Summerhill

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Summerhill
SummerhillSchool.jpg
Summerhill
type of school Boarding school , democratic school
founding 1921
county SuffolkTemplate: Infobox School / Maintenance / ISO 2 !
Country United Kingdom
student 75
management Zoe Readhead
Website www.summerhillschool.co.uk

Summerhill is a reform education school in Leiston ( Suffolk , England ) and is considered one of the oldest democratic schools in the world. A. S. Neill founded it in 1921.

main features

Neill's ideas about school include a. based on his role model Homer Lane . Currently around 75 children and young people from different nations between the ages of 5 and 17 are growing up in the boarding school. After the founder's death in 1973, his wife Ena and, from 1985, their daughter Zoë Neill Readhead took over the management of the school. Summerhill is a member of the European Democratic Education Community . Neill identified three main characteristics of Summerhill:

  • "Self-government", translated by Kamp as (student) self-government
There was a "school community" in which the children and teachers regulated important questions of everyday school life on an equal footing.
  • voluntary class attendance
  • Workshops for the students

The children were thus given a lot of freedom, but they were not free from rules. The principle was free upbringing and not free from upbringing , as it was misinterpreted in the 1960s during the student movement in Germany. AS Neill himself never used the term anti-authoritarian education , which was used in the German title of one of his books. Neill describes his pedagogical practice as self-regulative upbringing .

Neill wanted to enable the children to live their own life, not what authorities like parents or educators dictate: The function of the child is to live his own life - not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educator who thinks he knows best.

Voluntary classes

In contrast to traditional schools, the focus in Summerhill is on the freedom of the students. Participation in classes in Summerhill is voluntary. Neill assumed that children want to learn and are then hardworking. Since only interested students take part in the lesson, it is more effective. The learning environment is more pleasant. In the German translation of Matthew Appleton's “Summerhill - giving children back their childhood” , this form of learning is referred to as self-regulatory learning .

Students who come from a traditional school usually use the opportunity not to have to go to class in the early days. It can take several months to overcome this phase - depending on the quality and quantity of negative previous experiences.

There is no strict division into class levels according to the age of the students: there is a group for the up to 10 year olds, one for the 10 to 12 year olds and thematic courses for the older students.

Rules and duties in Summerhill

Even if the students in Summerhill have extensive freedom, Summerhill is not a “school without rules”. There are over 200 rules, but these rules are decided and also abolished by the general assembly of the school, in which the children clearly have a majority. The only exceptions are rules that had to be issued on the basis of statutory provisions, e.g. B. Using the swimming pool, climbing the roof. In addition, there are no rules that are not established or even abolished by the children themselves. This ensures that the educators do not have more rights than the children when drawing up the rules.

Maintaining order

In order to guarantee a regular school day, there is a kind of separation of powers on a democratic basis in Summerhill . There are four organs : the committee, the ombudspersons, the tribunal and the general meeting.

General meeting

The General Meeting ( school assembly ) is a legislative body. The rules for Summerhill are decided there every Saturday. Each participant has one vote and all decisions are made as majority decisions. Since the students form the majority, they can outvote the educators.

Only in the areas of health, safety and administration does the management alone have decision-making power, such as B. when hiring a new teacher or when setting school fees. Even the strict ban on alcohol for all students cannot be changed by the students.

tribunal

The tribunal is a judicial body and takes place every Friday with the participation of all children and educators. The problems are discussed under the chairmanship of a neutral volunteer from this group. Not only are problems between students negotiated, but also problems between students and teachers. In the event of rule violations, teachers can be brought before the tribunal just like students.

The consequences are finally decided by majority vote. Each participant has one vote; Here, too, the pupils can outvote the educators. Typical punishments of the tribunal are washing the dishes or helping out in the theater group.

Ombudsperson

The ombudspersons are responsible for everyday problems such as brawls . These are students who are elected for 14 days and act as law enforcement officers or referees. If a person concerned does not agree with the ombudsperson's decision, he can bring the problem to the tribunal.

