The Historical Development of Dutch Democratic Education: Questioning the Freedom of Education in the Netherlands
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The Historical Development of Dutch Democratic Education: Questioning the Freedom of Education in the Netherlands By Yuan Jiao Harmsen CAPSTONE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A MAJOR AND DEGREE IN HUMAN DIVERSITY BACHELORS OF ARTS LEIDEN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE THE HAGUE UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN May 2015 1 Abstract This thesis examines the roots and development of Dutch Democratic Education, which covers the period from the first Dutch democratic school Tresore founded in 1998 till the Dutch democratic schools currently existing. The few works that published on the history of Dutch democratic education have merely focused on a specific aspect on its development. As such, a general overview on the roots and development of democratic education has been absent from the literature. This thesis will provide an account of how Dutch democratic schools have evolved quite separately from the older practices of democratic education abroad including the Sudbury Valley School founded in 1968. Moreover, it will show the rocky development of Dutch Democratic Schools characterized by the difficult relation with the Dutch Education inspection. The first section will clarify what democratic education is about and its broader development. The following section will review the literature existing on the Sudbury Valley School and Dutch Democratic education. The third section will analyse the history of Dutch Democratic education by focussing on democratic schools that subsequently played a crucial role in the development of democratic education in the Netherlands. This thesis shows the initial difficulty of Dutch democratic schools to get rooted in Dutch and progressive soil as it experienced much resistance from the Dutch society, including politicians and government. More importantly, it discusses how the government control of the Dutch education system has limited the Democratic school’s right to the freedom of pedagogy as enshrined in Dutch constitution. The most significant contribution of this historical narrative is the insight on how the concept of democratic education got lost in the conversion to the inspection’s core curriculum, which appears to underline the inspections initial resistance. Therefore, the Dutch democratic schools have evoked much controversy which contributed to the wider public debate on the Dutch societies conception of education and the freedom that lies herein. 2 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for my supervisor Dr. Ann Wilson Ann for the great support and the listing ear she has provided. A second word of thanks goes to Jaqueline Hylkema, who has organized inspiring and helpful capstone support meetings. Thirdly, I would like to thank my friends for the many capstone study sessions we had together, especially Eveline who has been willing to proof read my thesis. Finally, I would like to thank all the interviewees from the following schools for enlighten me about their experience with Dutch Democratic Education. Aventurijn, De Buitenplaats, Guus Kieft School, Iederijs Lopik, Life, Lumiar, De Ruimte, Sudbury Valley School Hardewijk, and Vivere. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 I. Thinking about Democratic Education ................................................................................... 7 II. Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 10 I. Review of the Literature on the Sudbury Valley School ................................................. 11 II. sReview on the Literature of Dutch Democratic Education ............................................ 15 III. Concluding Remarks on the Literature Review ............................................................. 16 III. The Historical Development of Dutch Democratic Education .......................................... 17 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter I. The Conceptual Roots of the Tresore ................................................................. 20 Chapter II. Tresore, the Beginning of Dutch Demcoratic Schools ...................................... 24 Chapter III. The Rise and Fall of Iederwijs .......................................................................... 28 Chapter IV. De Ruimte, Crafting a Space to Exist ............................................................... 35 Chapter V. Dutch Sudbury Model Schools .......................................................................... 39 Chapter VI. Dutch Democratic Schools anno 2008 ............................................................. 42 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 45 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix 1 Overview of Iederwijs Schools and Initiatives ..................................................... 52 Appendix 2 Chronological Overview of Existing Democratic Schools in the Netherlands .... 53 4 Introduction Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 91 ‘Most children are really good in figuring things out for themselves’ observes Fenna, a 12 year old student at the democratic school De Ruimte, located in Soest, The Netherlands.2 Indeed, her classmate, a kid named Boy, aged 15, taught himself reading, writing and calculation.3 ‘I love clocks, every Friday I check the clocks, together with [my friend] Xavier,’ said the 7 year old Dante.4 The practice of giving children such responsibility for their own learning process is not unique to De Ruimte, but is an important aspect of democratic schools, an educational movement that entails democratically structured schools and began in 2007 / 2008 and now includes 286 schools around the world, including the Netherlands.5 People who study these schools usually associate them with the British and American forerunners including Summerhill (founded 1926) and the Sudbury Valley School (founded in 1968).6 While quite a lot of scholarly attention has been devoted to these American and British schools, little is known about the history of democratic schools in the Netherlands. In the absence of an extensive general historical account of Dutch democratic schools, this thesis offers a history of the roots and evolution of democratic schools in the Netherlands. As such it will trace the roots of the current Dutch democratic schools, which are still growing in size and in number. As I will show, these roots are quite separate from those of the older democratic education practices such as Summerhill and Sudbury Valley School, despite the common assumption that these schools, in particular the Sudbury Valley School, influenced the 1 Gibran, “The Prophet.” 9. 2 Bergmans et al., Van Verveling Tot Vervulling: Democratische School De Ruimte in 110 Verhalen. 55. 3 Ibid. 25. 4 Ibid. 40. 5 Peter Foti, mail correspondence with the Author, May 18, 2017. 6 EUDEC, “European Democratic Education Community | History.” 5 development of Dutch democratic Schools. Additionally, this thesis will show that evolution of democratic schools has been rocky. I will pay particular attention to the tension between the democratic school’s right to practice their pedagogy and the government’s desire to control the education system. Despite the importance of freedom of education in the Netherlands, the government’s assessment criteria for ensuring the quality of education places limitations on the freedom of education. Furthermore, the education inspections carried out by the Dutch ministry of Education has difficulty in aligning the philosophy of Dutch democratic schools with the official Dutch core curriculum. As the inspectors initially experienced the pedagogical approach as incomprehensible, they tried to close these schools through legal proceedings. After each court case it becomes more visible that the democratic education concept got lost in the conversion to the inspection’s core curriculum. Throughout the court cases the concept of democratic education became better understood by the official education inspectors. This thesis contributes to the history of the development of the concept of the child and education practises, in specific the history of Dutch democratic education. By exploring the broader narrative of Dutch democratic schools, it fills the gap on this account. It engages with the question of how to educate, and illuminates on how government policies and practises shape the evolution of the national school system. The thesis will proceed as follows. First, I will provide an overview of what democratic schools are and how they developed internationally. Next, I will review