

5

Canada (British Columbia Province)

10

The Netherlands

200**

Denmark

28***

New Zealand

21

Notes: * In the case of charter schools in Oregon. ** 260 students in the case of schools at the secondary level. *** The minimum number can be considered to be 12 students in the first year and 20 students in the second year.

In Russia, too, schools must prove at the time they receive accreditation that they have the land, buildings, gymnasiums, dormitories, and other such facilities that are required in order to conduct their educational programs. Schools are also required to observe sanitation and fire prevention standards that are set by the Russian Federation.

Assuring Necessary Minimum Numbers of Students Some countries (and states) require schools to provide notice of how many students the school must have when it opens in order to assure the school as firm a foundation as possible for its beginning operations. The school must also provide notice of how many students it expects to admit during a period of several years after it opens. The specified numbers of students differ considerably with the country (or state), but the general picture is summarized in Table 9.2. A charter school in Oregon state must have at least 25 students registered. Since there is a possibility that other schools will be affected by this, local boards of education also determine the maximum number of students for each school, based on local conditions, so that no particular school will draw an excessive number of students. In England, the 1996 Education Act (Article 463) refers to ‘any school at which fulltime education is provided for five or more pupils of compulsory school age.’ This specifies five or more students. The same number is used in Ontario province in Canada. Independent schools in British Columbia province, Canada, specify ten or more school-age children and students. In the Netherlands, the standards for minimum numbers of students were made stricter in the late 1990s than they had ever been before. The numbers vary with the size of the local population, but as shown in Chapter 5, elementary schools must have a minimum of 200 students, while secondary schools must have 260 students. Circumstances have changed to make it much more difficult to start a new school than before. Denmark specifies a minimum of 12 students in the year the school is founded, 20 students in the school's second year, and 28 students in the school's third year and thereafter. According to a staff member at the Danish Ministry of Education, the figure of 28 students was arrived at using the average size of a single school class as a yardstick. At designated character schools in New Zealand, the Education Act (Article 156) explicitly sets the condition that in order for a new school to be founded, it must be desired by the parents of at least 21 children. For its part, however, the

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Ministry of Education prefers that there be about 75 applicants to the new school in continuous residence within commuting distance. There is also the case of the special character schools in South Korea. The regulations initially called for a minimum of at least 20 students in a single school grade. Now, however, that restriction has been eliminated. In the state of South Australia, the number of students needed for a newly established school varies with the resident population of the area (that is, the total population, not just the number of school-age children). In an area with a population of 5,000 or more, an elementary education facility should have 25 students in its first year, and 40 students three years after the school is founded. Schools in South Australia that offer secondary education similarly require 10 students in the first year and 20 students from the third year onward. Meanwhile, in areas with 5,000 or fewer residents, schools offering elementary education need to have 15 students in their first year, and 25 students from the third year after the school is founded. Schools providing secondary education similarly need five students in the first year and 10 students from the third year onward (Minister for Education and Children's Services 2001, pp. v-vi). E

Pros and Cons of Quality Assurance The preceding has discussed a variety of factors that determine the quality of alternative schools. It is clear that the quality not only of curriculum and other aspects of educational content, but also quality as it relates to school operation, is shaped in various ways by national and state governments. With regard to curriculum, it also became clear that a significant number of countries (and states) impose obligations to teach basic subjects, that teacher licensing is handled with flexibility in some places, and that requirements regarding textbooks are to be found only in very few countries (or states), among other such aspects of the present situation in the countries and states that are being examined here. The work of further analyzing such aspects will be left to another chapter. The purpose here, however, shall be to somewhat increase our understanding of QA itself.

How Alternative Schools are Recognized and Approved Countries (and states) have truly diverse ways of recognizing and approving alternative schools. If these are to be classified systematically, the following three types will be the result: (a) Countries that provide approval by legal and institutional means (b) Countries that provide acceptance by special measures (c) Countries that provide no approval at all The type (a) countries find positive value in alternative education and institutionalize it within a distinctive legal system. Alternative schools are given their own independent social status under the laws on education and are situated within a framework that includes social guarantees. Inglehart has conducted comparative studies of values in 43 countries, and following his classification, most countries of the type that provide legal approval belong to the group of countries with strong tendencies to accept postmodern values. Their societies are also receptive to the nontraditional values that are contained in alternative education.16 Denmark, the Netherlands, 16

A study by Inglehart of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan showed that there was a powerful propensity toward post-modern values in the countries of northern Europe, the Netherlands, and so on. One distinctive feature of this was the constant high life satisfaction (general satisfaction with life) found in Denmark and the Netherlands from the 1970s to the 1990s. Other distinctive characteristics include a high degree of trust in the people of the country, and the social diffusion of self-chosen associations. See, e.g., Inglehart (1997) , pp. 82, 93, 174, 185, 190.

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New Zealand, and the state of Oregon in America, every one of which was taken up in Chapter 8 as a country (or state) that situates alternative schools within its system, all belong to this type. There are, however, important differences among these countries in the modality of the acceptance or accreditation they employ. This point will be taken up in the next chapter. The type (b) countries are those that show an understanding of the necessity for alternative education, but accept it only passively as something other than proper education. Thus they are countries that approve of alternative education. They situate alternative schools legally as non-regular or supplementary facilities (or programs). Although alternative schools are acknowledged by society, therefore, they are not given an institutional status that entails adequate social guarantees, and the requirements that alternative schools must satisfy in order to enjoy that status in society impose a relatively severe burden on them. Countries of the type that provide acceptance by special measures seek to preserve their traditional values even as they accept alternative cultures that are becoming prominent because of the diversification of values being brought about by new economic development and internationalization. These countries do not, however, make any move actively to provide systematic support according to law. They seek rather to make use of alternative schools as receptacles (safety networks) for the special needs of society. England belongs in this category, as do Taiwan and some other Asian countries.17 In addition, as regards South Korea, this country has been making rapid progress in improving the legal framework related to alternative education since the 1990s, and therefore could be seen as situated midway between the countries that provide approval by legal and institutional means and countries that provide acceptance by special measures. The type (c) countries are those that do not recognize alternative education under the law and provide no public subsidies for it at all, or offer virtually no possibility of such recognition and subsidies. Although alternative schools may be known in society at large, they have no legal basis for existence, therefore, and are not even approved as exceptional institutional measures. Thus, in most such cases, the schools are operated by volunteer, religious, or other such charitable organizations in those countries. Countries that provide no approval generally do not have the social flexibility to deal with special needs outside of standard public education. Most of those countries that are termed developing countries belong to this category, and special needs that arise in those countries are ordinarily dealt with by elite private schools or by philanthropic organizations. La Floresta (Ajayu) School in Bolivia,

17

As also discussed elsewhere in this study, the 1944 Education Act (Article 36), which serves as the foundation for current education law in England, specifies that all parents who have children of the age for compulsory education must either have their children attend school regularly, or otherwise see that their children receive an adequate education suitable to their respective age, ability and aptitude, in addition to providing for any special education needs the children may have. This statement, which seems almost to have been inserted adventitiously, has served as the foundation for the existence of alternative schools in England. Education Otherwise, an organization that supports home education, insists that education by such other methods does not require special permission, does not need special buildings or facilities, does not require parents to have particular educational qualifications, does not require following a national curriculum, does not even require a timetable or a curriculum, and so on (Education Otherwise, 2002 [1981]). In addition, as regards South Korea, this country has been making rapid progress in improving the legal framework related to alternative education since the 1990s, and therefore could be seen as situated midway between the countries that provide approval by legal and institutional means and countries that provide acceptance by special measures.

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which was discussed in Chapter 2, is an exceptional case. Not only the developing countries, but also Japan and other such countries could be classified under this type.18 The point that can be made here is that those countries belonging under types (a) and (b) above most often have standards for accreditation in some form or other. The following section will examine standards of accreditation, and will additionally consider the pros and cons of adopting such standards.

National Guidelines as Standards for Accreditation When discussing the issue of alternative education and public character, standards for accreditation is one key phrase that appears. The question of what kinds of standards should be put in place for the accreditation of alternative schools, if those schools are to be approved and granted public subsidies, constitutes a crucial issue for education policy. The upholders of alternative education frequently call for the government to cede to the members of the public its authority to decide on educational content and methods. At such times, the government side typically presents a case for caution, making particular reference to the academic and moral literacy of the people, as follows: When the creation of schools is left entirely in the hands of members of the public, they ask, then how is the public character of education to be guaranteed? The first problem they envision is that of literacy (scholastic ability in a broad sense). That is, if the overall level of general learning and the basic academic ability of a country's people declines, they wonder, then what will happen to that country's society, economy, and culture? The second problem they envision is that of the morality and ethics that are involved in establishing schools. That is, as long as the freedom to create schools is granted, there is a risk that schools will also be created by cults and other such groups that may pose a danger to society as a whole. In such a case, they wonder, how will it be possible to prevent violence to the children, or violations of their human rights? When this question was posed in interviews at alternative schools in other countries, people most commonly responded that ‘we should believe in the common sense and good conscience of the people.’ Thus they took the view that human beings are fundamentally good by nature. Unfortunately, such a reply may not be sufficiently convincing in a world like today's, where certain religious groups have actually caused disorder in society. Gintis, who has argued for the introduction of market principles to education in connection with this issue, has explained that ‘Markets support diversity by tolerating the disparate preferences of consumers.’ Consequently, he finds, ‘School choice could lead to an explosion of alternative school cultures (Gintis 1995, p. 506).’ On the one hand, therefore, we find such views that assign positive value to the role of the market in selecting schools. On the other hand, however, there is the view of education as a social good. From this perspective, selection by individuals and markets based on competition are not panaceas capable of solving all problems, and Gintis points out that this type of activity does not necessarily contribute to the public character of education. 18

Strictly speaking, the government of Japan has been implementing a Schooling Support Program (SSP), a Schooling Support Network (SSN), and other such subsidy programs since the 1990s, and it would also be reasonable, therefore, to place this country between the second and third types. However, SSP and SSN are premised on the return of children to regular schools, so that participation is restricted to some private sector organizations only. The author therefore takes the view that Japan is closer to the third type.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

The question, then, is what kinds of measures can be taken against a market with this runaway, uncontrolled nature. Gintis explains the necessity for countering such markets with certain types of regulations, by which he means national guidelines as a means for the ‘democratic control of culture.’ He says, for example, that accredited schools should be forbidden to conduct education that is ‘inculcating racial intolerance, teaching creationist biology, [or] espousing particular and/or divisive religious beliefs.’ He also envisions that accredited schools will be required to carry on educational practice by ‘teaching a core curriculum, adhering to a code of ethics in treating students, and fostering values consistent with a pluralistic democracy (ibid., p. 507).’ There are some countries that have actually implemented national guidelines since the 1990s as a measure to unify alternative education within the education system. The classic instance of this is New Zealand, which opened up possibilities for alternative schools as well as ordinary private schools to operate with public funding at the same time in the form of integrated schools. A representative alternative school in New Zealand is the Tamariki School, which is modelled after the Summerhill School in England. The Tamariki School offers one example of an alternative school that chose the way of the integrated school. The story of how the Tamariki School went from being an unaccredited free school to becoming a public school is fascinating. The official who was responsible for inspections at that time affirmed that schools like the Tamariki School in particular should continue in existence because they act as stimulants for public education, and that the school should therefore be given public support. It is said that this official promised the school side that they could continue to uphold their principles of childcentered education, as found at Summerhill, even after receiving support.19 This is corroborated by the school's operating philosophy, which advocates the individuality and autonomy of children and the freedom of education across the board. The principal of this school commented that they lost hardly anything at all by being integrated. She also remarked that most of the main educational objectives recently set by the national government would be completely acceptable to a free school. The problem is not so much about being in opposition to the government, but more about going to all the trouble of preparing application documents (Nagata and Manivannan 2002, p. 125). Some six or seven free schools have closed in New Zealand over the past 30 years due to inadequate public funding and lack of government support (ibid., p. 35). In this light, integration, which makes it possible to receive financial assistance from the government, looms large in significance. This kind of movement to ‘integrate’ alternative schools within the mainstream has also been evident in Asia in recent years. Special character high schools began to appear in South Korea from the late 1990s in the form of publicly funded, privately operated schools that would accommodate students who had dropped out of school because of unsuitability to regular schools, conditions at home, delinquent behaviour, running away from home, and other such reasons, and to implement for them programs of education in human nature (education of both the heart and mind), physical labour, and other such programs to educate those students in natural,

19

Interview with the principal of Tamariki School (August 19, 2002).

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balanced ways of life. By 2002, there were 14 alternative schools, including a lower secondary school, operating as special character schools with public subsidies. In order to become a special character school, however, it is necessary to meet teacher licensing and other such standards that are set by the national government. It is necessary, however, while examining the possibilities of national guidelines of the kind already found in several countries, also to conduct a prudent examination of their pros and cons. Fiske and Ladd have been studying the series of education reforms that have been carried out in New Zealand since 1989, and they have been offering suggestions for education reform in America. As they see it, the education reforms that were carried out on a nationwide basis in New Zealand were supposed to result in the creation of individualistic schools. What they found, however, was that the majority of schools were regulated by national guidelines, so that these schools ended up losing their individuality instead. This happened because the government, seeking to achieve objectives at the national level, employed budgeting and accountability as authoritarian mechanisms to spread its controls throughout the education system (Fiske and Ladd 2000, pp. 296-300). A founder of the Aventurijn School, which is an unaccredited free school in the Netherlands, gave the following explanation: The Netherlands has Waldorf (Steiner) schools, Montessori schools, Dalton schools, and a variety of other such schools, so the country at first glance appears to enjoy freedom of education. However, inspections have been made stricter, and as a result, these schools have all come to resemble each other, though there are still some minor differences among them. Waldorf schools that embody that movement's own educational philosophy no longer exist in the Netherlands today. They are no more than ordinary schools that have their origins in anthroposophy. 20 The evaluation of schools that have their own unique curriculum founded in a distinctive educational philosophy like that of Waldorf education has become a major issue for the specialized agency, described earlier, that conducts inspection and evaluation. Conversely, the question of how to deal with uniform standards is an important issue for alternative schools. It would be instructive, in this regard, to examine the approach taken by Waldorf schools in Canada (Ontario province), where they created a table of correspondences between the alternative curriculum and the province's standard curriculum (see Toronto Waldorf School (n.d.), p.15).

