The disappearance of traditional subjects, the motivation of the child, the development of their creativity or escape from memorial learning are some of the common points of these alternative educational options, increasingly present and more in demand in our environment, although they are still a minority compared to the predominant possibilities.
In Spain, the main types of alternative school are those that follow philosophies such as Waldorf or Montessori, the constructivists (based on educational projects), the democratic, the parenting groups and the day mothers. Let's see what options do you have if you want a different school for your children.
According to the Ludus.org alternative education directory, there are more than 600 free schools in Spain, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, Amara Berri, learning communities, democratic schools, active, public, private and self-managed schools, for all ages.
In these schools and ways of educating:
- children's rhythms are respected
- you educate yourself for life, not just for a future job and therefore the humanities, artistic teachings are taken into account ...
- mistakes are seen as part of learning
- creativity is not restricted or the child is stimulated early
- Experiment with the environment, the game is enhanced
- it teaches to collaborate instead of competing
- you learn in contact with nature, with the external environment
- families are involved in the school education process
As we can see, these are premises that, fortunately, are increasingly present in families and in the "traditional" public school, thanks to the demands of parents and thanks to teachers and professors increasingly interested and trained in the Alternative pedagogies, aware of their importance.
But in the models discussed below, a very specific route line is followed by following a particular pedagogy (or several points of several of them: sometimes it is difficult to differentiate) and educators should be trained specifically to carry it out. There are alternative methods to traditional school and we must know them in order to choose a school or other educational model.
Free Schools
Most of the new initiatives are called "free schools." They do not ascribe to a single pedagogy, but take things from one and the other, offering a different way to the traditional way of receiving education. What they have in common is non-directivism (not directing the child's learning process), the student is the central figure, respect for the rhythms, evolution and interests of children, freedom and decision-making together with responsibility.
Almost all free schools are very marked by the work of pedagogue Rebeca Wild, creator along with her husband of Wild pedagogy. In this alternative education model, the interaction between students and their environment plays a fundamental role. The child has the necessary tools to perceive the world, interpret it and make its own decisions. Thus he develops roles, abilities and skills through curiosity and experimentation.
Therefore, we are facing a significant and autonomous learning, where creativity is essential. The teacher has an accompanying role to the child, provides the most appropriate cognitive and emotional resources and stimuli. The child's natural evolutionary needs and emotions are valued above all, allowing content and rhythm to be decided much more than in other models. The principles of this school are freedom and respect.
The free school offers corners, workshops and group or individual projects, combines individual work, in small and large groups, and children acquire a commitment and responsibility if they wish to be involved in the proposed activity. In addition, it works with direct democracy and assembly.
Alternative education: Waldorf schools
The Waldorf pedagogy was founded in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner and since then hundreds of schools have emerged that follow this methodology worldwide. The fundamental idea is that teaching must respect and support the child's physiological, psychic and spiritual development and to achieve a good intellectual development there must be a solid emotional base.
Waldorf schools do not have exams, textbooks, or homework. Own teaching materials are used and family participation is important. The objective they pursue is to give priority to the motivation of the students, so the groups are smaller than those we often find in the traditional public school.
The basis of the Waldorf teaching in the first stage is the game and the creation of solid emotional pillars. Children do not learn to read and write until age seven.
In Spain this pedagogy was known from 1975 when a group of parents and teachers prepared the first Waldorf kindergarten and opened it in 1979, in Las Rozas (Madrid). Currently, in Spain there are around 30 associated schools in the Association of Waldorf Educational Centers in Spain. In addition, there are "friendly initiatives" that approach the philosophy of Waldorf pedagogy, mothers by day, free schools ...
Montessori Schools
The schools that teach with the Montessori method are a "classic" since they have their origin in the twentieth century thanks to the impulse of Dr. Montessori, who had training in different fields (medicine, psychology, pedagogy, biology, psychiatry, philosophy and anthropology), which gave him a global vision to create his method based on real observations of children's behaviors.
Motessori schools are based on principles that are increasingly used today, based on fostering the child's curiosity, promoting the "sponge effect" of the child's mind, developing an environment conducive to learning, promoting the child's autonomy and give him freedom to learn, learn from nature ...
