DERK - Democratic Education Research Kickstarter

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DERK - Democratic Education Research Kickstarter

Collection of ideas and questions that could be topics for research

(brainstorming during the EUDEC-Conference 2012; still mostly unsorted)

Recognition in schools
Which specific "skills" (or behaviours) do 'democratic education' kids develop?
Self-efficacy
"Balanced again?" What happens to children who dropped out of the traditional system and enter a democratic school? collect stroies and add new ones
"Satisfaction" with the pupils life (in the long run, e.g. less depressions, ...)
Happiness of kids and staff members
Big meta-topic: happiness in schools
Shift of focus
Importance of justice in schools
What is the goal of democratic education?
Democratic education and inklusion
"Aims" of schooling --> comparative studies
social facilities
How do we treat the "weakest" in our community?
Sourroundings which lessen the chance of people becoming outsiders
What can democratic education children teach us about the "culture/nature" of kids in general?
How is democratic education working regarding the age of the pupils?
Children with "special needs" (behaviour, learning, speaking, ...)
Democratic education/schools as a new research field for other scientific fields that deal with e.g. child development, first-language acqusition (as a chance to challenge/revise their findings)
Does it work?
is it possible to have democratic education in a traditional school? a case study
Critic of PISA
Financial comparison, how money is wasted (reasearch and function)
research with the input variable "coertion"
What does it mean to be a child, what does it mean to be a grown-up in a democratic school?
Relationship between children and adults
Relationship between children and children
Inter-personal conflict-resolution in a democratic school
Problems in school and solutions
Is democratic education good for every child? (Are there examples for “unsuccessful” pupils and why were they unsuccessful? How to improve...)
Do we have methods to avoid “dominating behavior” in our school life / decision making process?
Argumentative processes in a democratic school assembly
Democratic decision-making processes
Collection / documentation of the variety of individual learning and developing paths (Personal stories)
What surroundings help/support people to find their passions
Financial / entrepreneurial activities of democratic schools
How about democratic education on university level?
Material pedagógico y el desarrollo de la creatividad en ninos de 4 de 5 anos (idea a investigar)
Architecture for / of democratic education
What are the minimum material facilities in order to make democratic schools function?
Do we create a fear of failure? How to avoid it?
A “dry” statistic research about the graduated pupils of democratic schools (graduating test results, percentage, other valuable criteria)
Success in going to the chosen universities
What do ex-pupils of democratic schools do some years after finishing? Are there some who could not be “integrated” in “normal” society? (Out of the point of view of “conservative” people)
What are alumni doing in their future jobs? Are they employees? Are they entrepreneurs? Leaders? etc. Is the number different in comparison to state-school alumni?
What is the positive impact for pupils further professional way/life?
More case studies: Life after attending a democratic school
How do teachers decide what to teach in science, maths and language?
Balance between what's necessary to keep the school functioning (rules, functions) and individual/group developing
Compare grades of exams taken by democratic students with pupils from state schools means of assessing “success”
Some form of comparative study with children in traditional education (similar socio-background)
How “successful” are democratic pupils in life? (- personal view? - Societal view?)
How is the effect of democratic education on the circumstances of the teachers work? (compared to regular schools)
How effective is teaching
How stressful/unhealthy is work?
How much do teachers identify with their work?
Evaluation and self-evaluation of staff members
Is a teacher training program necessary?
Child researchers
Research with children
Democratic methodology (in research)
Ethical guidelines for research in democratic schools (not a reasearch-topic, but something that we need to discuss)
Continuity and ability to cope with challenges in learning processes at democratic schools
“World atlas” of democratic education
Documentation of various democratic schools (ethnographic research)
Opportunities to travel compared to state schools
How is the school connected with the “world around”
Opportunities to use what they are learning in school in reality at the time of learning
Different ways of working/learning in democratic schools
In-depth study of democratic education experiences so far
Structured overview of what research was carried out so far
es posible constituir una red de investigadores de educacion democratica (is it possible to create a network of researchers of democratic education)
History of democratic (free) education
What would democratic education as “mainstream” education be like?
Is democratic education as mainstream education an utopia?
Is democratic education applicable as “mainstream” form of education
What meaning will knowledge have in a society based on democratic education (no defined repertoire of common knowledge)
(why) choosing democratic education?
(are there/what are) the limits of democratic education
Do pupils of democratic schools “send” their children to d.s. As well? → next generation?
Cooperation with parents
Immersion into communities
Role of (surrounding) community
Role of parents

