We speak with Dr. Linda F. Nathan and Jonathan Mendonca, two co-editors of the recently published book, "Building Democratic Schools and Learning Environments: A Global Perspective," an anthology of accounts of creating innovative schools around the world. We discuss autonomy vs large-scale uniformity, issues of scaling innovations, and defining success. The book, intentionally available free online, includes both existing schools and concepts of possible schools.
Overview
00:00-00:59 Intros
00:59-02:48 Building democratic schools and learning environments
02:48-07:02 How the book came to be written
07:02-08:00 “Many ways” that schools can prepare students for democracy
08:00-11:32 The four pillars of democratic education
11:32-14:12 The “common good”
14:12-16:13 Barefoot EDU (Unifly Collective) and Shikha Institute of Education
16:13-20:58 Jonathan Mendonca’s vision of scale and reactions to it
20:58-23:32 Resolution of whether to teach in English or mother tongue in school in Madhya Pradesh
23:32-28:10 Managing tensions between autonomy and large-scale administration in U.S. schools, and examples
28:10-29:15 Sharing innovations
29:15-33:34 Building ability to meet students’ needs into systems: equity vs equality
33:34-37:16 Catalyzing large scale professional development for pre-school teachers in Haryana State
37:16-39:08 Looking at success for the next generation
39:08-41:46 Teaching students to nurture the planet
41:46- Outro
Transcript
Click here to see the full transcript of this episode.
References
Soundtrack by Poddington Bear
Student activists Coco Rhum and Hebh Jamal describe what real integration of NYC schools would look like and how to achieve it. Bringing sharp...
Cynthia Trapanese, a teacher who spent 17 years as a pediatric chaplain, observes that we are all grieving right now, and that adults need...
Zahava Stadler, Policy Director of EdBuild, explains how housing discrimination and state funding policies disadvantage Black and low-income districts. EdBuild has reported on funding...
