The Netherlands: Sudbury, Agora and old philosophers

 Reading time: 5 minutes

 

 

 

We have arrived in the South of France where the institute is located, that Petra Schlos had recommended to me. Cato had made up my bundle during the trip and to my horror, google maps doesn't work than anymore. Of course it does not! Stupid!

 

It was quite a challenge to find the village where we had booked our accommodation. I was forced to activate the outdated navigator of the van. At a certain moment, it sent me into a random (beautiful) village (but by now I had sweat on my forehead) into an alley with a 45-degree gradient. The alley became narrower and narrower and when I really couldn't turn around anymore, suddenly there was the sign 'dead end'. Fortunately, only the tarmac ended and we could save ourselves via a sand path through the meadow. It was exhilarating to say the least.

 

Cato soon had enough of the winding roads and my anxious grumbling. She laid down on the back seat and said: 'Wake me when you have found it.’

 

Eventually, I found the village where we needed to be. Our hostess Marguerite came to fetch us by moped because all the houses here are at some distance from the road. You have to know which path to take.

 

We are now staying in the most beautiful cottage one can wish for. We have a lovely garden full of flowers to enjoy, which is bordered by a ditch where Cato immediately caught a frog. Marguerite took this beautiful photo of Cato. My husband Pieter, who is currently at sea, 'exclaimed' on Whatsapp: 'How relaxed she looks!' 

 

Yes, Cato is relaxing. Her cheerfulness is back. With Cato, things always make sense when we are in such a relaxed atmosphere. A few days ago in Lyon, in a lovely Bazar, with a lot of seriously environmentally unfriendly gadgets, she bought a plastic water lily. When she had caught the frog, the water lily appeared as if by magic. As if it had been thought up beforehand. But it wasn't.

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom, it is our greatest good. That counts also for frogs. He regained his freedom.

 

Netherlands: Sudbury schools, Agora education and ancient philosophers

 

‘When children play, they are actually at work'.

 

The founders of Agora education were inspired by the Sudbury-Valley school founded in 1968 in Sudbury Valley, Framingham, USA.

 

At the time, 54 years ago, it was an initiative of Mike and Mimsy Sadofsky. For their innovative ideas, they cited Aristotle, who said that people are by nature curious. It strikes me that when people have innovative ideas for education, someone from a very long time ago is always brought in to favour it. I do it myself, by the way. Rousseau, who I believe to be a very unpleasant man, is quoted all the time.

But why? Why do people do that? Why is the common sense of the modern man not enough to successfully argue for a humane society and child-respecting education?

 

The Sadofskys had no faith in schools because the child has no freedom to choose. You have to do what you are told. A child must be able to play and explore, to satisfy its curiosity, they said. Well, who doesn't think so too? Let me also quote someone from the old box. What did Maria Montessori say about play in 1900?

‘When children play, they are actually at work.’

 

The Sadofskys explained it again. Playing is a serious matter. When children play they concentrate. Don't disturb them. That is how they learn to focus. Let them make mistakes, they will learn to correct themselves. This is also Montessori wisdom that was adopted by the Sadofskys. Or maybe they invented it again. Because the Sadofskys and Maria Montessori are all just people with human ideas and truths that are as old as time.

 

In the end, these opinions are not so sensational. Except that Montessori lived at a time when most children begged for their food barefoot in the streets and did not go to school at all. But the innovative spirit of those days and the modern industry that was in need of skilled labour would change all that in the twentieth century. All children to school! Nice new education!

No, not that. Not anymore that is. It may have been there for a while, at the start. But nowadays business at school is back to ‘normal’. Montessori education is allowed, as long as the goals are achieved in pace. The freedom and the ability to investigate on one's own, teachers who are allowed to observe and learn from children; well, it's all long gone. Knowledge is put into heads within a pre-agreed time frame and that is the end of it.

 

In 1968, Mike and Mimsy Sadofsky felt called upon to reinvent the whole concept of curiosity and education. From 2007 onwards, Sudbury (primary) schools in the Netherlands started to make the same plea.

 

At the Sudbury school, the starting point of learning is the child's own responsibility. Nothing is actively offered, no must. Children learn from the activities they start themselves. The school offers a warm environment, a warm community. There are adults who act as role models. But the child, of whatever age, is equal as a human being to the people who set the example. Respect for each other is therefore a basic principle.

 

There are no tests or examinations at a Sudbury school. Human beings develop on the basis of their own curiosity and thus reach an intellectual level.

 

Could it be that in such a school a child with autism can just be? Just imagine it. How would that be? Just close your eyes and dream for a moment.

 

How is this regulated by law? The state-funded schools in the Netherlands have an examination route. The objectives of such schools are laid down by law.

It is possible to start a school without an examination route. In that case the parents themselves have to pay the salaries and other costs. However, such a school is subject to supervision by the inspectorate. After all: a child subject to compulsory education has to go to school. If parents choose a private school without an examination route (B3 schools), the school must be able to demonstrate that a level is achieved that matches the child (and its age). That makes it a bit of Russian roulette.

 

It says in the 2017 Development Framework for Unfunded Further Education:

Research Criterion 7:

‘Pupils' developmental outcomes are at least at the level that might be expected.’

 

The development of a child with autism cannot be predicted. That is the main reason why these children are not welcome in mainstream schools. And who would blame them?

 

(https://www.onderwijsinspectie.nl/onderwijssectoren/particulier-onderwijs/soorten-particulier-onderwijs/b3-scholen)

 

 

In 2013, a number of school leaders and teachers in the Netherlands, with an enormous amount of energy and perseverance (our education inspectorate keeps a close eye on it!), develop Agora (secondary) education. Because a child learns from curiosity. The website of the association of Agora education opens with Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. In addition, contemporary people with knowledge are also consulted. On the informative website of the association of Agora education, you can find the reports of professors of the Open University of Heerlen, who have guided the project from the start. The Agora school is loosely derived from the Sudbury idea, but has an examination route and therefore state funding. A high exam result is important for government recognition and a favourable inspection.

 

www.verenigingagoraonderwijs.nl/

 

What do I take away from this research?

 

Aristotle said 2300 years ago that people learn from curiosity. For 2300 years, until today, no other wisdom has replaced this.

 

It is theoretically possible to set up a school in the Netherlands without an examination route.

 

 

Next time: A visit to the VVA in Ghent