As these various views suggest, there are considerable differences between practitioners and researchers, and even between practitioners themselves, regarding the pros and cons of introducing national guidelines for education. In England, in fact, as well as in some other countries, a split has occurred between the group that wants to operate their schools with public subsidies, even if it requires some concessions to the national government, on the one side, and on the other side the group that wants to remain independent in order to distance itself from the government guidelines.21 What probably deserves closer examination here is the quality of the various forms of QA that are involved, not least that of the national guidelines. 20 21

Personal communication between the founder and the author (November 21, 2002). In the case of England, schools that place greater value on independence than on public subsidies include the Summerhill School and the Sands School, and several schools with religious affiliations that have educational principles founded in resurgent forms of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are also included. On the other side of the issue, the schools that are seeking improvement (relaxation) of national guidelines and other such requirements while also pursuing the possibility of receiving public subsidies include many schools with religious affiliations that have educational principles founded in resurgent forms of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, as well as Seventh Day Adventist schools, Waldorf schools, and many small schools that are members of Human Scale Education (Carnie, et al. (1996), p. 71).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Standards for Accreditation and Evaluation The examination of QA in this chapter will now be concluded with a systematic overview of the standards for accreditation and evaluation of alternative schools. As was indicated in the preceding section about guidelines in the various countries, alternative schools are described as having certain distinguishing characteristics in those countries (and states) that treat alternative schools as institutions. The descriptive terms that are employed include, for example, adequacy, suitability and appropriateness, equivalence (with public education), and so on. The standards that are applied in the different countries can generally be placed under one of the following three categories: (a) standards that specify suitability in terms of welfare and ethics (b) standards that specify suitability in terms of learning and scholastic achievement (c) standards that specify equivalence with public education These standards are expressed using such terms as adequate, appropriate, equivalent, and so on. We commonly find, however, that the criteria for judging just what is adequate, appropriate, or equivalent are not stated clearly in laws and regulations. The judgement of whether a particular alternative school provides education that is adequate, appropriate, and so on, is therefore likely to depend on the professionalism, the discernment, and the scrutiny (or perspective) of the person conducting the evaluation. The question of what kind of appropriateness is demanded by the ‘suitable’ education that is prescribed in the 1944 Education Act of England, for example, is not answered by any particular definition in the legislation. It is safe to say that expressions such as these will be defined only if and when they become the focus of dispute, as in a court trial. In fact, ‘suitable education’ was involved in a case brought before the Worcester Crown Court in 1981 (Harrison and Harrison v. Stevenson). That trial resulted in the term being defined as follows: (a) it prepares children for life in modern civilized society; and (b) enables them to achieve their full potential.22 As we see, therefore, the guarantee of the public character of alternative schools is presented in the law as a standard that actually constitutes little more than a loose guide. The question of what is appropriate or equivalent is answered either by further standards that are set up by government or inspecting agencies, or through judgements delivered separately on particular, individual cases. There is no doubt that some countries are explicitly defining the standards of judgement as a category for inspection. This has been the case in the Netherlands, where the system of school inspection has been becoming more stringent in recent years. A series of more detailed standards is being set up within the evaluation framework of recent years under basic guidelines stating that the curriculum is to have social relevance, be contemporary, and be educationally sound .23 It should be emphasized, however, that the result of such stringent inspection is that cases such as that of the Aventurijn School can occur, in which the inspected school does not conform to the modality of the inspection itself. 22

http://www.seangabb.co.uk/academic/homeschooling.pdf

23

See, for example, Inspectie van het Onderwijs (1998), (2001a), and (2001b).

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

155

On the other hand, there is another movement that has also been taking place which diverges from this recent trend to enhance the professionalism of evaluation. As found in the state of Oregon, for example, this movement has brought a modality of inspection that instead places value on relaxed standards that are characterized by qualities such as flexibility, which is virtually the opposite of stringency and exhaustive detail. The evaluation of alternative education in Oregon is quite flexible and relaxed, and as noted above, this modality of inspection is prescribed by law. As discussed earlier, too, Denmark has also established certain basic subjects that must be studied in order for an alternative school to be considered equivalent to a public school, such as the native language (Danish), arithmetic (mathematics) and English. Evaluation then examines the extent to which this requirement is met, and the standards of judgement are quite relaxed. Sometimes inventive measures are taken so that children who have special needs that require alternative education will not be placed in untenable situations. The head of a special character school in South Korea, for example, is allowed to select students for admission to his school, but such selection of students must not involve a written examination. Since competition is hostile to the essential nature of alternative education, resourceful measures such as these that are taken to avoid the element of competition should be applauded. The instances taken up in Chapter 6 regarding the state of Oregon show that legal regulations leave considerable room open for interpretation. There are a considerable number of cases in which, when judging appropriateness, there is latitude within the system for the operation of a commensurate yardstick. The fact is that many alternative schools base their existence on this kind of latitude within the system.25 To put this the other way around, there are cases in which the ‘scrutiny ’ (perspective) of the government administration or inspection can take on decisive importance when the results produced by an alternative school come into question. In this respect, it is worth emphasizing the importance of an approach on the part of the government administration that, within a relaxed framework, encourages initiative among members of the public. Many of the countries that have alternative schools can be seen to operate through mechanisms that, without setting detailed regulations, instead simply express their relaxed requirements as guidelines, so that regulation is actually left up to the judgement of people who are specialists in accreditation and inspection. When ambiguous statements that leave latitude for interpretation without specifying regulations in detail are treated as so-called standards, there is no doubt that the effects on the development of alternative education may be equivocal. No doubt, too, the standards for judgement may come to vary considerably according to the particular people who conduct inspections at a particular time, the policies of governing political parties, and so on. The State of Oregon has taken an approach that is worth noting in this regard. The laws of that state relating to alternative education contain rules for rulelessness (indeterminacy), which is to say, in other words, they seek resourceful means (they devise) to specify circumstances in which one cannot but be aware of flexibility, innovation, and other such qualities. 26 Rules and regulations ordinarily 25

Tooley has concentrated on the virtually ignored Articles 16 and 17 of the 1988 Education Reform Act of England, and discussed the possibility that Waldorf schools and other such alternative schools with their own distinctive curriculum could be excepted from observance of the national curriculum and still obtain public subsidies as approved curriculum schools. He has further attempted an active interpretation of passive legal provisions by discussing the possibility of making use of language adventitiously added to the law by utilizing it positively as a safety net (Tooley 1996, pp. 127-138).

26

Oregon Revised Statute 336, Section 625(1), provides that the board of education of a school district is to set flexible conditions for learning, such as environment, hours, structure, and teaching methods, for alternative education programs that are to be implemented.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

cause creativity and spontaneity to atrophy. On the contrary, however, establishing rules and regulations for indeterminacy, which tend to foster creativity and spontaneity, will generate occasions for creating a gaze (perspective) not of control but of support, and will serve to embed those occasions in the system. The necessity for inspection and evaluation should certainly be endorsed as means for maintaining a society. Their modality, however, must always be open to question. If we are forming the vision of a pluralistic society, then such alternative gazes and perspectives, which apprehend diverse objects in their diversity, will take on increasing importance in the times ahead.

The State of Alternative Education in Different Countries

Quality Assurance of Alternative Schools The question here is what kind of accreditation, review, and other means are used by public agencies in different countries to assure the quality of alternative schools. The international comparative study1 conducted by the author’s study group revealed the following two points. (1) All the countries (and states) surveyed have accredited or unaccredited alternative schools (or programs) inside and outside the mainstream public education systems so that members of the public could meet their special needs. (2) In cases of alternative schools (or programs) that are officially accredited (and especially when they receive public financial support), they are subjected to some form of regulation before and after their founding for the purpose of quality assurance (control).2 It is only relatively recently that the possibility of incorporating alternative schools into the education system began to be explored. In most countries, this is one of the issues that emerged from the 1990s or thereafter. Nevertheless, though countries that 1

Orutanatibu na kyoiku jissen to gyosei no arikata ni kansuru kokusai hikaku kenkyu (International Comparative Study concerning the Practice of Alternative Education and How the Administration Should be Run [English title]), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (2000-2002), research representative: Yoshiyuki Nagata.

2

In discussing the quality of alternative education, the choice between using quality assurance and using quality control is very closely related to the attitude and perspectival gaze of the person discussing the subject. It seems appropriate to distinguish between use of the former term, which signifies a supportoriented attitude, and use of the latter term, which signifies a management-oriented attitude. My purpose in making this distinction is not to set up alternative education as an object of management, but rather to affirm, in part, the perspective on alternative education as something to be supported and nurtured.

157

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

have mechanisms to assure the quality of alternative schools through accreditation and review (evaluation) by public agencies or other organizations are few in number, they do exist. Such mechanisms, namely those that assure the quality of alternative education, will be referred to here as quality assurance (hereafter QA). The notion of what QA should be is a crucial policy issue that also relates to institutional guarantees involved in public subsidies. The question, then, is how different countries deal with issues of this kind. For convenience, the following discussion will separate QA into two stages, that of QA preceding establishment of an alternative school and that of QA following establishment. The measures taken in the different countries to deal with QA-related matters will then be organized under these headings.3

International Comparison of Quality Assurance This section will identify overall trends in the circumstances of QA through international comparison. The relative positions of the different jurisdictions will be determined in order to examine the situation of government administration of education and, by extension, the situation of the educational community as they concern alternative education. As part of this research, a list of questions regarding QA in alternative education was sent to the ministries concerned with education, school inspectors, alternative education practitioners, and other such concerned parties in the jurisdictions surveyed in order to provide an overall perspective on QA in the various countries. Inquiries were made about those primary and secondary schools considered to be ‘alternative’ in each jurisdiction. There are circumstances within the different countries (states) that preclude simple summarization of alternative schools in general. For example, alternative schools such as Waldorf schools interpret government regulations to suit themselves, and put them into practice in ways that differ from other schools. This study, therefore, does not seek to determine the particulars of how the different individual schools deal with this in practice, but rather to identify the general considerations that as a rule determine how QA is envisioned as a matter of laws and regulations. Although, as pointed out in the previous chapter, some exceptions can be found in QA for alternative schools, the following discussion will not enter into the details of such exceptions. The primary purpose will be, instead, to provide a general perspective on present circumstances in the different countries and trends on recent movement. Before discussing the comparative analysis of alternative schools in various societies, it would be appropriate to describe the general structure of the contents under these items. QA items for alternative schools generally differ according to whether they relate to schools before or after establishment. At the stage before establishment, (in other words, at the stage of school accreditation), the effort is made to guarantee quality by setting various requirements. These include the minimum number of students, the number and quality of faculty (whether or not they have teaching credentials), an operating plan setting out the substance of the school's administration, 3

The substance of the information on QA given here is based on information collected by the researchers who shared in the international comparative study cited above. This includes the collation by the author of responses to questions on QA sent to educational practitioners, government administrators, and other such parties in the countries surveyed. Regarding information on laws, regulations, and so on in the various countries (states) brought up in this chapter only those sources that seem of key importance in the particular context of discussion will be cited.

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

159

the committee that will form the operational organization (or its nucleus), assets and property, facilities and buildings, and a pledge that takes into account the school's public responsibility to individual students and to the community as a whole, and so on. On the other hand, the entries for schools at the stage after establishment, namely schools under review (evaluation), are divided into items relating to the educational content and those relating to school administration. Educational substance includes requirements related to learning, such as the educational materials and textbooks used, the teachers, the instruction in basic subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic (the 3 Rs). It also includes numbers of hours spent annually in classes and other such time-related requirements, standards tests and other such requirements regarding assessment, and so on. Items concerning school administration include the number of faculty and students, school operating plans, internal evaluation (self-evaluation) reports, and accounting-related documentation. In addition to the above, some jurisdictions require determination of whether employees have criminal records (the United Kingdom, Oregon state, Ontario province, each of the Australian states, etc.), submission of required documents concerning employee insurance and benefits, and real estate planning documents. However, such exceptional items are omitted here. To sum up, QA that affect the quality of alternative schools can be summarized in Table 10.1. Table 10.1: Features of QA Before Establishment Number of students Number of teachers Establishment of school governing body Regulations on property Regulations on building and amenities School development plan Teachers’ qualification Declaration concerning human rights or other moral codes After Establishment (Education Content) Approved textbooks Teachers’ qualification Essential subjects to teach Standardized number of teaching period Standardized number of school hours Standardized number of teaching periods for each subjects Students examination (standardized tests) After Establishment (School Management) Number of students Number of teachers Annual plan of school activities Submission of internal report of school assessment Regulations of property Regulations of building and amenities Regulations on budget

As noted above, there are cases where the substance of responses from the government differs from those from schools even within the same country (or state). Discrepancies of this kind result from what might be termed differences of interpretation on the two sides. In Ontario province in Canada, for example, the state government seeks to have state-approved textbooks used, but for the Waldorf schools, such requests are superseded by their own educational principles. In fact, there were cases where the government administration and the schools themselves took different views of the same question items regarding the same single group of schools.4 On 4

A Waldorf school in the province of Ontario is interesting for the effort being made toward consistency between the unique curriculum of Waldorf education and the standard curriculum of the state government (Toronto Waldorf school (n.d.)).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

encountering this kind of grey zone, clarification was sought from the two disagreeing parties (or in some cases three parties) by interviewing or contacting them through email or some other means, and an attempt was made to obtain responses that would yield an image as close as possible to the actual norm of practice according to legal statute rather than the exception.

Public Subsidies in the Various Countries In order to grasp the relative strength of regulations concerning alternative school development and management, QA has to be considered in relation to public subsidies. Generally, the principle is that where public subsidies are higher, regulations are more numerous. Conversely, where subsidies are lower, there are fewer regulations. Here it would be appropriate to examine the proportion of public funding given to alternative schools and other such institutions in contrast to public schools.

%

UK

Figure 10.1. Public Funding of Alternative Schools (vs. Public Schools) Notes: In case of charter schools in Oregon, the schools at upper secondary level receive 95% while the schools at elementary/lower secondary level receive 80%. Some countries/states decide the percentages of public subsidies based on socio-economic status of school families. For example, in Queensland, Australia subsidies varies from 13.7% to 70% depending on the status. Here average percentages indicated by government officials as well as Association of Independent Schools are used for comparison (Data retrieved 21 Oct. 2004, from http://www.aisq.qld.edu.au). The average percentage concerning South Australia is from www.ais.sa.ed.au (Data retrieved 21 Oct. 2004). The date on Ontario Province is based on interviews with principals of public/private alternative schools and officials of Provincial Ministry of Education. Topic-based grants for which each school can apply was not taken into consideration.

