Schools as embryonic societies

Abstract

At Laborschule Bielefeld (which translates into English as “Laboratory School Bielefeld”) democratic education is a long-standing tradition. Relying on research-based approaches, this state school has introduced various elements, such as a school constitution and student parliaments to make democratic education part of its institutional core. This chapter first introduces the readers to Laborschule Bielefeld and connects the practices in the school to John Dewey’s notion that schools represent “embryonic societies”. It then looks at how democratic education takes place in everyday school life, exploring various facets of the authors' work, including the mentorship programme for students, the daily assemblies, the ‘giraffe language’ (which is practised to resolve matters in a nonviolent fashion) and the school’s open-space architecture which contributes to our democratic ethos. Finally, the chapter considers the processes that have led up to this firmly established student participation at Laborschule.