Living, free, active schools: how they differ and where we stand

In the world of alternative schools there is a forest of labels. Living school, free school, active school, alternative pedagogy, Montessori, Waldorf, forest school… Every family arrives with a word in mind and often they all mean similar things. Let us try to bring a little order, greatly simplifying the different philosophies, and without claiming that our classification is the only one.

Active school

It is the oldest of the three. It comes from the New Education movement of the early twentieth century and from educators such as John Dewey, Célestin Freinet and Maria Montessori. The central idea: you learn by doing. The child is not a vessel to be filled but someone who acts on the world and draws conclusions from it. In Catalonia it has a long tradition, from Ferrer i Guàrdia to the CEPEPC schools of the seventies and eighties.

Many state and state-subsidised schools recognise themselves in this label today, with different degrees of implementation of this philosophy.

Free school

It puts the emphasis on the child’s freedom to decide what to do, when and with whom. The reference points are A. S. Neill’s Summerhill and Rebeca and Mauricio Wild’s Pesta in Ecuador. The adult does not direct: they prepare the environment and accompany. It is often associated with small projects, self-managed by families, and for years it went hand in hand with operating outside the formal system.

The most common misunderstanding is to think that free means without limits. That is not so in any project that is responsible towards children: limits and rules are necessary for living together and for the process of maturing. In schools like ours, where children can talk, move around and choose from a range of options, limits are present across everything. The rules of safety and of living together are held by the adults with great clarity.

Living school

It is the most recent label and, in a way, the one that brings the other two together. It speaks of a school connected with life, with the child’s present and with their context, attentive to the needs of children and of families. Emotional accompaniment carries great weight, as do respect for each person’s rhythms and the idea that school is a place of life, not a preparation for later.

In Catalonia, the Xarxa d’Educació Lliure (XELL) brings many of these projects together.

Where we stand

At Espai Aigua we are comfortable with “living school”, but we are a school with an ongoing pedagogical dialogue and a constant review of our practices and principles.

We draw on active and free pedagogies, and we add three accents of our own: sensitive pedagogy, which is listening with the whole body to what children tell us; undisciplined projects, where science, art, technology and mathematics mix without borders; and coeducation and no exclusion, which run through everything we do.

With this model we have been able to show that our school meets the requirements and content set out in education legislation. We are therefore an officially recognised early years and primary school. We do all of this with the recognition of the education system.

How to choose

Labels help you find your bearings, but each project puts them into practice in different ways. To understand it in action, you can come and meet us. Look at what a morning is like: how decisions are made, how a conflict is resolved, what happens when a child does not want to take part, how the adults speak to the children, what role families play, the ratios…

If you would like to start there, request a visit.