Figure 10.1 shows the general amount of public funding received by alternative schools in comparison to public schools in the different countries. This figure shows that alternative schools in the Netherlands, New Zealand (publicly funded schools such as integrated schools and designated character schools) and South Korea enjoy the same amount of budgetary provisions as public schools despite their special character.

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

161

Various Types of Subsidies Issues that must be examined in connection with public subsidies are the amount of subsidies and how their proportions are calculated. Here I would like to introduce some examples that should serve as useful references regarding formulas for calculation of public subsidies. It goes without saying that alternative education budgets, insofar as they employ public funds, must take fairness and equity into consideration. Various countries possess systems that should be of use in this process. One representative case is the taximeter system in Denmark. For further details, see Pedersen (2002, pp. 66-70), Ministry of Education, of Labour, and of Finance (1999), and Patrinos (2001). For a concise explanation of the Danish Ministry of Education's taximeter method, see ‘Financing of Education in Denmark’ (http://eng.uvm.dk//publications/factsheets/taximeter.htm). Another instance is the Socio-Economic Status (SES) model in Australia (Queensland state). Queensland has tested various models for calculating subsidy contributions, and is currently using SES. This model takes social equity into account by combining periodic census information on the state with information on home and other circumstances of school-age children and students so that lower scores are given to schools with larger numbers of students from well-to-do households, and higher scores are given to schools with larger numbers of students from impoverished households. For details, see ‘The Association of Heads of Independent Schools Submission to the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Bill 2000’ (http://www.ahisa.com.au/sesbill.html) and ‘Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training: SES Funding Arrangements for Non-Government Schools’ (http://www.dest.gov.au/schools/ses/faq.htm). Similarly, New Zealand could also be cited as an example of use of the SES model with its school decile ratings system, which takes into account socioeconomic factors in each school district and the ethnic composition of registered students. The alternative education program subsidies in Oregon state, which has established formulas for calculation of subsidies matched to the respective characteristics of alternative education programs, home schooling, and so on, should also serve as a useful reference (for details see Bunn, 2001). This model gives serious consideration to social fairness and equity, and should provide an especially valuable reference for countries where market principles tend to greatly influence education in society. The questions of what kinds of calculation model different countries (states) adopt in order to give material reality to social justice and equitability, and what kinds of results are achieved and issues are to be found, remain as topics for continued future study.

The group receiving 70-80% includes Oregon state and Denmark. The group receiving the next largest amount, at 40-60%, includes alternative schools in the Australian states and publicly funded alternative schools in Ontario province. Those receiving no public subsidies whatsoever are private alternative schools in Ontario and independent schools in the United Kingdom.

Government Administration of Education in Terms of Quality Assurance and Public Subsidies in the Different Countries Using results from the above data on QA and PS, information on QA and its relationship to the proportion of public funding (versus public schools) is shown in Figures 10.2 to 10.6. Focusing on eleven countries (states/province) that incorporate some form of alternative education into their education systems, all the related information concerning the QA features shown in Table 6-1 were then quantized, the quantities for each jurisdiction were added together, and numbers were converted into the standard scores presented in these figures.5 The standard scores for public 5

Values were quantized by assigning two points for the QA features that have legal power, one point for the QA features that are not forced by law but requested by the authority or have some exceptions, and zero points for the QA features that have no obligations at all, then adding the points for each country (state/province) to obtain standard scores.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

subsidies (hereafter PS) versus public schools are shown on the X axis. The standard scores assigned for QA are shown on the Y axis, and the relative positions of the different countries (states/province) in this regard are shown along that axis. It should be understood here that the purpose of these figures is not to rank superior to inferior by showing either that higher scores for QA and PS are better and lower scores are

PS

QA

SA

Australia South Australia (Independent School)

-0.0919

QL

Australia Queensland (Independent School)

-0.5565

0.0729

ONb

Canada Ontario (Public Alternative School)

-0.3379

1.3326

ONv

Canada Ontario (Private Alternative School)

-1.7044

-2.1029

DM

Denmark (Free School)

0.3454

-0.8433

-0.2707

KR

Korea (Specialized Character School)

1.0286

0.8745

NZ

New Zealand (Integrated School)

1.0286

0.5309

NL

The Netherlands (Private School)

1.0286

0.8745

UK

UK (Independent School)

-1.7044

-0.2707

ORc

US Oregon State (Charter School)

0.4820

0.6455

ORa

US Oregon State (Private Alternative School)

0.4820

-0.8433

Figure 10.2. QA and PS in Different Countries (States) (Total)

Notes: Entries have charter school or other such names of school types shown in parentheses, since the jurisdictions have QA regulations that differ considerably according to the school type even within the same country (state or province), as, for example, in Oregon state and Ontario province. There are generally more QA regulations at higher levels of education. For instance, compared to QA regulations of primary schools, upper secondary schools tend to have more QA regulations. In this analysis, in the countries/states/provinces where QA regulations are different at different levels of education, the data of basic/compulsory level of education (usually primary/elementary and lower secondary levels) are used.

163

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

PS

QA -0.3895

SA 䋺

Australia South Australia (Independent School)

-0.0919

QL 䋺

Australia Queensland (Independent School)

-0.5565

0.4675

ONb䋺

Canada Ontario (Public Alternative School)

-0.3379

1.3244

ONv䋺

Canada Ontario (Private Alternative School)

-1.7044

-1.8178

DM 䋺

Denmark (Free School)

0.3454

-0.6752

KR䋺

Korea (Specialized Character School)

1.0286

0.4675

NZ 䋺

New Zealand (Integrated School)

1.0286

1.3244

NL 䋺

The Netherlands (Private School)

1.0286

0.4675

-1.7044

-0.3895

UK 䋺

UK (Independent School)

ORc䋺

US Oregon State (Charter School)

0.4820

0.4675

ORa䋺

US Oregon State (Private Alternative School)

0.4820

-1.2465

Figure 10.3. QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (Before establishment)

164

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

PS

QA

SA 䋺

Australia South Australia (Independent School)

-0.0919

-0.1773

QL 䋺

Australia Queensland (Independent School)

-0.5565

-0.1773

ONb䋺

Canada Ontario (Public Alternative School)

-0.3379

1.2413

ONv䋺

Canada Ontario (Private Alternative School)

-1.7044

-2.1280

DM䋺

Denmark (Free School)

0.3454

-0.8867

KR䋺

Korea (Specialized Character School)

1.0286

1.0640

NZ䋺

New Zealand (Integrated School)

1.0286

0.0000

NL䋺

The Netherlands (Private School)

UK䋺

UK (Independent School)

1.0286

1.0640

-1.7044

-0.1773

ORc䋺

US Oregon State (Charter School)

0.4820

0.7093

ORa䋺

US Oregon State (Private Alternative School)

0.4820

-0.5320

Figure 10.4. QA and PS in Different Countries (States) (After establishment)

165

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

PS

QA

SA㧦

Australia South Australia (Independent School)

-0.0919

0.4389 -0.5266

QL㧦

Australia Queensland (Independent School)

-0.5565

ONb㧦

Canada Ontario (Public Alternative School)

-0.3379

1.4044

ONv㧦

Canada Ontario (Private Alternative School)

-1.7044

-1.4922

DM㧦

Denmark (Free School)

0.3454

-0.5266

KR㧦

Korea (Specialized Character School)

1.0286

1.0825

NZ㧦

New Zealand (Integrated School)

1.0286

-0.2048

NL㧦

The Netherlands (Private School)

UK㧦

UK (Independent School)

1.0286

1.0825

-1.7044

-0.8485

ORc㧦

US Oregon State (Charter School)

0.4820

0.7607

ORa㧦

US Oregon State (Private Alternative School)

0.4820

-1.1703

Figure 10.5. QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (Education contents)

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

PS

QA -0.7529

SA䋺

Australia South Australia (Independent School)

-0.0919

QL䋺

Australia Queensland (Independent School)

-0.5565

0.2027

ONb䋺

Canada Ontario (Public Alternative School)

-0.3379

0.8398

ONv䋺

Canada Ontario (Private Alternative School)

-1.7044

-2.3457

DM䋺

Denmark (Free School)

0.3454

-1.0715

Korea (Specialized Character School)

1.0286

0.8398

NZ䋺

New Zealand (Integrated School)

1.0286

0.2027

NL䋺

The Netherlands (Private School)

1.0286

0.8398

KR䋺

UK䋺

UK (Independent School)

-1.7044

0.5213

ORc䋺

US Oregon State (Charter School)㩷

0.4820

0.5213

ORa 䋺

US Oregon State (Private Alternative School)㩷

0.4820

0.2027

Figure 10.6.

QA and PS in Different Countries(States) (School management/administration)

worse, or vice versa. Rather, they are intended to explore the relationship between the extent of QA-related constraints and the amount of public subsidies. Let us look first at Figure 10.2, which shows the comprehensive standard scores that combine all scores for before and after establishment. Countries with relatively high rankings for both QA and PS values in this figure are the Netherlands, New Zealand, and South Korea. Oregon state (charter schools) has a PS value that places it slightly below them (fourth quadrant). These countries provide relatively large subsidies, but also have many regulations. Ontario province (public alternative schools) has a high QA value, even a higher value than the ones of the group in the fourth quadrant, but its PS value is lower. Also Queensland has relatively high QA value, and lower PS value (third quadrant). While subsidies in these states or provinces tend to be lower, regulations are numerous. Members of the group with lower QA and PS values are the United Kingdom and Ontario province (private alternative schools). These

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

167

countries (provinces) do not as a rule either provide subsidies to alternative schools or interfere with them(second quadrant). Denmark and Oregon state (first quadrant) have the next highest PS values after the group in the fourth quadrant and the second lowest QA values after the group in the third quadrant. These countries (states) all tend to enjoy significant subsidies and relatively great freedom in school development. South Australia, although it can be plotted in the second quadrant, places itself nearly to the norm value of both QA and PS axis. It is interesting to note that in some countries (states/province), there is considerable difference in placement by scores before and after establishment, by educational content, and by school administration. Let us first examine the changes that take place in a school from the time before establishment to after. It is apparent from Figures 10.3 and 10.4 that New Zealand and Queensland have lower QA values after establishment than before establishment. These countries or states require a higher degree of quality at the accreditation stage before establishment of a school, but review is relaxed nearly to the norm value following establishment. By contrast, Oregon state (private alternative schools) and United Kingdom show a slight rise in QA values after establishment. The next step is to examine the distinctive characteristics of the various countries (states/province) in terms of QA and PS categorized by educational content and school administration after establishment. Comparing Figures 10.5 and 10.6, it is apparent that the former has overall higher QA values than the latter. One reason for this generally observable tendency is that the rather low QA values for school administration in Ontario province (private alternative schools) make the QA values for other countries (states/province) appear higher. However, it is worth emphasizing that there are some countries (states/province) where alternative school QA tends to be quite strict with respect to school administration even though it is not very strict with respect to educational content. This is suggested in particular by the scattered relative positioning of the United Kingdom, Oregon state (private alternative schools), New Zealand, Queensland and other such places. Even in countries like the United Kingdom, which takes the basic position that if subsidies are not given, neither will there be any interference regarding educational content, the QA values for school administration are nevertheless average or higher. There appear to be a considerable number of countries where reasonable or even meticulous consideration is given to sound school administration.6 Ontario (public alternative schools) has low PS values and high QA values in all the figures. Conversely, Denmark and Oregon (private alternative schools) have high PS values and low QA values. The countries mainly in the fourth quadrant, which in other words are those with high values for both QA and PS, are the Netherlands, South Korea, New Zealand (however, New Zealand in Figure 10.5 is an exception), and Oregon (charter schools). Denmark and the Netherlands are sometimes cited admiringly as countries where the public are the actors in school development. However, they show a disparity in QA values even more marked than the disparity in PS values, and thus differ considerably in the circumstances of school development. In the case of New Zealand, school administration receives high points for QA, just as does the Netherlands. Educational content, however, has QA values below the

6

Even Denmark, which is known for free development of schools by its citizens, can hardly be said to allow easy financial audits. Public notices relating to financial audits of independent schools explicitly state, for example, that auditors will inspect the contents of safes and vaults and audit outstanding balances without notice at least once every year (Public Notices Relating to Financial Audits of Free Schools and Private Primary Schools, Private Secondary Schools, and Courses for the Higher Preparatory Examination, Single-Subject Courses Preparatory to Further Studies for Adults, etc. Article 4).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

average. As noted above, New Zealand diverges more from the group with high QA scores after establishment than it does before establishment. After establishment, its scores shift closer to average values. This is in line with a comment by the principal of Tamariki School, which changed from a free school with independent finances to an integrated school with public subsidies. Edwards remarked that it is not very difficult for a free school to meet government targets in New Zealand today, and that the red tape of documentation procedures is much more troublesome (Edwards 2002, p. 125).

Comparative Examination of Government Administration of Alternative Education The above discussion gave a broad explanation of the state of controls on general school education by categories. The relative positioning of the different countries shown in Figures 10.2 to 10.6 suggests that the state of government administration of education with regard to alternative education will not necessarily fall neatly within any one of the classic categories given above. The examination here, however, will consider the state of government administration as it appears with reference to these categories and with a focus on QA and PS. Circumstances in the Netherlands and New Zealand, which are located primarily in the fourth quadrant in Figures 10.2 to 10.6, show that market principles can also be found operating in the world of alternative education.7 Schools in both these countries are required to show independence, autonomy, and self-responsibility. These countries have agencies dedicated to school review, and their educational communities are market-controlled, with well-developed networks at the national level. These cases (and especially that of the Netherlands) indicate the presence of active support and management type government administrations that direct alternative schools, even from before establishment, to become capable of surviving in the marketplace at least without falling by the wayside. When these management functions are intensified, then government administration may also tend more toward the bureaucratically-controlled type. Government administration in Ontario (public alternative schools), which is located in the third quadrant, is of the passive support and interference type where schools receive interference from public agencies even though they receive relatively smaller public subsidies. (Queensland, which shows similar tendencies in the scatter chart, also comes under this heading in some respects.) Needless to say, this type of government administration causes the greatest dissatisfaction among alternative education practitioners and parents and does not foster unique or experimental pedagogies.8

7

South Korea has been left out of the examination here because alternative schools make up such a small part of the country's education system. Perhaps because alternative schools there are so few in number, their category in terms of the above appears most similar to the bureaucratically controlled type.