Ideas that came after the Conference (not sure whether it is neccessary to seperate them)

What is a Sudbury School

Our workplan

Transcript of the two planning sessions at EUDEC2012 for a concrete plan towards improved research in democratic eduation
(word by word, as written on the blackboard; in the order we worked on the sections)

1. our Vision - in 10 years (by 2022)

democratic uni established
some universities and research centers have dem.ed. as expertise
EUDEC functions as a knowledge pool (database) for all collected research + with very good abstracts, indexes ...
founded one or more institutes for dem.ed. (like IDE and better)
dem.ed. research becomes mainstream
found a way to make research helpful for daily life
new tools and vocabulary have been established
broadcast the practice (beyond anecdotes)
communication with other disciplines
dem.ed. has a place in teacher training
dem.ed. is standard
ministers and companies contacted

2. in 2 years (by August 2014)

researchers from outside visit the EUDEC conference
group working on starting an institute
coop with first few universities
system for documentation and dissemination is established
at least 1 bigger research team active already
vocabulary + tools proposed + being actively improved
ways of measuring + evaluating found
translations (from hebrew)
many people doing 'smaller' studies
group of editors
publishers contacted
research by school students
+ more...

3. now

enthusiasm
lot of experience + knowledge
we are forced to do research
Wikipedia article is deplorable
past community research efforts have 'fizzled out' quickly
more and more interest from outside
chapters and articles in different books
looking for open source cooperation

5. our strengths

enthusiasm, strong motivation
great network
variety of expertise
cultural diversity
'new' attractive topics
many examples of good practice
creativity
age diversity
humanity
relatively ressourceful
we do what we believe in

6. next 6 months (by February 2013)

Wikipedia improved and translated
many new partnerships established
big list of people to contact
internal communication structure established
funding plans looked into
live meeting happening
most of existing research collected
translations from hebrew started
research group in the making

7. in 2 months (by October 2012)

start/think about involving children in the research
plans + info put online for everybody to contribute
Wikipedia article being worked on by many
readymade list of people to contact
bi-monthly online meetings
list of contacts (active) for EUDEC2013
contacted IDE, IDEA etc. asking to share info
list of people to work on translation and found funding for it
first abstract drafts written
Chloe => Renate Eras => fundraising
discussion about vocabulary started

8. next steps

✔ mailinglist established (Niklas)
contact people for translations from Hebrew? (Sabine)
started on Wikipedia (David)
work on coordinating group (Niklas)
translate to french (Elsa)
contact more partners (Monika, Christel)
look into founding of dem.ed.uni. (Barbara)
contact IDE, IDEA etc. (Niklas, Ina)
fundraising (Irene) => workshop + feedback
start discussion about vocabulary (Peter)
make plan how to involve children early on (Adrien)

Online communication tools

elluminate live: http://www.elluminate.com youtube tutorial
others in compariso: wiki
BigBlueButton
Openmeetings

Fundraising issue

up to now no one thought about found raising for research
the council and the found raising group is informed on this need and they will ask advise to find money for this issue
if they find money they need a specific research topic so they ask us to work on it

Partners of EUDEC

Partners of EUDEC (Members of Eudec are in contact)

Professor Dr. Ulrich Klemm (social science faculty of Augsburg. He will carry out the scientific monitoring of the Sudbury school in Munich)
Peter Gray, PH, D., is a research professor of psychology at Boston College. Supported Sudbury Valley School.
Tanja Pütz, she carried out the scientific menitoring of the New School in Hamburg.
IDE, IDEA

Potential Partners

Professor Christina Schenz (University Passau, Germany) (Monika Wernz gonna meet her)
Gerald Hüther (brain researcher, Germany)

Scientific journals

The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning This journal seeks to bring together an international community of scholars exploring the topic of unschooling and alternative learning, which espouses learner centered democratic approaches to learning. JUAL is also a space to reveal the limitations of mainstream schooling. (from their hp)

Other Education