Student supervision

Older students provide sleep supervision, the "Beddie Officers". They check the bedrooms at night and make sure that the students are in their rooms at the prescribed time or that they turn off the lights. You can send students to bed without those affected being able to defend themselves directly. However, it is possible to submit a complaint to the tribunal.

The rules of night rest are decided by the children themselves. Occasionally these rules are also abolished so that everyone can stay up as long as they want. Of course, those who then feel disturbed can again propose rules in the meeting that apply when the majority decides on them.

In practice

None of the functions presented, such as chairing the meeting or the tribunal, is in any way remunerated or associated with privileges. Every student and teacher has the opportunity to lodge a complaint against participants in the tribunal or meeting or to ask for a dismissal from office. This ensures that offices cannot be abused.

The years since 1921 at Summerhill have shown that there are different phases. It happens that new regulations are constantly being decided in the meeting for a year or two, which is a relatively authoritarian phase. After a few years, the students find it again too authoritarian and in some cases all the rules are lifted. This is then an anarchist phase. The older students are also able to behave well in this phase. The younger students, however, often do not yet know the limits of togetherness and soon ask for rules again. New rules are gradually being passed and Summerhill is becoming more authoritarian again.

Problem students

If a student behaves in a disruptive manner, this behavior is often not viewed as negative and is punished, but a "day of attention" is declared for that student. On this day everyone in Summerhill is called upon to take special care of this one student and to help him wherever possible.

Neill used to schedule so-called "private lessons". But he has deviated from that and now the community regulates such things. This is very sensitive and finds good solutions - e.g. B. someone who illegally uses bicycles is given a bicycle. Law and order demands after tough crackdown are not observed.

But there are also rare cases in which Summerhill children or their parents are also faced with the decision to either join the community or to leave it.

Self-regulatory education

In 1959, Neill's American publisher Harold Hart published a summary of four previous works by Neill under the title Summerhill - A Radical Approach to Child Rearing . The book became a bestseller in the US and UK. The German first edition, however, Education in Summerhill - the revolutionary example of a free school (1965) did not achieve high sales. But when Rowohlt-Verlag published the same book again in 1969, this time with a title adapted to the zeitgeist: Theory and Practice of Anti-Authoritarian Education - the example of Summerhill , it reached a sensational circulation of 325,000 in the first six months and finally stood at 1,089 in 1991 .000 copies. Neill commented: “It's the publisher's title, not mine. Various young Germans are trying to use the book in their struggle for communism or social democracy or whatever. I tell you that the book has nothing to do with politics. "

2000 trial

In 1999 Summerhill, u. a. because of the voluntary teaching, threatened with closure by the school authorities. The trial before the Independent Schools Tribunal in March 2000 surprisingly came out in favor of the school. The court found that learning did not always necessarily have to happen in class and stopped the school's unusually frequent inspections.

History of origin

Germany

The new Hellerau school is located in the former boarding school of the Jaques-Dalcroze educational institution , Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 58

The first beginnings of Summerhill are in the " New School Hellerau ". The "New School Hellerau" was founded at Easter 1920 in the garden city of Hellerau , a suburb of Dresden at the time, and in the following years united many currents of German reform pedagogy , which was represented by Gustav Wynecken , for example . Due to the favorable exchange rate between the British pound and the Reichsmark, Neill was able to be one of the main financiers of this school, and in December 1921 he incorporated an "international school" into it. This enabled him to implement his own ideas. The school was divided into different departments, Neill led the group of foreigners.

After a while, difficulties arose in cooperation with colleagues from the "New School Hellerau". Neill felt that they were interested in upbringing and character formation, but not in the children. The seriousness and lack of humor of the German educators, who rejected Charlie Chaplin's films for lack of educational value, bothered Neill. The "New School Hellerau" was run by idealists, most of whom belonged to the youth movement . They condemned tobacco, alcohol, foxtrot and cinema; they wore Wandervogel clothing. “We on the other hand had other ideals! We were ordinary people who drank beer and smoked and danced the foxtrot. Our intention was to live our own lives while giving the children the freedom to live their own lives. We assumed that children would form their own ideals. "

Neill took important suggestions with him from his time in Hellerau, e. B. that of Prof. Zutt, who had previously headed a craft school in Budapest for 15 years. He encouraged Neill to do practical work himself. From that time on, Neill also dealt with wood and metal processing. In future, every school he ran should have a workshop. The "New School Hellerau" was closed with the beginning of the National Socialist rule in Germany in 1933.

Austria

In 1923 Neill first moved the school to Sonntagberg , Austria , where however conflicts arose with the local population. Due to massive problems with the Austrian school authorities, Neill gave up his plan - opening a private school - in May 1924.

Great Britain

The school moved in 1924 to Lyme Regis in southern England on "Summerhill" (from which it took its final name), and in 1927 to its current location in Leiston in Suffolk . For the duration of the Second World War, the school was moved to Wales .

See also

literature

  • Matthew Appleton: Summerhill - giving children back their childhood. Democracy and self-regulation in education . Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2003, ISBN 3-89676-625-2 .
  • Johannes-Martin Kamp: Children's Republics. History, practice and theory of radical self-government in children's and youth homes . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1995 (also Essen University: phil. Diss. 1994), ISBN 3-8100-1357-9 .
  • Friedrich Koch : The dawn of pedagogy. Worlds in your head. Bettelheim, Freinet, Geheeb, Korczak, Montessori, Neill . EVA, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-434-53026-6 .
  • Axel D. Kühn: Alexander S. Neill . Rowohlt's monographs rm 549, Reinbek near Hamburg 1995 ISBN 3-499-50549-5 .
  • Peter H. Ludwig (Ed.): Summerhill, anti-authoritarian education today. Has free education really failed? Beltz, Weinheim 1997, ISBN 3-407-25173-4 (on the problem of the term “anti-authoritarian education” and reports on schools based on the Summerhill model worldwide).
  • Alexander S. Neill: Self-administration in the school . Pan, Zurich 1950, new edition Pestalozzianum, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-403-08649-6 .
  • Alexander S. Neill: Theory and Practice of Anti-Authoritarian Education. The Summerhill example . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1969 ISBN 3-499-60209-1 (OA: 1960; hardcover 1965 under the title Summerhill ).
  • Alexander S. Neill: The Summerhill Principle. Questions and answers, arguments, experiences, advice . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1986, ISBN 3-499-16690-9 .
  • Summerhill, pros and cons. 15 views on AS Neill's “Theory and Practice” . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985, ISBN 3-499-16704-2 .
  • Ivan Illich: De-schooling society. A polemic . Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49486-2 .
  • Erich Fromm: Foreword to AS Neill “Summerhill” (1960). (PDF file; 23 kB).
  • The New Summerhill - AS Neill , edited by Albert Lamb & Zoe Readhead, London 1992, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-016783-8 .
  • Alexander S. Neill: The green cloud. Told the kids about Summerhill . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg ISBN 3-498-04611-X .
  • Thomas Nitschke: The garden city of Hellerau as an educational province . Hellerau, Dresden 2003, ISBN 3-910184-43-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EUDEC Member Schools (EUDEC website). Retrieved September 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ A. Kühn: Alexander S. Neill in Hellerau - the origins of Summerhill
  3. ↑ Alexander S. Neill: Theory and Practice of Anti-Authoritarian Education. The Summerhill example. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1969
  4. ^ Hans-Stefan Müller: Festspielhaus Hellerau. 1996 , page 13 (PDF; 3.3 MB)
  5. ↑ in ASNeill: Dominie Abroad , London 1923, p. 119, translated by A. Kühn, quoted from: M. Zellinger: "Summerhill today", 1996 [1]
  6. ↑ See: M. Zellinger: "Summerhill today", 1996 [2]

Coordinates: 52 ° 12 ′ 40.4 "  N , 1 ° 34 ′ 21.5"  E