8

For Ontario neo-liberalistic educational reforms with a view to achieving excellence are presently underway and controls have grown considerably stricter since the mid-1990s. The present analysis places public alternative school in the third quadrant and private alternative schools in the second quadrant, but the system, including the public education system, will probably become more like the Netherlands type if educational reform proceeds on the track of a new liberalism.

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

169

In the United Kingdom, which is located in the second quadrant in every figure except Figure 10.6, on school administration, and in Ontario (private alternative school), which is located in the second quadrant in every one of the figures, public subsidies are very small or nonexistent and interference from public agencies is also slight or nonexistent 9. In this sense, the United Kingdom and Ontario (private alternative school) are located at the opposite pole from the Netherlands and New Zealand, where alternative schools receive subsidies on a par with traditional public schools and are subject to relatively strict reviews. The relationships between government and alternative schools tend rather to become like relations between porcupines, which take care not to get too close to each other, and belong to the type of passive support and laissez-faire. However, this type may be drawn into the third quadrant as soon as a government administration or policy-makers decide that a situation requires their interference as seen with the Summerhill School. In the first quadrant, Oregon (private alternative schools) and Denmark correspond to the type controlled by the public. While they receive public subsidies to some extent, their QA values are low and their government administrations generally have greater trust in the public. Furthermore, the attitude shown by practitioners toward government administration roles reveals an impression more of support and promotion than of interference and quality control. 10 The case of Denmark, in particular, demonstrates the active support and promotion type of government administration, which not only places deep trust in school development conducted by the people, but also has support mechanisms that actively foster activities carried on by the people, and that are built up cooperatively by the government and the people working together (the Denmark type). The above discussion of Figures 10.2 to 10.6 presents four forms of government administration of alternative schools, which can be represented as in Figure 10.7. A view of schools (and school development) based on market principles presently appears to be gaining influence in the different countries. This underlies the active support and management type found in the fourth quadrant. The charter schools in Oregon state have taken on strong active support and management type characteristics, Under the emblem of self-responsibility and self-management, many charter schools can be expected to take on fourth-quadrant characteristics. According to field surveys, private alternative schools in Oregon state were attempting to make the transition to charter schools, as of February 2003. The private alternative schools that have distinctive characteristics presently discernible in the first quadrant appear very likely, according to every source involved in alternative education in that area, to take on the distinctive characteristics of the fourth quadrant in the near future.

9

Depending on the types of alternative schools, one can notice slight shift of the attitudes of the UK government towards them. For instance, Waldorf (Steiner) schools in England are about to get accreditation from the authority (Woods, et al. 2005).

10

For impressions of the Ministry of Education by those involved in alternative education in Denmark, See Chap. 7. It is interesting to note that when the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) survey of public and private education (1999) asked 14-year-olds how much they trusted government institutions (local assemblies and local governments in the communities where the students live, courts, political parties, national assemblies, etc.) in their own country, Denmark scored highest out of the 28 participating countries (OECD-CERI, 2003).

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Quality Assurance High Passive Support and

Active Support and

Interference Type

Management Type

(Ontario Type)*

(Netherlands type)

Less

More Passive Support and

Active Support and

Laissez-Faire Type

Promotion Type

(United Kingdom Type)

(Denmark Type)

Public Subsidies

Low

Figure 10.7 Four Types of Government Administration of Education with Regard to Alternative Education * Note: Educational administration under the conservative government (1994-2003)

Here we would like to refer back to the three standards for accreditation of alternative education cited earlier. These are, namely, standards that indicate appropriateness in terms of public welfare and ethics, standards that indicate appropriateness in terms of learning and scholastic skills, and standards that indicate appropriateness in terms of equivalence with public education. Importance is placed on QA in alternative schools in every type of educational community, whether the active support and management type the passive support and interference type the passive support and laissez-faire, or the active support and promotion type. They apply the above standards in a variety of combinations to accredit and evaluate the practice of alternative education, thus assuring quality, and giving rise to the differences in how quality is created, as suggested by Figure 10.7. Appropriateness and equivalence may certainly be found in these various educational societies. It should be remarked, however, that considerable difference exists in the perception of appropriate quality and equivalent quality. Of these differences, one that is particularly worth noting is that between the Netherlands type in the fourth quadrant and the Denmark type in the first quadrant. The Netherlands and Denmark are frequently cited as Western countries that make use of alternative education in their educational systems, but the international comparative study has shown that these two countries have characteristics that may appear similar but are actually different. It will be crucial to scrutinize the distance between the two in qualitative terms, particularly in studies on what kind of government educational administration a country should have in the future, and this point will therefore be addressed below.

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

171

In a sense, the Netherlands and Denmark do resemble each other. Both are small countries on the European continent, and both countries (or peoples) formerly held dominion over foreign countries across the sea, though at different times. Furthermore, according to Inglehart's study (1997), the societies of both countries have conspicuously postmodern values (Inglehart 1997, p. 93). Their situations differ considerably, however, in relation to school culture. In the Netherlands, schools are required to provide full school information by creating quality cards and so on, so that members of the public can obtain correct information on schools and make their own choice. This trend has gained momentum markedly in recent years with development of the school review system, so that means are being devised to enable the public to judge not from schools' promotion of their own best features but rather from evaluation criteria that are being made as objective as possible. Rather than creating ‘fine-looking school promotional material,’ they are working toward ‘objective indices using entirely quantized information.’11 This tendency toward disclosure of school information that is found in the Netherlands is no doubt part of the trend toward information disclosure that is becoming widespread in advanced countries as part of policies and measures that set great store on market principles. It is interesting that Denmark, however, which is known as an educationally advanced country, did not practise school information disclosure until very recently. In Denmark, most parents (or guardians) are accustomed to sending children to local schools, and they have based their choice of schools on what they learn from other local residents by word of mouth. Patrinos of the World Bank has studied the taximeter system in Denmark, and also points out how strange the tradition of strong insistence on privacy in school information may seem, particularly when schools are receiving public funding (Patrinos 2001, p. 5). The movement to review and evaluate schools as objectively as possible did indeed gain momentum in the European countries around 2000. Denmark was no exception, and some concerns have been voiced about educational trends that are unprecedented for this country. 12 In fact, Denmark passed a law regarding disclosure and transparency in education in 2002.13 According to this law, all educational institutions, including independent schools, must as a minimum place the following information on their Web sites: (1) educational model and courses of study (educational guidelines and syllabus); (2) educational principles and methods; (3) test results (list average scores for every course and class anonymously); (4) quality of instruction (list results of school review); and (5) other information concerning quality of education at the school.

Regarding such movements, Head of Secretariat, Association of Alternative Small Schools (Sammenslutningen af Frie Skoler-Lilleskolernes), acknowledges that the ‘marketism’ found in European educational circles in recent years, and the pressure

11

Interview with staff inspector for international cooperation, Netherlands Inspectorate of Education Central Office [Inspectie van het Onderwijs] (January 30, 2002).

12

Powell rates Denmark's liberal tradition of school development very highly, and voiced concern about the situation of education since the 1990s, expressing fear that the Danes would repeat many of the mistakes made in the United Kingdom and other countries out of belief in the market economy (Powell, 2001, p. 35).

13

Lov om gennemsigtighed og åbenhed i uddannelserne. For more on this law, see the following Web site: ‘Undervisningsministeriet: Loven 414 06/06/2002,’ http://www.retsinfo.dk/index/UND/AT001028.htm.

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

for information disclosure arising from it, are also becoming influential in Denmark, though it is, at the same time, positive in terms of democracy to inform the public and taxpayers how public funds are used. In that sense, as well, he finds significance in having organizations that receive public funding, as Denmark's independent schools do, disclose such information, and explains that the point is to find a ‘delicate balance’ that does not tip over into excessive emphasis on evaluation.14 As of 2003, the law on disclosure and transparency in education has not yet resulted in firm measures being taken, and no penal provisions have yet been decided. According to the secretariat, the main points of contention among the people involved are information regarding above items (3) and (4). The other items of information have already been disclosed by most independent schools over the Internet. He also considers it unlikely that this law will cause any great change in how parents select schools, in other words, that they might send their children to distant schools in search of better education. The secretariat further points out that parents in Denmark have indicated greater concern over education in recent public opinion polls not because of poll items on school ranking by test results, quality of classes, and so on, but rather in connection with communications skills15, and finds that disclosure of information on items (3) and (4) does not constitute a matter of great significance. Here it is important to understand why items (3) and (4) concerning test results and school reviews should be considered problematic for disclosure. This appears likely to result from concern on the part of Danish society, and particularly of people involved in alternative education, over the use of indices expressed in numerical values to evaluate human endeavours. For the people of Denmark in general, competition is to be abhorred as threatening the loss of something important to human beings (and to society).16 A pamphlet by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs introducing the Folkehøjskole (folk high school, a type of alternative school for adult education) contains the following passage (Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (n.d.), p. 17.): Yes – the simple fact is that the folkhøjskoler are not allowed to hold any kind of exams or courses for vocational qualifications. To put it a little pointedly: in Denmark you can find a whole group of 'free schools' which receive hefty state subsidies so long as they do not train their students for anything – other than to be human beings!

The fact that a culture that places value on humanity in the way expressed in the above passage has kept from being drawn into the magnetic field of nationalism or marketism is probably not unrelated to the fact that it has held its place in the first quadrant (Active Support and Promotion Type) of Figure 10.7 while generating its own unique public space. The differences between the Netherlands and Denmark can be summarized as follows: As is clear from Figure 10.7, both countries have in common a positive 14

This view was expressed in personal communication by e-mail between the author and the head of the association (November 21, 2002). The ‘balance’ referred to here, meaning moderation and a middle way, is said to be a distinctive characteristic of Danish society, which continues to maintain a sense of balance even in the modern world (see, for example, Borish, 1991, Chap. 7).

15

From a leading Danish newspaper, Berlingske Tidende, on November 15, 2002, and retrieved on November 22, 2002 from http://www.berlingske.dk/artikel:aid=231770/, http://www.berlingske.dk/artikel:aid=231814, and http://www.berlingeske.dk/artikel:aid=231776.

16

See Borish (1991), and in particular Chap. 10, regarding this aspect of Danish culture.

THE STATE OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

173

pursuit of interrelatedness between educational practice and government administration. Their orientations, however, differ considerably. As suggested by the circumstances of school review (evaluation), the Netherlands places emphasis on minutely detailed, strictly rigorous ways to assure quality in school education, while Denmark, on the other hand, values an approach to quality assurance that, regardless of changes in policies and measures, is nevertheless gentler in how people perceive it. The educational system in the Netherlands continues to reinforce the free market approach so that everyone will be able to enjoy freedom in selecting a school, while Denmark, meanwhile, continues with its pattern of school creation, building, and development rooted in local communities. Thus the difference between the Netherlands and Denmark appears to be defined by whether the key to school education is located in school selection or in school creation and development. In the Netherlands, schools in general (including alternative education) are entities subject to selection, and a refined system for that purpose is in the process of being established. In Denmark, on the other hand, schools are taken to be not so much entities subject to selection as they are entities that are being created and constantly recreated in a process of positive participation by the parents. In other words, what differentiates these two countries, which at first glance appear so similar, is the mechanism for formation of education that is exogenous in the one and endogenous in the other. In terms of government administration of education, this is the difference between administration with an eye to management and administration with an eye to support. Looking now at the case of Japan and considering the circumstances of alternative education there, free schools and other such private institutions appear to be close to the passive support and laissez-faire type, whereby they receive slight or nonexistent support and are basically not subject to any interference. Again, as long as private schools receive public subsidies, then, no matter how much discretion they may appear to enjoy, they must unavoidably be subject to some degree of control. Therefore, active support and management is probably the most closely corresponding type. In view of these circumstances, the question is what type of government administration would be most desirable for Japan's alternative schools in the 21st century. Naturally these four types do not cover all cases, but in any event the point is not to take one of the four as a model. Rather, it is to refer to them as a means for clarifying one's own perspective, which is a meaningful activity in itself. An examination of trends in education inside and outside Japan since the 1990s will probably show that the Japanese educational community has been tending strongly toward the fourth quadrant (Active Support and Management Type). That conclusion would also be corroborated by the adoption of systems for school selection, which are being implemented throughout Japan. If free schools and other such alternative schools come to receive their accreditation under educational deregulation special zones or other such special initiatives17, they would also be more likely to find themselves forced to shift from the second quadrant (Passive Support and Laissez-Faire Type) into the fourth quadrant. Under these circumstances, it is worth giving careful thought to the active support and promotion type (Denmark type) located in the first quadrant. Strictly speaking, Denmark and Oregon (private alternative schools), which correspond to this type, do not readily and entirely fit together within this single formulation, as is suggested by the case studies. That is because, whereas the national education system of Denmark in general is of the active support and promotion type, the education system of 17

For details of the special zones for structural reform, see http://www.mext.go.jp/english/org/councils/72.htm

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ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Oregon in general also has some characteristics of the active support and management type. Only the category of private alternative schools is treated as an exception in that state.18 Nevertheless, these two, and particularly the form of nurturing support that could be termed characteristic of the government administration of education in Denmark, are deserving of attention. We can find in them a vision of the educational community as an active support and promotion type that neither yields to market principles and government paternalism, nor evades the kind of mutual interference found between some independent schools and the government in the United Kingdom. What is largely at work here is the kind of life-affirming culture expounded by Grundtvig, the father of Denmark’s free school movement, or, to put this in what may appear to be somewhat exaggerated terms, what the French thinker Bataille (1988, pp. 38-40) identified as the phase of ‘the exuberance of life’. 19 Interviewed in the field survey, an official in the Ministry of Education in Denmark who is responsible for alternative education said that independent schools in England are faced with two alternatives, to acquire freedom or to obtain subsidies. Summerhill, this official said, gave up subsidies and chose freedom, but in Denmark it is possible to enjoy both freedom and subsidies. This aptly describes government administration that is nurturing, or caring. If value is to be found in promoting multiple characteristics, as described in Chapter 1, and especially in promoting a public character that we already perceive even while placing ourselves at a relative distance from the market and the government, then the category that has the richest possibilities to suggest to us is probably the active support and promotion type. The next question to take up is what must be done to assure a vision of society that will promote public character or the emergence of it. After pointing out some of the pitfalls involved, an attempt will be made to review this subject.

Pitfalls of Alternative Education When considering providing support to voluntary associations such as alternative schools, it is important to bear in mind how public character, which is generated from various arenas and occasions, can be fostered in society. In order for this kind of perspective to come into being, however, it is also necessary to pay attention to certain pitfalls. The following will discuss problems such as segregated enclosure, which should be identified as such a pitfall, while examining them in comparison with recent trends in the educational community involving alternative education.

Enclosure by the Market Economy One conspicuous trend concerning school policy since the 1990s in different countries has been a tendency to become market-oriented. This could even be termed the attractive magnetic field of the fourth quadrant in the above scatter charts. An educational practice may begin as an independent, autonomous alternative to the mainstream. Even so, however, there is a strong likelihood that it will be entangled in market mechanisms and suddenly find that its budding public character has been eaten away by the market principle. Incidents that amplify such apprehensions have in fact occurred in recent years. Charter schools in the United States extend education suited to the needs of diverse children on the one hand, but on the other, cases have 18

19

Specifically, the case of the South Lane district where the Blue Mountain School described in Chap. 6 and other such cases are treated as belonging to the active support and promotion type. Regarding Grundtvig’s ideas on life, see Borish (1991).

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been pointed out where the students have been treated as commodities in a market. Education in several American states has increasingly taken on a business aspect, and the children have been made into products, to the point of blatancy. Warnings against such trends have been sounded.20 In Japan, support schools flourished at one point as one approach to the problem of students refusing to attend school, but there have been cases of such schools going bankrupt with those school-refusing students in their care.21 Examples such as these indicate the danger that children outside the mainstream education system may sometimes be tossed about brutally by the arbitrariness of the market. Certainly there can be no guarantee that people who make choices in the market will always exercise proper judgment. As pointed out by Walzer (1983) as the greatest danger of the voucher plan in the United States, leaving education up to the market may expose many children both to corporate cruelty and to the disinterest of their parents (Walzer 1983, p. 219). Gewirtz (2002) finds that school reform by market principles represents a shift from welfarism to post-welfarism, and terms that set of policies the post-welfarist education policy complex (PWEPC) (Gewirtz 2002, p. 3). The valuable observation by Gewirtz was that PWEPC, which proclaims competition together with deregulation and decentralization, actually has the reverse effect, through the formulation of its principles, of strengthening control by the central government. Every school intensifies its performance monitoring and inspection in order to meet government objectives, and the result, Gewirtz points out, is the appearance of a regulated self-governance. This constitutes new management and controls in a market regulated with great sophistication. The characteristics of PWEPC cited by Gewirtz include the following (ibid., p. 122): x the insertion into schools of managerial regimes of regulation, x the commodification and differential valuing of children, x a reconfiguration of the social relations of schooling through the subjugation of classroom teachers and the inculcation of competitive individualism, x the privileging of traditionalist pedagogic regimes, x the exacerbation of inequalities of access to schooling and heightened social stratification, x the penetration into schooling of capitalist values and a capitalist mode of rationality, x the silencing of dissenting voices, x the inculcation of systemic stress. Trends such as these can be seen in combination with the tendencies toward stronger school review and evaluation systems seen in recent years in the Netherlands and other European countries as well as in New Zealand. However, when alternative schools are reviewed with the kind of orientation found in the PWEPC, the result may be discord, as illustrated by the disputes at the Aventurijn School and Metropolitan College. It would appear that there is demand for a kind of support for alternative schools that is different from that generally found in the active support and management type.

Enclosure by National Governments The magnetic field that absorbs the alternative education movement is formed by the national system together with the market system. At present, self-governance of associations in local communities and the public is viewed favourably by the state, as well, as can be seen in particular in the field of social security. The spontaneous 20

For example, Carnie, et. al. (eds.) (1996), p. xiv, and Kellmayer (1995), pp. 2, 7, 12, 13.

21

For example, see the Asahi Shinbun (evening edition), October 15, 1999.

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energy present in civil society is considered a crucial issue for governance as it constitutes something to be used to the maximum extent in the interests of national government policy. It is necessary to be cautious of the possibility, however, that the cooperative relationship between civil society and the national government may involve the former being assimilated into the latter. That is, even if it appears at first glance that associations formed from members of the public are participating in governance under the rubric of a ‘vitally energetic society,’ there is at the same time a possibility that the energy of the public will be mobilized while the public is actually rendered powerless politically. When the public experiences needs that cannot be met by mainstream education, and when the situation surfaces as a societal phenomenon, as the phenomenon of students refusing to attend school has done in Japan, then national governments demonstrate a visible tendency to absorb into their own systems whatever functions already exist that address those needs. This tendency is more marked in countries that have centralized education systems revolving primarily around public education. There, alternative education will take on the role of a supplement to mainstream education. One classic instance of such assimilation is the schooling support program (SSP) started by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 1999. This program provided subsidies to free schools and other such private-sector educational facilities under the rubric of expenses for research surveys of measures to bring school-refusing elementary and middle school students back to school. The rationale for the plan was that the program would bring the students back to school. Small free schools and other institutions that were struggling financially were expected to view the SSP as heaven-sent assistance, but few private-sector facilities took part in the program, and most of the ultimate benefactors of this largesse were publicly funded, publicly operated readjustment guidance centres (Tekio Shido Kyoshitsu). 22 One of the underlying causes of this was inadequate notification to potential applicants, but it must also be emphasized that the purpose of SSP was to bring students back to school. Many students at free schools and other such institutions are there because they dislike school, and given their founding purpose, most free schools clearly would not go along with public financial support provided on the assumption that it would bring those students back to school. SSP appears at first glance to be an attractive measure for providing public financial support, but by its nature this program positions existing private-sector facilities in roles supplementary to the mainstream. As such, it can be termed the manifestation of a classic philosophy of centralized education. As shown also in the nationwide survey of alternative schools and other such institutions conducted by the author (Nagata and Kikuchi 2002), programs in alternative schools are not set a priori, but tend rather to be built up starting from a child's current situation and working through mutual communication. This process displays a dynamism that forms a program while giving priority to the particular time and occasion. Once even operations of this kind are assimilated into a national government system, however, incidental learning becomes part of programmed learning and school life progressively loses its event-laden character. Children who refuse to attend regular school may be outside the rigid system of public education, but in some cases they may end up being assimilated into an even more rigid system.

22

According to figures for fiscal 2001, only 36 of 630 readjustment guidance centers and other such institution were free schools or other private-sector facilities. Reference handout at Conference of Cooperative Parties to Survey Studies of the School Refusal Problem [Futohkoh Mondai ni Kansuru Chosakenkyu Kyoryokusha Kaigi] (5th Conference, November 19, 2002). From 2004, new program called the Schooling Support Network (SSN) was launched on the same line as SSP with more budget.

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Self-Confinement in a Private Sphere Another pitfall for alternative education is the tendency toward self-confinement in a private sphere and closing off of communication with the outside. At the same time that some alternative schools distance themselves from market systems and national government systems, they may also tend to confine themselves within a private sphere. Alternative education that values the child's individuality entails a child-centered sense of values, and may tend to emphasize the activities and private sphere of the individual child. There are cases, however, in which over-emphasis of that essential quality leads to domination by an educational philosophy that perceives children cut off from their social context, so that child-centered education ends up as an act of self-enclosure. A relational scheme that parallels this can also describe the relations between alternative schools and local communities. Many free schools and other such institutions inside and outside Japan perceive themselves as communities that are misunderstood by the more conservative regional societies in which they are located, and many such institutions take on the character of isolated entities within their regional societies. The relationship between alternative schools and government administration of education in the United Kingdom in the scatter charts given earlier was described as being like relations between porcupines, meaning that they will damage each other if they draw too close. This kind of relationship therefore seeks to maintain an appropriate distance so as to avoid causing problems. It cannot be denied, in fact, that society does not so much nurture alternative schools in the United Kingdom but rather appears to treat them as lone wolf-like presences in their communities.23 The tendency to sequester oneself from the community and conduct all educational activities completely within a self-enclosed space can also be found in some facilities oriented toward children who refuse to attend school in Japan. The authors' survey clearly indicates that readjustment guidance centres, which serve as one of the receptacles to receive those children who refuse to attend school, have relatively few opportunities to interact with members of local communities, and the networks they form enjoy little participation by people from their communities. While the nature of such public facilities makes itself apparent in this way, it is relatively more common for free schools and other such institutions to involve the community in their development. Public institutions could take this kind of achievement as an example, and they should make it an urgent issue to learn how to expand and deepen their exchanges with local communities.24 23

The Summerhill School, for example, which has been called the freest school in the world, was founded by A. S. Neill, who described Summerhill as an island and recognized its closed nature (Neill 1949, p. 53).

24

A nationwide survey of alternative places of learning throughout Japan showed that the number of readjustment guidance centres responding that they ‘create occasions for exchange with local residents’ did not rise above 16.6%, while the corresponding figure for free schools and free spaces was approximately 40-50%. The guidance centres responding that ‘various different people from the community are involved’ in their networks amounted to 30.9%, and the figure for free schools and free spaces was approximately 50% (Orutanatibu Kyoiku Kenkyukai 2003, pp. 20, 62). A disturbing incident occurred in February 2003 that cannot help but reinforce the impression of the closed nature of free schools and other such institutions. At a facility established in a New Zealand suburb for Japanese students who were schoolrefusers, an incident of group violence took place that left one student dead. The parties involved were taken into custody by the local police. As of March 2003, the circumstances of this incident are under investigation by the local police and others, and it is too soon to claim that it was the result of the tendency to retreat into a closed private sphere. However, this case could serve as an occasion for reexamining our vision of the alternative school as situated in its local community (Asahi Shinbun 2003).

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Quality Assurance Suitable for Formation of a Public Sphere The question here is how a public sphere unentangled in the above three kinds of enclosure (or self-confinement) is formed. For this, an important consideration will be the appropriate kind or degree of QA that will enable formation of autonomous operations while keeping a relative distance from the magnetic fields of markets and national governments. Various debates have already taken place concerning the question of alternative education and public character, and the arguments made, when summarized, can generally be classified as belonging to either of the following two positions. According to one, leaving the bulk of school development up to members of the public who are not experts will render orderly control impossible, so guidance, advice, and outside regulation are essential. This is the claim from the government administration, political, and other such sectors. According to the other position, the initiative of the public would be restored and ideal schools could be created if only regulation from the top could be eliminated. This is the claim from the sector of civic groups and so on. Such debates seem frequently to devolve into argument between the two poles of management by the national government on the one hand and laissezfaire on the other. Actually, when shown in the above scatter charts, those countries (states/province) that have actively incorporated alternative education into their systems tend to be located in the fourth quadrant, while those countries (states/province) that have tolerated it (laissez-faire) without incorporating it into their systems tend to be located in the second quadrant. However, problems of the following kinds can be identified on both sides. The problem with the fourth quadrant is that when management by the national government becomes excessive, the various different alternatives tend to end up being controlled through a single centralized perspectival gaze. The number of jurisdictions that show a positively supportive stance toward alternative schools appears to have been increasing in recent years. Providing positive support, however, can also mean winding the recipients within a net of control that grows ever finer. It is entirely conceivable that alternative education could lose its distinctive character by being absorbed into the system. In light of the conflicts involving alternative schools in the Netherlands and New Zealand, located in the fourth quadrant, there would appear to be an increasingly marked tendency since the 1990s toward ‘deschooling and expansion throughout society of the Panopticon (a system of constant central surveillance).’ In other words, the repressive power that had functioned on children only within accredited schools tends to spread by means of the accreditation and review processes until it also infiltrates alternative schools. The problems of the second quadrant, on the other hand, lie in the lack of a perspective that seeks to foster public character (or its germination) in society as a whole. It could be said that alternative education in the Asian countries, including Japan, has managed to survive while situated in the second quadrant social sphere by sliding its way through any available cracks in the system. At the risk of repetition, it will be emphasized again that ingenious methods are at work in the registration and approval for graduation of students at unaccredited schools, and government administrations tolerate this. In Japan, approximately 60% of the children going to

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free schools have their attendance days in those schools recognized as attendance days at nearby public schools (Orutanatibu Kyoiku Kenkyukai 2001, pp. 58-59). This mechanism whereby the school registration differs from the actual place of learning is tolerated. Children at free schools in Taiwan also graduate by being officially registered at public schools. Many homeschoolers in Thailand are similarly graduates of the Moo Baan Dek School (Children’s Village School). Alternative education has survived in this way by being tolerated by the education systems of East and South Asian countries, but many alternative schools are carrying on without public financial support and without being nurtured by their communities. The fact that alternative schools can be operated under such adverse circumstances is due not to ordinary members of the public but rather to an extremely small number of people who have extraordinary abilities, inner resources, and willpower. In fact, it is hard to deny that the history of alternative education appears to have been molded by just such a small number of highly selected individuals.25 What is demanded of us at this time is not a debate between the two poles of national government management and laissez-faire. Rather, it is a search to determine the proper QA that will enable placement in the first quadrant, or, in other words, the proper course to take with regard to the various possible approaches. The question, then, is how and why the countries (states/province) in the first quadrant of Figure 10.7 could form their own unique public spheres without either being assimilated or becoming self-enclosed, and without being drawn to the magnetic fields of the fourth or second quadrants. One hint may be provided by the support networks that are found in common in Oregon state and Denmark, as well as the richness of resources that are variously created and propagated by them. These resources are, namely, the guidelines and manuals that enable school development in which members of the public are the actors. As one example of this, there is the Lane Educational Alternatives Resource Network (LEARN), a gathering of people involved with alternative schools in Lane County, Oregon. LEARN serves as a clearinghouse for organizations that support and promote alternative education. One result of recent LEARN activities is the creation of an alternative education manual. Not only is this manual written as an easy-to-understand primer for the public, it is also a thoroughgoing, practical guide to the practice of alternative education. 26 LEARN has also created a school catalogue to aid in obtaining subsidies from the state government and promote alternative education among the populace. 27 The catalogue, which is available at shops in Eugene, has been noticed by the public. In the case of Denmark, there are seven groups of alternative schools that have their own various support organizations, and there are well-established support mechanisms to ensure that people's ideas and opinions regarding the foundation or placement of alternative schools and other such matters will be heard and put into practice. Information packets on the founding of schools are also provided in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.28 25

The nature of this problem was also pointed out at the International Seminar for the Development of Alternative Education (Nagata and Manivannan 2002, p. 30).

26

This manual (Rubinstein, et. al., n.d.) contains explanations for ordinary members of the public starting alternative education programs, charter schools, or home schools, the procedures involved, the tax system, necessary documentation, accreditation process, relevant statutes, characteristics of the various forms of alternative education, and so on. It is excellent both as an introduction to alternative education and as a specialized manual.

27

Lane Educational Alternatives Resource Network (LEARN), n.d., Choices: A Resource Catalog of Publicly Funded, Non- Profit Educational Choices in Central Lane County. Eugene, Oregon: LEARN.

28

For details, see Nagata and Manivannan, op.cit., pp. 74-76.

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Next I will discuss the characteristics of the laws and enforcement regulations that constitute a foundation for producing the kinds of social resources noted above, as well as the intellectual and spiritual culture that exists in their background. In considering what constitutes proper QA, there is much to be learned from the characteristics of statutes relating to private alternative schools in Oregon. As shown in the case study, Oregon state law provides that ‘When necessary to meet a student's educational needs and interests, the parent or guardian…may enroll the student in one of the proposed appropriate and accessible public alternative education programs or private alternative programs of instruction….’ (Oregon Revised Statute 336.635). This law shows respect for the ‘needs and interests’ of individual students. Education laws that guarantee a diversity of educational opportunity are by no means rare, but Oregon is distinctive in having put into statutory form that when implementing an alternative education program, the board of education for the school district will set flexible conditions for environment, time, structure, and pedagogy (Oregon Revised Statute 336.625). Thus flexible development of the educational environment is legally guaranteed, and in fact, the evaluation criteria used by boards of education in school districts embody a similarly flexible view (for details, see Chap. 6). As shown in Chapter 9, even though parents and children are respected as autonomous individuals at the constitutional level, that legal spirit is not honoured when it comes down to the level of enforcement regulations and official notifications. Numerous disputes point rather to the existence of structures that instead have the opposite effect. Amid this kind of trend, alternative education in Oregon stands as a rare example of the spirit of state law being passed all the way down to the classroom level.29 In connection with school evaluation, it is also worth pointing out the state of evaluation in Denmark, where it could be termed endogenous or spontaneously motivated. The Danish law concerning free school (friskole), private primary schools, and other such institutions states in Article 9, Section 2, that the parent's association will either request that a reviewer review the status of student learning of the Danish language, arithmetic or mathematics, and the English language, or will request that a committee of the local government conduct this kind of review. It adds that reviewers must not be members of the parent's association, a member of the board of the school in question, an employee of the school in question, or a person who is married to or a close relative of such a person. This shows that the distinctive review method of the independent school, whereby a school is evaluated by a reviewer who is selected by the parent's association made up of the parents of all the students in the school, has pervaded alternative schools in Denmark. Under this system, the local government appoints a reviewer only when the parent's association has not done so. Following this method could result in paternalistic evaluations devoid of tension. However, the key point here is not to lightly rely on a professionally differentiated form of school development, but rather that evaluation of the kind found in Denmark offers the possibility of spontaneously motivated development that is clearly demarcated from the kind of auto-formation, which could even be termed modern, that has passed through the perspectival gazes of others. Where regulations are generally thought to wither flexibility and spontaneity, these various cases are examples of rules that, conversely, uphold flexibility and spontaneity. In other words, they can be considered ‘regulatory protection against regulatory control’ or ‘rules for the purpose of rulelessness’. Viewed further from a cultural perspective, education in Denmark also reveals the following kinds of characteristics. For a century and a half, the people of Denmark have been realizing a mutually enlightening collectivity that has brought about an autonomous public sphere while neither stopping still in a private sphere nor being 29

For example, Oregon Administrative Rules OAR 581-022-1350(2).

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taken over by marketism or nationalism.30 There are various important characteristics to point out in the background for this. First, there is a common awareness that responsibility for the education of a child lies not with the national government nor with the teachers, but with the parents.31 Parents in Denmark take an attitude less of making a choice as consumers than of involving themselves directly as the interested parties in school administration. Second, the teaching of ‘Learning for Life’ promulgated by N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), the father of the free school movement in Denmark, has taken firm root in that country's educational soil. Under this educational philosophy, there is a tendency to avoid the principle of competition through testing and so on, as well as views that treat human beings as objects. Similarly, this culture places value on the social enlightenment termed ‘Oplysning,’ or the people's awakening to a spontaneous collectivity, and it is worth pointing out how this has been passed down. It is a culture that values ‘people awakening to their collectivity and historicity through dialogue and interaction, coming to realize the unknowable mystery and dignity of human life, being roused to join their energies together to live, and gaining self-understanding (Shimizu 1993, p. 62).’ The self-help groups and support organizations typical of networks in this country can also be cited as key factors that form its educational space. As shown in Chapter 7, Denmark has separate support organizations for groups of schools differentiated by their particular ideas, principles, or causes, and there is a tradition of associations that function for mutual edification at an everyday level. These cultural elements in Denmark do not form self-enclosed spheres, and they are no doubt the principal reason that the cultural and social sectors have given rise to the country's distinctive public sphere without being eroded by the market or the state system. The above kinds of culture for active support and promotion type of school development afford some interesting insights. First, there is in existence an intellectual and spiritual culture that trusts in the internally-motivated or endogenous development of the human being32 and promotes such development—or there is a key person who embodies such a spirit. Second, there is a culture of forming network or association as part of supportive mechanism, as shown in case studies of Denmark and Oregon state. Several independent associations in Denmark and such grass-root network as LEARN in Oregon are of vital importance for the promotion of alternative education. Third, the rules that provide a foundation for the social structures in which that intellectual and spiritual culture expresses its vitality are emplaced not only at the level of the constitution but also at the level of ministerial ordinances and enforcement regulations. ‘The rules for the purpose of rulelessness’ in the kinds of initiative, flexibility, innovativeness, and so on illustrated earlier no doubt serve as the foundation for development of alternative education, and function as QA to encourage the endogenous development of human society. The existence of such a selfcontradictory device, namely the incorporation of non-system-like elements into a system, must be crucial for promoting spontaneous, internally-motivated undertakings such as alternative education.

30

For further detail, see Borish (1991).

31

Presentation by P. Højgaard, a resource person from Denmark at the International Seminar for the Development of Alternative Education (March 19, 2002, National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan).

32

The term ‘endogenous development’ is used here with the same meaning as the term used by Tsurumi Kazuko and her associates (Tsurumi 1989). For the explanation of the term, see also What Now (The 1975 Dag Hammarskjöld Report) [Development Dialogue: A Journal of International Development Cooperation], Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.

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Postlude

About Opening the Window Just the Right Amount On the very day of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I had a long hoped-for meeting at an alternative school support association in the Danish port town of Faaborg. One of the staff members of the secretariat greeted me warmly, and after referring to the tragic events of the day before, went on to say: "It is exceptionally significant that alternative schools make up 10% of all schools in Denmark. The figure is not 30% or 50%, but 10%, and this is important." He added: "This 10% signifies a minority, and Denmark is a society that values minorities." It was not clear to me at the time how our talk about the terrorist incidents had led us to this subject. Later, however, an acquaintance at the Association of Alternative Small Schools in Copenhagen remarked that the democracy of Denmark was a "culture of listening" to the member of the society who are smaller or weaker, meaning, in other words, the minorities. This seemed to answer my question about the earlier remarks by the staff of the association. Seeing the desperate challenge of those terrorist actions against an overwhelmingly dominant power, he no doubt perceived those actions as the outcome of a lack of listening. "The significance of being 10%"—This phrase continued to occupy my thoughts for some time, and would not leave my mind. I had interviewed many educators in the preceding several years as part of on-site surveys for research into international comparisons of alternative educational practices and administration. The majority of people who took the position that educational alternatives are important, however, would affirm forcefully that all education should become like alternative education. The message with an emphasis on 10% had an even fresher ring as a result. Since hearing his words, I have given much thought to the significance of the social function of alternative education as a minority form of education. This means, in other words, leaving some space open in the system in order to allow a certain degree of adventure and unconventionality, or moderate discretion, even if this strays from a standard, for example. It could also mean adding about 10% of play, and inserting it in the social system. Since then, I have been able to examine other countries (and states) to determine whether this impact of the educational community, which could be called the wonderful mystery of the 10%, can be observed elsewhere than in Denmark. For that purpose, I have visited the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand, Russia, and so on, where I have studied the breadth and the depth of their various alternative education systems. The result, as expressed 205

206

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

in this study, was that when I looked at the data for those countries (or states) that recognize the importance of alternative education and that take full advantage of their educational systems, it became apparent to me that calling this "10%" is not very far from the mark. Although this seems not to have been intended from the very start, the adoption of a system that allows relatively free school creation clearly resulted in approximately 10-20% of the schools offering alternative education and around 10% of students receiving such education. The fact that a society is assured of a public sphere that reflects minority voices, even if they are minorities that represent just 10% of a population, is significant for the society as a whole. My visits to the above countries to conduct surveys made me think about these matters. I would like to add here that when discussing the social significance of a minority in Denmark, the term "sound minority" is used. As the research continued, something became clear: That is, the shades of meaning associated with the different 10% minorities were all subtly different. Those wonderful mysteries of 10% in Denmark, in the Netherlands, and in the United States (the State of Oregon) all differ from each other. It became clear that, as explained in the main body of this study, this same 10% may consist of alternative programs that are carefully cherished, alternative programs that are left alone to fend for themselves, alternative programs that are "spanked," so to speak, and made to work very hard, and others of varying description. The meaning of the 10% diverged, subtly and significantly. I did reach the point of organizing this series of research results into the form of a book. However, at the same time I came to perceive further issues in this material. The differences suggested by the modalities of education in the various countries seemed to present themselves to me in the form of questions posed to Japanese society, and I felt compelled to respond to each and every such question in terms of our own Japanese actuality. If we turn our minds to Japanese culture and society using the above notions of space and play as key concepts, we will realize the following: Japan has long cherished its spaces and openings as a matter of customary observance. Consider, for example, the sliding doors found in kitchens and toilets in Japan. Above those doors, we often find a small window placed high up on the wall that can be discreetly left open. This lets in a flow of air that makes such spaces more comfortable to inhabit. Ingenious devices like this are among the characteristic features of life and culture in Japan. Even though this kind of wisdom was cultivated in everyday life and passed down as part of our own sensibilities in Japan, our education system is another matter. Spaces and play are not easy to find there. It seems that in the distant past, when terakoya (small, private "temple children’s schools") were to be found here and there throughout the country, many diverse places of learning operated autonomously. When the modern educational system was introduced in the 19th century, however, then uniform institutions took over everywhere, and it cannot be denied that education has become less an autonomous, voluntary activity than something administered from the outside. The public education system that was created in the course of Japan's modernization did, of course, build schools in every corner of every region throughout the country, and contributed to the widespread dissemination of school education. However, the belief that public education constitutes the single best system of education is a kind of faith that has generated a kind of claustrophobia in the entire education community, and part of its effect has also been to force many children to undergo bitterly painful experiences. The rapid increase in the number of students who refuse to attend school, especially since the 1990s, epitomizes the institutional fatigue that the education system is starting to display.

POSTLUDE

207

In any event, when we feel that the air in the room has gone stale, then we should not make light of the effect we obtain by opening the window even a little bit. There are some times, to be sure, when the window must be opened all at once to clear the air in the room completely. If such a wholesale measure is to be allowed, however, then it is only when conditions have deteriorated so far that we are seeing terminal symptoms. Rather than that, it is exceedingly important instead to keep the capacity, as part of the wisdom of society, to maintain an open space of about 10% at all times. Through that guaranteed opening there will be gentle breezes blowing and the entire room will be refreshed. It seems to me that many of the people I encountered in the above countries were like craftsmen working to let that fresh air blow into their various educational communities. The breeze that is let into the room does not have to be so wonderful that it refreshes every corner of the room, but we must be able to say of it at least that it feels rather good. Even if it is 10%, nobody will like a warm wind that makes the stagnant air even more unpleasant. Nor would anyone want a sudden heavy gust that knocks flower vases over and blows paintings from the walls. In order to keep the whole room from becoming unpleasant, it is important after all to adjust the way the breeze passes through the window. However, it is no simple matter to make those adjustments, as shown by the experiences even of countries that are advanced in alternative education. The discussion in the previous chapters represents my attempt to incorporate consideration of the issues of what is needed in order to create just the right adjustment, what is required to keep just the right degree of tension so that the right amount of adjustment does not become haphazard or immoderate, and what form government administration should take to achieve that proper degree. I will consider myself fortunate indeed if this study is of some help in the Asia-Pacific countries that are said to be closed, in the sense discussed here, as the people there consider what kind of metaphorical wind should be passed through to their educational communities, how much of it should be allowed through, and how this should be accomplished.

Author Index

Allen, D. W. 185 Anderson, B. 59, 195 Apple, M. W. 185 Appleton, M. 185 Ashley, M. 203 Axmark, F. 185

Finn, C. E. Jr. 190 Fiske, E. B. 153, 190 Freire, P. 190 French, A. 190 Gewirtz, S. 175, 191 Gintis, H. 151, 152, 191 Goodman, P. 7, 191 Graubard, A. 191 Green, A. 191 Greenberg, D. 36, 47, 191 Gribble, D. 12, 17, 191

Bader, V. 102, 192 Balle, T. 195 Balle-Petersen, M. 195 Barr, R. D. 1, 3, 4, 76, 195 Bataille, G. 174, 195 Beane, J. A. 185 Becker, S. L. 12, 186 Benthum, W. V. 34, 186 Bolland, T. 186 Borish, S. M. 125, 172, 174, 181, 186 Bruggen, J. C. van 72, 186, 200 Buber, M. 186 Bunn, S. 91, 161, 186

Hague, W. 191 Halpin, D. 203 Hannam, D. 4, 191 Hart, H. H. 191 Hassel, B. C. 191 Hecht, Y. 192 Herbert, P. 197 Hirst, P. 102, 192 Hodgetts, C. 192 Hori, S. 192 Husén, T. 115, 192

Carnie, F. 153, 175, 187 Christensen, J. G. 187 Chubb, J. E. 187 Chung, K-H. xii, 187 Cohen, A. 187 Conley, B. E. 2, 3, 187 Coons, J. E. 187 Croall, J. 187

Illich, I. xviii, 192 Inglehart, R. 149, 171, 192 Jacobs, K. 193 James, E. 59, 63, 64, 70, 189 Jenkner, S. 190

Deakin, R. 187 Delors, J. 187 Dewey, J. 2, 101, 187 DeYoung, Y. 82, 86, 199 Dhongchai, D. 27, 28, 187 Dhongchai, R. 27, 28, 187 Dijk, W. van 186 Dowty, T. 189 Edmunds, L. F. 37, 189 Edwards, P. 168, 189

Kawada, T. 201 Kellmayer, J. 1, 3, 5, 76, 175, 193 Kikuchi, E. 4, 5, 115, 176, 197 Køber, H. 97, 104, 192, 194 Koetzsch, R. E. 193 Korsgaard, O. 111, 194 Kozol, J. 194 Kühl, J. 194 Kwag, Y. S. 4, 194

Fantini, M. D. 189 Faure, E. 190 Fernandez, A. 190

Ladd, H. F. 153, 190 Lamb, A. 194 Large, M. 187 209

210

Lee, Y. 4, 194 Leontieva, O. 194 Letschert, J. 186 Levy, D. C. 194 Lund, B. F. 97, 195 Malpica, C. 195 Manivannan, R. xii, 3, 4, 7, 28, 115, 118, 129, 152, 179, 195, 196 Manno, B. V. 190 McEvoy, P. 195 Mercogliano, C. 195 Miller, R. 2, 6, 8, 195 Mimsy, S. 191 Mintz, J. 196 Moe, T. M. 187 Nagata, Y. xiv, xx, 3-5, 28, 115, 118, 128, 129, 152, 157, 176, 179 Napakun, O. 197 Nathan, J. 197 Neill, A. S. xviii, 2, 7, 28, 29, 101, 177, 197 Noddings, N. 197

O’Brien, P. 197 Parrett, W. H. 1, 3, 4, 76, 185 Patrinos, H. A. 161, 171, 199 Pedersen, P. H. 9, 161, 199 Pérez de Cuéllar, J. 199 Postlethwaite, T. N. 115, 192 Postman, N. 199 Powell, R. 171, 199 Power, S. 203

AUTHOR INDEX

Raywid, M. A. 1, 2, 199 Robinson, V. 201 Rubinstein, L. 82, 85, 88, 179, 199 Saeki, Y. 114, 199 Saha, L. 200 Schumacher, E. F. 200 Sheppard, D. 200 Shimizu, M. 96, 181, 200 Snel, B. 72, 200 Sugarman, S. 187 Sumitani, T. 5, 201 Tasker, M. 187 Thesing, A. 197 Timperley, H. 201 Tolstoy, L. 201 Tooley, J. 155, 201 Troost, N. 201 Tsurumi, K. 181, 201 Tuin, J.V. 82, 86, 199 Unger, H. G. 202 Vanourek, G. 190 Vaughan, K. 3, 129, 133, 203 Walzer, M. 175, 203 Whitty, G. 203 Wood, B. 40, 41, 203 Woods, G. 203 Woods, P. 203 Wylie, C. 203 Yoshida, A. 6 Yuuki, M. 60, 62, 203

Subject Index accreditation 5, 33, 42, 45, 51-55, 60, 69, 71, 91, 103, 106, 107, 127, 128, 130, 131, 134, 138, 139, 141-144, 146-148, 150, 151, 154, 155, 157, 158, 167, 170, 173, 178, 179 Adelaide 37, 139 Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century 46, 139 Adelaide University 40, 41 Ajayu School 11, 12, 23, 151 Alcott, A.B. 7 alternative education 1-10, 12, 22, 23, 26, 29, 30, 32-35, 57-59, 63, 5469, 71-73, 75-77, 80-93, 95-97, 100, 104, 105, 109, 110, 112-116, 118, 122-125, 127, 128, 131-138, 140, 145, 146, 149152, 155, 157, 158, 161, 168-170, 172-181 as a minority movement 7, 9, 205 basic foundation 57 by the mid-1970s 2 diversity in 100 during 1920s 2 genealogies 2 in Australia 35-56 in Bolivia 11-24 in Denmark 95-114 in Japan 4 in present-day context 4 in Taiwan 137 in Thailand 26 in the 80s 6 in the Asian countries 178 in the Netherlands 57-74 quality control 69 in the state of Oregon 75-94 in the USA 9, 75-93, 122, 138, 155 in the 20th century 9

parameters for 8 pitfalls of 174 program 76, 77, 82-88, 90, 91, 123, 155, 161, 179, 180 quality assurance in 158 quality of 69, 134, 157, 158 state of 157 streams of 77, 85 supported by law and key initiators 75 alternative education-related legislation 83 alternative schools 1-3, 5-7, 12, 17, 23, 25, 30, 32, 34-36, 47, 56, 63, 65, 67, 71-73, 76, 77, 80-83, 85, 8792, 97, 100, 107, 115, 116, 118120, 128-125, 127-155, 157-170, 172-180 accredited 157 as institutions 116, 154 as refuges 3 cases of disputes 128 in Australia 36, 161 in Denmark 120, 180 in England (UK) 150, 177 in Germany 144 in Japan 173 in New Zealand 119, 152, 160, 178 in Ontario 161 in Queensland 56, 139 in South Korea 143, 144, 160 in Thailand 25 in the Netherlands 72, 160, 178 in the State of Oregon 76, 85, 91, 143, 169, 179, 180 quality of 127, 138, 149, 157-159 recognition and approval of 149 unaccredited 157 alternative stream in education 63, 67, 68, 77 Anglican Schools Commission 44 211

212

anthroposophy 38, 44 origins in 153 appropriate transport 75, 78, 81 assessment reports 147 Association of Independent Schools 36, 56, 100, 101, 108, 160 Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA) 44 Association of Independent Schools of Queensland (AISQ) 54, 55 Australia 35-56, 129, 130, 139, 140, 142, 144-146, 149, 159-167 alternative schools in 36, 161 education in 35, 36 autonomy 1, 5, 58, 71, 99, 100, 114, 152, 168 Aventurijn School 61, 73, 130, 123, 153, 154, 175 Average Daily Membership (ADM) 86, 91 Aymara culture 12, 20 Aymara language 20, 23 belief in liberty 9 Bike Lab Program 79 Blue Mountain School 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 87-90, 174 Bolivia 11-23, 151 diversity in 12 education in 12, 19, 21 educational reform 13, 14 free school in 11 poverty in 12 public schools 16 social condition in 12 social poverty 13 Booroobin Sudbury School (BSS) 35, 46-56, 130, 133, 139 Booroobin Sudbury School (BSS), birth of 46 Café Corporation 50 Canadian province of British Columbia 140, 141, 144, 148 Catholic school system 116 catholic schools 36, 63, 65, 105, 117, 118, 120, 121 Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) 75, 77-81, 85, 88, 89, 91 Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) 2

SUBJECT INDEX

centralized education systems 30, 128, 176 centralized system 34 Chain links Program 79 charter schools 5, 76, 77, 79-82, 85-89, 91, 92, 122, 123, 143, 146, 148, 160, 162-167, 169, 174, 179 child-centered education 1, 177 Children’s Village School 25-30, 3234, 81 in Thailand 67, 100, 129, 179 philosophy of 28 practice of 28 Christian Community Schools 44 Christian Parent Controlled Schools 44 Christian schools 36, 54, 118, 136 Christian-affiliated independent schools 35 Christianity 65, 153 schools in 153 CITO tests 72, 142, see also National Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO) civic humanism 58 classifications 115, 116, 123, 149 code of ethics 42, 45, 152 College of Teachers 38 compatibility of education 32 compulsory school attendance in Denmark 96, 97 in Japan 96 conditions for learning 83, 138, 156 of accreditation 42 of home 152 Constitution of Germany 136, 140 Constitution of the Netherlands 60, 135 constitutionally guaranteed parental rights 97 construction 8, 10, 15, 17, 44, 103, 133, 147 control functions 69, 70 Cooking Corporation 50 culture of associations 102 culture of listening 205 curriculum 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 33, 38, 40, 42, 44, 61, 63, 69, 73, 77, 79, 83, 87, 97, 98, 103, 111, 113, 123, 127, 130, 135, 138, 139, 143, 144, 146, 149, 150, 152-155, 159 operations 143

SUBJECT INDEX

Dalton Plan 58, 65-67, 118 Dalton school 65, 68, 117, 153 Danish adult education 6 Danish Association of Alternative Small Schools 101, 108, 109 Danish Association of Private Primary and Secondary Schools 98, 99, 102 Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) 108 decentralization 13-15, 71, 72, 175 delinquent behaviour 152 democracy 9, 47-49, 111, 152, 172 Denmark 5, 7, 9, 69, 93-114, 116, 120122, 124, 125, 130, 134-138, 142148, 150, 155, 160-167, 169-174, 179-181 alternative education 95-114 Constitution 136 education system in 96 private schools 102, 112 Dewey, J. 2, 101 diversity 8, 12, 14, 32, 34, 46, 51, 66, 76, 78, 80, 83, 84, 87, 89, 100, 101, 110, 115, 116, 138, 135, 136, 139, 151, 156, 180 fostering 100 of support organizations 67 economic growth 26, 27 Ecuador 12, 17 education 12 compatibility 32 for gifted children 1 for problem children 1, 76, 84, 88 in Bolivia 12, 19, 21 in Denmark 5, 95, 97, 112-114, 169, 174, 180 in human nature 152 of aboriginal Maori children 143 plurality of 32 quality of 45, 68, 70, 72, 108, 114, 137, 139, 142, 171 self-reflective reapprehension 8 education movement 2, 12, 114 alternative 4-6, 125, 175 people’s 110 Education Reform Act of England, 1988 155 education reform 6, 153 in Bolivia 13, 14 neo-liberalistic 132, 133 program 6

213

public 3 education reform movements 6, 90 in India 6 in Japan 5 Education Review Office (ERO) 143 educational administration, authority of 14, 61 educational legislation 60, 79, 92 educational mechanisms in the Netherlands 68 educational opportunities 70, 76, 80, 135, 180 educational principles 15, 16, 18, 58, 103, 118, 153, 159, 171 educational service district (ESD) 82 educational system, in Denmark 96 edutopia 112 efterskole 97, 99-101, 1-3, 107, 108, 110-112, 145 Elementary and Secondary Education Law Enforcement Ordinance 137, 143 Emerson, R.W. 6 enforcement ordinances 131, 132, 135 England 136, 150, 154 1989 Children Act 140 1996 Education Act 148 equality 19, 58, 60, 63, 99, 133, 139 equivalence 31, 116, 138, 139, 154, 170 with public education 138 ethnic minority schools 101 Eugene Rack Works Program 79 evaluation 1, 5, 16, 19, 21, 31-33, 39, 42, 45, 52, 53, 62, 68-73, 75-110, 130-137 of scholastic skills 90 of student learning 143 exchanges of information 34 exit examinations 69 Farm Corporation 50 features of quality 69, 142 finances 51, 61, 62, 70, 91, 105, 108, 140, 143, 144, 168 financial control 70 Fire Precautions Law 147 Flinders University 39-41 food sanitation regulations 147 forward-thinking experiments 113 forward-thinking projects 113 fostering 5, 34, 96, 114, 152

214

founding 22, 26, 27, 47, 55, 71, 84, 85, 87, 101, 106, 110, 129, 132, 157, 176, 179 circumstances 15 motivation 15 free- and non-competitive educational community 96 free schools 3, 4, 7, 9, 17, 54, 84, 97, 115, 118, 120, 134, 138, 152, 167, 168, 172, 173, 176, 177, 179-181 in Bolivia 11 in California 84 in Denmark 9, 162-166, 174, 181 in Japan 134 in New Zealand 3 in Taiwan 179 in Queensland 36 in the Netherlands 73, 153 free school movement 2, 4, 8, 77, 85 in America 8 freedom of education 58-60, 63, 67-69, 7173, 107, 116, 135, 152, 153 of education, as positive freedom 60 of home education 60, 61 of school choice 3, 60, 61, 67, 70, 151 of school creation 102 of school organization 58, 60, 68, 135 of school policies 58, 60, 68, 135 to found schools 58, 68, 70, 135 to set up a school 58,60, 63, 68, 70, 72, 101, 135, 151 Freinet education 16, 131 Freinet schools 65, 66, 68, 117, 118, 131 friskole 97, 100-110, 112-114, 120-122, 136, 138, 180 Froebel, F. 6 full school meetings 49 Gandhi, Mahatma 6 German language 39, 99 Germany 37, 78, 10, 131, 135, 138, 140, 144, 146 Basic Law of 38 Constitution of 136 Goodman, P. 7 government administration of education 5, 35, 158, 161, 168, 173, 174, 177

SUBJECT INDEX

comparative examination 168 for public subsidies 161 for quality assurance 161 types of 170, 173 graduation examinations 62, 69, 144, 145 Greek school 44 Grundtvig, N.F.S. 6, 95-97, 99-101, 110, 174, 181 Hannam report 4 high school 37, 81, 111, 137, 152, 153, 172 historical background 39, 59 holistic educators 7 Holt, J. 7 home schooling 30, 32, 61, 69, 81, 96, 97, 161 home schools 30, 85, 87, 88, 91, 119, 121-123, 179 Home Source 80-82 independence 54, 58, 89, 96, 101, 153, 168 Independent School Act 97, 103, 107, 108, 141 independent school choice 98 independent schools 35, 36, 41-47, 50, 51, 54-56, 97-106, 108-110, 112, 113, 120-122, 130, 135, 140-142, 144, 146, 160, 161, 167, 171, 172, 174 in Australia 50 in Canada 145, 148 in Denmark 137, 172 in England 109, 147, 160, 174 increase 97 in Queensland 54 in South Australia 44 link by networks 100 relationship with Ministry of Education 109 supervision of administration 106 without religious affiliation 35 Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) 36, 44 individuality 1-3, 7, 9, 18, 50, 152, 153, 177 respect for 9 information disclosure 69, 70, 171, 172 innovativeness 8, 23, 65, 72, 77, 135, 140, 181

