An alternative school is an educational institution with a non-traditional curriculum and method. Such schools offer a variety of teaching philosophies and methods; some have strong political, scientific or philosophical orientations, while others are more ad hoc assembled teachers and students who are dissatisfied with some aspects of mainstream or traditional education.
Some schools are based on pedagogical approaches that are different from the main pedagogy schools used in culture, while other schools for gifted students, special needs children, children who have dropped out of education and/or are excluded from their primary school, want to explore unstructured or less rigid learning systems, etc.
Video Alternative school
Features
There are many alternative school models but the features of a promising alternative program seem to converge more or less on the following characteristics:
- the approach is more individual;
- integration of children from different socio-economic status and mixed ability;
- experiential learning applicable to life outside school;
- integrated approach to various disciplines;
- Instructional staff are certified in their academic and creative fields;
- low student-teacher ratio;
- Collective ownership of the institute as teachers, students, support staff, administrators, parents are all involved in decision-making;
- array of non-traditional evaluation methods.
Maps Alternative school
United Kingdom
In the UK, 'alternative schools' refers to schools that provide student-centered informal education as an alternative to traditional education regimes in the UK. There is a long tradition of such schools in England, back to Summerhill, whose founder, A. S. Neill, greatly influenced the spreading of democratic similar schools like the famous Dartington Hall School, and Kilquhanity School, both now closed. There are currently two democratic primary schools, the Garden and Small School, and two democratic secondary schools, Summerhill and Sands School. There are also various schools based on the ideas of Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner.
United States
In the United States, there has been tremendous growth in a number of alternative schools operating since the 1970s, when relatively few existed. Some alternative schools are for students of all academic levels and abilities better served by non-traditional programs. Others are specifically targeted at students with special educational needs, addressing social issues that affect students, such as adolescent or homeless parents, or accommodating students who are considered at risk of academic failure.
Canada
In Canada, local school boards choose whether they want to have alternative schools and how they are operated. Alternative schools may include multi-age groups, integrated curriculum or holistic learning, parental involvement, and descriptive rather than value statements. Some school systems provide a stream of alternative education in state schools.
In Canada, schools for children who have difficulty in a traditional secondary school setting are known as alternative schools.
German
Germany has more than 200 Waldorf schools, including the world's first school (founded in 1919), and a large number of Montessori schools. Each has its own national association, while most other alternative schools are organized within the National Association of Independent Alternative Schools (). Funding for private schools in Germany differs from Bundesland to Bundesland.
Full public funding is provided to laboratory schools that examine school concepts for public education. Laborschule Bielefeld has a major influence on many alternative schools, including renewal of the concept of democratic schools.
South Korea
In South Korea, alternative schools serve three large groups of youth in South Korea. The first group are students who can not succeed in Korean formative education. Many of these schools serve students who drop out during their early school years, either voluntarily or with disciplinary action. The second group is young immigrants. As immigrant populations from Southeast Asia and North Korea are increasing, some educators are beginning to see the need for adaptive education, tailored specifically for these young immigrants. Since South Korea has been a mono-ethnic society throughout its history, there is not enough system and awareness to protect these students from oppression, social isolation, or academic failure. For example, dropout rates for North Korean immigrant students are ten times higher than students from South Korean students because of their primary challenge initially to adapt to South Korean society, not to get higher test scores. Another group is students who choose alternative education because of their philosophy. Korean education, as in many other Asian countries, is based on testing and memorization. Some students and parents believe that this type of education can not parenting students thoroughly and choose to go to alternative schools, which show different ways to learn for students. These schools usually emphasize the importance of interaction between other people and nature over written test results.
The main struggle at alternative schools in South Korea is the recognition, lack of financial support, and the quality gap between alternative schools. Although South Korean public recognition of alternative education has been deliberately changed, progressive education has not been widely accepted. To enter college, regular education is often preferred because of rigid national education tastes on test results and records. For the same reason, the South Korean government is not actively supporting alternative schools financially.
Therefore, many alternative schools are at risk of bankruptcy, especially schools that are not or can not collect tuition from their students. Most of the families of Southeast Asian and North Korean immigrants are financially in need, so they need help from the government welfare system for their daily lives. It is clear that affording private education is a mere fantasy for these families. The phenomenon, in turn, causes the gap between the alternative schools themselves. Some schools are strongly supported by high-end parents and provide programs at school and after school, and others rarely have the resources to build some such academic and extracurricular programs.
India
India has a long history of alternative schools. The Vedic and Gurukul education system during 1500 BC to 500 BC emphasizes the acquisition of work skills, cultural and spiritual enlightenment in an atmosphere that encourages rational thinking, reasoning among students. Therefore the purpose of education is to develop students in various aspects of life and ensure social services. However, with the decline of the local economy and the emergence of colonial rulers, the system declined. Some important reforms such as English as the medium of instruction, were introduced as recommended in Macaulay's Minute in 1835. Current mainstream schools still follow a system developed in the colonial era. In the years after independence, the Government has focused on expanding school networks, designing curricula according to educational needs, local languages ​​as instructional mediums, etc. At the end of the nineteenth century, many social reformers began exploring alternatives to contemporary education. system. Vivekananda, Dayan and Saraswati, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Syed Ahmed Khan are the pioneers who take the cause of social regeneration, the elimination of social inequality, the promotion of girls' education through alternative schools. At the beginning of the 20th century, teachers created alternative school models in response to disadvantages for mainstream schools that were still feasible. Rabindranath Tagore's Shanti Niketan, Jiddu Krishnamurthy's Rishi Valley School, Sri Aurobindo and Sri Aurobindo International Education Center popularly known as Ashram Schools, and Walden's Path Magnet School are some examples. A revival in alternative schools was seen in 1970 and beyond. But most alternative schools are the result of individual efforts rather than government. The establishment of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in 1989 by the Department of Human Resources Development is one of the steps taken by the government that takes all the schools under its wings. NIOS provides a platform for alternative schoolchildren to take government-appointed exams.
See also
- List of democratic schools
- Anarchistic free school
- Advanced High School
- School of democracy
- Gifted education
- Montessori School
- Public alternative schools
- School of reform
- Special education
- Sudbury School
- No school
- The virtual school
- Waldorf School
- Jiddu Krishnamurti Schools
References
Further reading
- Claire V. Corn, American Alternative School: Ideals in Action (Ithaca: SUNY Press, 1991).
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments