Abstract:

The paper explores educational ideas and practical issues within democratic schools in Poland. As a recent phenomenon that started in 2013, these are initiatives set up by parents dissatisfied with the country’s mainstream education system. They are meant as an alternative learning environment devoid of the perceived shortcomings of public schooling. The major question addressed is: how are these schools innovative? The notion of educational innovation is analyzed in terms of educational ideology and on the practical level including organization and pedagogy. We argue that the founders and staff of the schools in question raise the fundamental problems of learning, upbringing and child’s development as leitmotifs and rationale of their involvement, not limited to, or even not predominated by, issues of pedagogical or didactic techniques. We also highlight a number of problematic points concerning these educational forms’ sustainability and impact.