SUBJECT INDEX

inspection 48, 52, 53, 55, 69, 71, 82, 83, 106, 107, 109, 127, 128, 130134, 138, 139, 141-144, 147, 152156, 175 institutions of higher education 39 International Comparative Studies 96, 116, 128, 134, 135, 157, 158, 170 Practice of Alternative Education 157 Islam 38, 68, 102 schools in 108, 153 Japan 3-6, 12, 45, 78, 96, 99, 113, 115, 128, 134, 137, 147, 151, 157, 173, 175-178, 181 Basic law on education 137 education reform movements in 5 Japanese language 39 Jena Plan 65, 148 Jewish school 44 Judaism, schools in 153 justice committee (JC) 49, 55 kalayanamitta 28 kindergarten 16, 17, 20, 37, 99, 113 Kold, K. 96, 97, 99-101, 110 Krishnamurti, J. 6 La Floresta School 11, 12, 15, 17-19, 23, 151 Lane County educational system 77-83, 85-90, 92, 179 Lane Educational Alternatives Resource network (LEARN) 81-83, 85, 88-90, 92, 179, 181 Law Book 49 leadership by the principal 108, 109, 143 Learnnet Global School 5 legal statutes 58, 62, 135 assurance by 135 regulation by 135 legal system 149 lilleskole 100-102, 108, 109, 113, 120-122 Lutheran Education Council 44 Magnet schools 2 mainstream education 3, 4, 7, 9, 34, 175, 176 mainstream public education 4, 55, 118 systems 157

215

Maleny District Community Learning centre 47, 48, 52 management-oriented attitude 157 mandatory school attendance 69 Maori schools 119, 120, 122 market economy beliefs 9, 171 enclosure by 174 market system 99, 100, 175, 177 mechanisms, identifying 55 minimum number of classes 62 of students 148 ministerial or departmental ordinances 132, 135, 181 minority 7-9, 110-114, 116, 205 movement 7, 9 significance of being 112 Montessori, M. 2, 7 Montessori education 6, 16, 18, 36, 58, 80 Montessori school 44, 47, 57, 65-67, 81, 100, 117-119, 153 Mount Barker Waldorf School (MWS) 37-46 nationwide system of standardized tests of 45 Multimedia Corporation 50 mutual assistance network 43 mutual complementarity 8 national governments, enclosure by 175 national guidelines 118, 139, 151-154 as standards for accreditation 151, 154 National Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO) 62, 69, 72, 145 tests 72, 142 National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) of Japan 4, 128, 157, 181 nationwide common examinations 63, 69, 70, 72, 145, see also CITO tests natural learners 48 natural learning 48, 50, 55 natural learning curricula (NLC) 50, 53 Neill, A.S. 2, 28, 29, 101, 177 neo-liberalism 132 neo-liberalistic education reform 132, 133, 168

216

Netherlands Constitution, Article 23, on Freedom of Education 135 Network Charter School 79 neutral schools 58 New Zealand 3, 5, 69, 115, 116, 118-120, 122, 124, 129, 134, 139, 143-146, 148, 150, 152, 153, 160-169, 175, 177, 178 free schools 3 No Child Left Behind (NLCB) Act 3, 5 Non-aligned Christian Schools 44 object of reform 2 OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 96 operating plans 143, 158, 159 Oregon 75-93 Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) 76, 84, 90, 140, 180 Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 15, 76, 84, 90, 138, 140, 180 Paker, J 7 pamphlets 70, 96, 172 parameters for alternative education, see alternative education parental participation 61, 102 Parkhurst schools 65, 118 pedagogy 65, 76, 115, 180 people’s education movement in Denmark 110 performance of teaching staff 143 of the faculty 143 permissible limits of freedom 110 Pestalozzi, J.H. 6 Pestalozzi schools 12, 17, 18 philosophy 7, 10, 15, 18, 28, 32, 33, 46, 49, 72, 97, 100, 101, 108, 110, 130, 140, 143, 152, 153, 176, 177, 181 physical behaviour 152 pluralism 8 pluralistic democracy 152 pluralistic educational philosophy 32 pluralistic education system 25, 33, 75, 137 pluralistic networks 100 pluralistic quality assurance 90 desired modality of 90 plurality of education 32

SUBJECT INDEX

popular education history of Denmark 96 post-welfarist education policy complex (PWEPC) 175 poverty 12, 13, 26, 96 in Bolivia 12 pre-school education 69 primary education 63, 66, 69, 71, 72, 103 principal of financial equality 58 principals 77, 101, 108, 109, 137, 139, 160 principle of economic freedom 101 of freedom of education 72 of freedom of employment 101 of ideological freedom 101 of pedagogical freedom 101 of student freedom 101 private alternative schools 77, 81, 82, 85, 87, 88, 91, 92, 122, 123, 143, 146, 160, 162-169, 173, 180 private education 8, 59, 60, 64, 65, 69, 169 private schools in Bolivia 23 in Denmark 112 privatization 3, 115 policies 13 progressivism 9 Protestant schools 63, 105, 116-118, 121 public alternative schools 2, 3, 85, 87, 119, 122, 123, 140, 162-168 public assistance 4, 5, 23 public character 4, 5, 8, 34, 55, 58, 90, 133, 151, 152, 154, 174, 178 public education 1-5, 8, 9, 22, 34, 58, 69, 77, 90, 97, 100, 113, 115, 116, 138, 139, 151, 152, 154, 157, 168, 170, 176 reforms 3, 77, 113 public financial support 157, 176, 179 public schools 2-4, 15-17, 21, 22, 32, 36, 40, 42, 43, 47-51, 53, 55, 5860, 62, 63, 65, 67, 76, 77, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89-91, 97-100, 103, 104, 109, 113, 115-119, 121-123, 131, 132, 136-140, 142, 145, 146, 152, 155, 160, 161, 169, 179 in Bolivia 16

SUBJECT INDEX

public sphere 178-181, 206 public subsidies (PS) 32, 37, 42, 50, 51, 63, 69, 76, 85, 91, 97, 98, 102104, 109, 112, 118, 127, 128, 134, 135, 143, 145, 147, 150, 151, 153, 155, 158, 160-170, 173 values 167 quality assurance (QA) 83, 90, 91, 127, 134, 135, 144, 149, 154, 158-171, 173, 178-181 features of 159 in alternative education 157, 158 in alternative schools 127, 134, 157 international comparison 158 methods of 127 pros and cons of 149 purpose of 157 values 167 quality control 90, 134, 157, 169 mechanisms 68 Quechua culture 12, 15, 17, 18, 20 Quechua language 16, 19, 20 regular schools 151, 152, 176 regulations 19, 20, 29, 31, 45, 49, 59, 62, 70, 76, 84, 90, 92, 93, 98, 104, 108, 109, 113, 127, 130, 134, 135, 146, 147, 149, 152, 154-157, 160, 162, 166, 175, 178, 180, 181 food sanitation 147 ministerial 31, 62 on alternative schools 146 on building and amenities 159 on budget 159 on property 159 on school facilities 147 on teacher quality 59 regarding assets and property 146 religious schools 65, 101, 110, 116-118 remedial education for problem children 1 Rousseau, J.J. 6 Rudolf Steiner School of Australia (RSSA) 145 rulelessness 155, 180, 181 Russia 135, 136, 139, 144, 146, 148, 205 safety management 143 Sands School 12, 153

217

Sarvodaya movement, in Sri Lanka 6 school accreditation 33, 130, 158 school administration 21, 61, 130, 137, 159, 167, 169, 181 school boards 63, 69, 76, 79-81, 83, 86, 88-92, 104, 107, 108, 129, 139 school budgets 42, 50 School Card 41, 42 School Corporations 49, 50 school creation 97, 102, 103, 112, 173, 206 role of the government 111 school curriculum 17, 44 school education 4, 21, 30, 43, 58-61, 69, 77, 113, 116, 127, 134, 135, 137, 168, 173 right to participate 60, 61 School for Life 96, 99, 100, 112 school laws in the Netherlands 59 school management 142, 143, 159, 166 School Meetings 48-50, 54, 55 school openness 70 school operation 63, 69, 83, 86, 135, 137, 139, 142, 149, 153, 159 school participation by parents 60, 112 school supervision 69, 71, 72 system 59, 71, 72, 104 school, set up 60, 70, 71 Schooling Support network (SSN) 134, 151, 176 Schooling Support Program (SSP) 134, 151, 176 schools-within-schools 2 self-confidence 42, 79 self-confinement 177, 178 self-evaluation 16, 21, 112, 142, 159 self-governance 1, 4, 19, 20, 47, 61, 131, 175 self-responsibility 168, 169 Seventh Day Adventist schools 118, 153 small-scale schools 2 social conditions 9, 12 social principles 15 socially disadvantage 133 sound minority 206 South Australia 35-37, 40-46, 139, 140, 146, 149, 160, 167 South Australian Independent Schools Board (ISB) 44, 45

218

South Korea 3, 5, 112, 130, 134, 135, 137, 143, 144, 146, 147, 149, 150, 152,1 55, 160, 166-168, 205 South Korea’s Elementary and Secondary Education Law 137 spending on education 96 Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) 32 Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya movement in 6 staff-related matters 140 standardization 46, 70-73 standardized testing 45, 82, 144, 145, 159 standards for accreditation and evaluation 43, 151, 154, 170 for evaluation 132 for evaluation of curriculum 69 for inspection of alternative schools 139 for learning and scholastic achievement 154 for minimum number of students 148 for primary/secondary schools 62 for public education 154 for scholastic skills 83, 138 for unaccredited schools 130 for welfare and ethics 154 state government, struggles with 52, 133 state system 34, 73, 99, 113, 181 Steiner education 6 Steiner school 47, 65, 100, 101, 136, 145-147, 153 Steiner, R. 2, 7, 38 Steiner’s anthroposophy 38 structural violence 26, 29 student-centered educational philosophy 32 submission of recommendations to the government 34 Sudbury Valley School (SVS) 5, 36, 47, 76, 77, 87 Summerhill education 6 Summerhill pattern 3 Summerhill School 28, 29, 76, 100, 115, 118, 129, 131, 133, 147, 142, 153, 169, 177 supervisory system 72, 73 in Denmark 106 in the Netherlands 106

SUBJECT INDEX

support form government 35, 36, 42 support mechanisms 26, 34-36, 41, 42, 88, 95, 96, 102, 105, 133, 169, 179 support organizations 7, 21, 45, 55, 58, 83, 145, 179, 18167 support-oriented attitude 157 Swiss International Management Development Institute 96 Taiwan 3, 130, 133, 135, 137, 150, 179 1944 Education Act 150 alternative education in 137 Basic law on Education 137 Tamariki School 115, 118, 152, 168 taximeter system 104, 113, 161, 171 teacher licensing 146, 149, 153 teaching staff 14, 156, 19, 32, 44, 58, 60-62, 68, 70, 87, 101, 103, 143, 144, 146, 147 right to select 60, 61 textbooks 145 Thailand 3, 5, 6, 12, 25-27, 29, 30, 3234, 67, 100, 129, 134, 135, 137, 179 alternative education 29 alternative education, building networks for 34 Children’s Village School 67, 100, 129, 179 economic growth 26, 27 National Education Act 26, 29-34, 137 National Education Act, formation of 30 National Education Commission 30, 33, 34, 137 pluralistic educational philosophy 32 recent educational policy 29 structural violence 26, 29 The Booroobin Sudbury democratic Centre of Learning (TBSDCL) 54, 55 The Netherlands 57-73, 106, 116-118, 122-124, 132, 134, 135, 142, 144146, 148-150, 153, 154, 160-173, 175 alternative schools 69, 72, 160, 178 educational administration in 58, 60, 61

SUBJECT INDEX

educational systems in 58, 63, 173 education in 58, 60, 63, 65, 67, 69 freedom of education in 60 quality control of alternative education 69 School law 59 of 1801 59 of 1920 73 school supervision 71 tradition 7-9, 12, 20, 36, 96, 100, 133, 171, 181 traditional education 1, 2, 8, 19, 55, 78, 138 in Australia 55 in Bolivia 19 in Oregon 138 reforming according to special needs 1 traditional public schools 83, 119, 123, 138, 169 traditional religious education 37, 116 traditional schools 19, 45, 65, 67, 119, 122, 124, 134 Tvind schools 107, 130, 147 types of school 62, 65, 87, 118-120, 122, 123, 152

219

United States (USA) 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 36, 47, 75-78, 85, 116, 122, 174, 175, 205, 206 alternative education in 9, 77, 83, 138 Uniting Church schools 44 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 131 University of Michigan 149 University of Oregon 77, 79, 85, 87 upper secondary education 37, 160, 162 Waldorf education 3, 6, 37, 38, 40, 72, 153, 159 principles of 37 Waldorf school 35-42, 44, 56, 67, 72, 117, 118, 143, 163, 155, 158, 159 welfare and human rights, regulations 140 wholeness 6-8 Worcester Crown Court 1981 154 working environment 143 YMCA 110 YWCA 110

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

J. Fien, D. Yencken and H. Sykes (eds.): Young People and the Environment. An Asia-Pacific Perspective. 2003 ISBN 1-4020-0944-5 M.W. Charney, B.S.A. Yeoh and T.C. Kiong (eds.): Asian Migrants and Education. The Tensions of Education in Immigrant Societies and among Migrant Groups. 2003 ISBN 1-4020-1336-1 Y.C. Cheng, K.W. Chow and M. Mok (eds.): Reform of Teacher Education in the Pacific in the New Millennium. Trends and Challenges. 2004 ISBN 1-4020-2701-X S. Alagumalai, D.D. Curtis and N. Hungi (eds.): Applied Rasch Measurement. A Book of Examplars Papers in Honour of John P. Keeves. 2004 ISBN 1-4020-3072-X C.-H. Ng and P. Renshaw (eds.): Reforming Learning. Issues, Concepts and Practices in the Asian-Pacific Region. 2005 ISBN 1-4020-3002-9 Y.C. Cheng (ed.): New Paradigm for Re-engineering Education. Globalization, Localization and Individualization. 2005 ISBN 1-4020-3619-1 W.J. Campbell, N. Baikaloff and C. Power (eds.): Towards a Global Community. Educating for Tomorrow’s World. 2006 ISBN 1-4020-3960-3 C. Bjork (ed.): Educational Decentralization. Asian Experiences and Conceptual Contributions. 2006 ISBN 1-4020-4356-2 P. Hughes (ed.): Secondary Education at the Crossroads. International Perspectives Relevant to the Asia-Pacific Region. 2006 ISBN 1-4020-4667-7 Y. Nagata (ed.): Alternative Education. Global Perspectives Relevant to the AsiaPacific Region. 2006 ISBN 1-4020-4985-4

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