In the Montessori Education method the student is the protagonist of education and there are no subjects as such, but the classrooms are usually divided into areas of learning referred to language, mathematics, practical life (caring for oneself, the environment, concentration, independence ...), sensory life (training of the senses) and cultural or art aspects.
Each area has specially designed materials so that students can freely and independently manipulate them in order to satisfy their curiosity and learn through observation and practice.The classroom is conceived as a wide, clear space that invites tranquility ... The classroom also has a space that encourages reading, relaxation, reflection, concentration and silence, allowing children to be calm, rest or concentrate when they need it.
The teacher is a "guide" or director of learning, which enhances the child's autonomy, respects his rhythms and creates situations conducive to learning. These schools are committed to multilingual education and the organization of individual and group work. And, together with individual work, collaboration, sharing and working in groups are also especially encouraged.
Alternative education: democratic schools
The main characteristic of this type of schools is that the participation of students and educators is free and equal. This is done by making joint decisions by all participants regarding the daily organization of the school and learning.
In the background, this philosophy is sustained by respect for children, recognizing them as individuals capable of making decisions and actively participating in their educational process. Students are protagonists of their learning processes.
The main reference of these schools is Sumerhill in England, which for a century promotes an education focused on the pursuit of happiness, without hierarchies. These are the most significant aspects of the democratic school:
Democracy is a goal and method of instruction.
Democratic schools make a commitment to inclusion, creating the conditions that guarantee school success for all students.
There is no compulsory preset curriculum, but it emphasizes learning as a result of voluntary activity, the exchange of ideas is encouraged ... Older students can be tutors of the youngest.
It is usual to work for projects.
There are no grades or exams.
The environment offers unparalleled educational opportunities, so they are centers open to it (outdoor classes, excursions, visits abroad ...).
The game is not restricted, they can play whatever they want (also electronic games) and whenever they want.
The negotiation of teaching methods and the relativization of curricular contents are achieved by the negotiated resolution of conflicts.
Teachers, students and parents participate in the control and management of the centers.
Currently in Spain there are many colleges and institutes (mostly public) that are democratic or that include many premises of this philosophy in its operation.
Constructivist schools or project education
Constructivism is a pedagogical trend that defends the need to provide students with tools that allow them to build their own procedures to solve a problematic situation, which means that their ideas are modified and continue to learn. The teaching process is dynamic, participatory and interactive.
This model, which follows the postulates of Jean Piaget, is better known as project education, in which the role of the teacher is a facilitator, research, teamwork and the students' exposition of their discoveries and conclusions are promoted.
Recently we talked about how it is taught in a school without textbooks and projects are an increasingly widespread option, especially in the Early Childhood Education stage and in all types of schools (public, concerted ...). A project is an area of interest around which all or most of the content, procedures and attitudes that you want to develop in a cycle, a course or a part of it revolve.
The projects have to connect the teaching and the cognitive concerns of the students (the topic is usually chosen democratically) and also involves the families, who have to collaborate in the learning of the children contributing to their work, research, experimentation ...
In my daughters' school we are used to working on projects and the themes chosen have been the most varied: from motorcycles to the Universe, from painters to the Middle Ages, from Peppa Pig to the sea.
Any topic is valid for touching and learning in the different traditional "areas" and creativity, experimentation, work and group research is very important.Amara Berri system
The Amara Berri system is committed to research, experimentation and innovation in education. Bet on the development of competencies through experimentation and global projects in schools. Also for promoting the development processes of each student, achieving their autonomy, respecting their rhythms and without dividing them into subjects as in the traditional system.
It is also based on the use of the game and the imitation of the adult world, enhancing the ability to create or invent and socialization. For example, the recreation of a neighborhood street, where students adopt certain roles, with their stores and other spaces, can be used to work mathematics, language, social sciences ...
These centers mix ages and allow each student to work at their own pace and level. The schools that apply the Amara Berri pedagogical system are mainly in Euskadi, although there are already some centers also in Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Cantabria.
