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Alternative Education

Sociology: AQA GCSE, topic 3.1.4

Alternative Education

Alternative education is any type of education that differs from mainstream education. Alternative forms of education include de-schooling, homeschooling, and democratic schools, such as Summerhill.

De-schooling

De-schooling

  • This is the belief that schools should be abolished because they don’t allow all pupils to progress the same because they don’t take into account individual differences.
  • Schools as they are today only focus on ticking the boxes that are provided to them rather than focusing on the pupils, i.e. helping them explore, experiment and have flexibility.
  • The mainstream schools are seen as restrictive.
Homeschooling

Homeschooling

  • Homeschooling is when education takes place at home.
  • Parents are responsible for teaching their children.
  • There aren’t specific rules of what needs to be taught.
  • Parents don’t need to be teachers.
  • Sometimes help from tutors is offered.
Why parents choose homeschooling

Why parents choose homeschooling

  • Personal reasons:
    • e.g. prefer homeschooling as they believe that mainstream schools aren’t good enough.
  • Religious reasons:
    • e.g. they might not be able to get a place in a religious school of their choice.
  • Disabilities:
    • e.g. the child might have special educational needs and parents feel these can’t be accommodated in a school environment.
Democratic schools

Democratic schools

  • The alternative provision to mainstream schools are ‘democratic schools’.
  • They are called ‘democratic’ because their idea is that everyone should be equal, including teachers and pupils.
  • They can be found in Thailand, the States, England (Summerhill) and other places.
Democratic schools cont.

Democratic schools cont.

  • Democratic schools are also called ‘free schools’ because their philosophy is for individuals to feel free to do what they want, e.g. play, have free access to art and computers, all lessons are optional.

Test yourself on Alternative Education

  • What are the different types of alternative education?

  • What are democratic schools also known as?

  • What are a few reasons that parents choose homeschooling?

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