Parenting Groups
These groups arise on the initiative of mothers and fathers not satisfied with the conventional nurseries and convinced that, as the African proverb points out, “To educate a child, the whole tribe is needed”. Related families (mutual support networks or "tribes") come together in a common space and all alternate and collaborate in the care of children, especially up to three years.
Children are accompanied from love and respect for their needs, creating a more familiar environment than in daycare centers. An example of this type of education is quite minority in "The forest of conch shells" (Poblenou, Barcelona).
Mothers day
Day mothers are an alternative to nursery school. They are professionals who care for children in their homes, in small groups (three or four children maximum) and with homes adapted to child care. It is an option that is growing a lot in recent years, especially up to three years of life .
There are many postulates of alternative education seen above, for example there is an association called Mothers of Waldford Day:
The Mothers Day project is a resource for reconciling work and family life, it is a social alternative to traditional nurseries or nursery schools, more adapted to the true educational and emotional needs of the 0-3 year old child. We find again in the healthy home environment created by a maternal figure with 3 or 4 children maximum, a powerful source of health that provides the child of 0-3 years of the necessary strength to perform in the future as being creative and committed to the society. In order for the child to stand before others with confidence, creativity and dedication, he must have been treated in the first phase of life in an absolutely individualized way, with an intimate and protective contact, where his experience is impregnated with the quality Of unconditional love
For its part, the Mothers Day Network, which also brings these professionals together in Spain, points out that in order to access their network, mothers need at the level of qualification Infant teaching (FP or degree), pedagogy, psychology, in addition to the official title of food handler and first aid.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty of this type of education is that it is not legally regulated in most of Esapaña (in Navarra, on the contrary it has been since 2003 and in Madrid since 2015), although more and more communities are thinking to regulate it and be an increasingly demanded and extended system.
Forest schools, schools in nature or outdoors
In Denmark, these innovative educational projects emerged in the 50s of the 20th century and are gradually spreading. However, this novel way of teaching has its roots in our ancestors. And it is that learning outdoors is as old as humanity itself, rooted in nature long before any type of building existed.
Over the years, schools in nature or nursery schools in the forest (the nomenclature varies throughout the world) also spread throughout Germany (they are official and there are now more than 1000 schools of this type), Norway, Great Brittany, Switzerland ... and has examples in America, Asia ...
In this model, the classroom is our natural environment, you learn in contact with nature taking advantage of all its educational resources. The curriculum is offered by the countryside, the forest, a river, a beach ...And is that learning in nature also contributes to curricular and interdisciplinary learning and to the intellectual, physical, emotional, personal and social development of the child.
In Spain, in the nineteenth century Francisco Giner de los Ríos pointed out that "the ideal of every school is to approach the outdoors as much as possible." Some schools of this type began to emerge that conceive education as an active exchange of learning born from an interest and motivation of the child in contact with nature. It is a pedagogy that works from curiosity, creativity and imagination.
The teacher proposes lessons, the student actively participates in the whole process thanks to a series of tasks or activities that arouse their interest, related to what happens in their family, social and natural environment. The forest schools model bets on free play, offering different projects as a way of learning, guided activities of free participation (according to pedagogical objectives), excursions and visits ...
In Spain there is a group of game in nature that works as a forest school, Grasshopper, for four courses in Collado (Madrid). There are also two more in Valencia and Mallorca. In September, it will open the first nursery school approved by the public administration in Cerceda. Most of these projects are committed to free play as a learning tool in the children's stage. The new Cerceda forest school will also introduce the official curriculum.
In 2011, the first Forest School of the 21st century, the Grasshopper Nature Play Group, was born in Madrid, and it is approximately 2014 when this movement resurfaces again, opening in 2015 the first approved center in the Community of Madrid , Forest School. Currently there are about 15 such proposals in Spain (Mallorca, Tenerife, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia ...).
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | What is Waldorf pedagogy: interview with Christopher Clouder, Alternative to nursery school and its conventionalism: mothers by day and personalized attention, how many people are involved in the education and upbringing of our children, what do we understand by raising a tribe?
