Democratic School - Qiryat Gat area (closed)

The School hosts children from kindergarten to High School. There is no separation to classes, except the Kindergarten & Pre-School group. It is possible to join the school anytime during the school year. There is an acceptance committee whose role is to make sure that the expectations of the family fit the spirit in which the school operates (For example: parents who demand their child attend certain compulsary classes) and that there is no risk of damage to the child's environment or himself (a history of violence, for example). A democratic school may not be suitable for all students in the same way that any other school does not fit every student.

The Association of founding parents are responsible for the legal and fiscal management as well as ensuring the continuation of the school in the spirit in which it was established. The school's principal is an educator, who manages the school on a day to day basis as well as responsible for the pedagogical aspects and working with school staff.

The selected educators should be creative, flexible thinking, open-minded, charismatic and have leadership qualities, interesting and interested, love to teach and learn as well as mankind and nature lovers. Experience and personality match are of utmost importance. Relevant training in the field.School's staff serve as a model and a tool for searching and finding answers, not as an exclusive source for answers.They are responsible for strengthening the self-esteem of each child, customize learning and offer personal example. When the children initiate learning of a new field and there is no one on the staff qualified to lead the learning the school will recruit a professional teachers as needed.

Absolutely! The content in a democratic school is typically more diverse than traditional schools. First, due to the fact that every event is an opportunity for learning, and secondly because learning is not regarded or seen as memorization, practice and worksheets. Instead, the learning appeals to all the senses and a variety of intelligence which all of us possess. Learning out of choice is more efficient and productive compared to compulsive learning, it involves taking responsibility for the process and becomes learning out of desire and personal interest. The real learning in such a school does not relate to knowledge, but in instead: taking initiative, responsibility, dealing with differences of opinions, the ability to communicate, debate and take part of meaningful deeds. The knowledge is naturally  intertwined in the process and available at a time when the student is most likely to easily adopt it. The School strives to provide tools for the management of a healthy, balanced and happy life.

No. Hours that students arrive to school are the normal operating hours of all schools. Children can not leave school during the day and there is an obligation to arrive every school day, except sick days and of course during the holidays and summer vacation.

There is no need to force children to read. If you would see signs that appear as gibberish everywhere, and everyone around you can read them, would you not want to be able to read them as well? Children are driven by their curiosity. If there is something they want to read, they will learn to read in order to get this information. Some of the kids get the urge to read at a younger age, others at an older age , but they all learn to read. When they learn, it is easy to learn. It is much easier to teach a child wants to learn than to teach a child forced to learn. The Democratic School gives children a chance to learn reading and writing continuously and without separation into specific disciplines. You can learn to read well through cooking, art, sports and more. The children happily take advantage of this opportunity because they are not forced to.

The number of disciplines currently actively studied in the world, is so vast, it's ridiculous to try to expose anyone to all of these areas, and it is actually a matter of personal preference and prejudice to choose a limited number of subjects and label them "important" than the other subjects. Children today are exposed to many topics, Internet TV and talking to different people. The staff and parents come with their areas of interest as well. We attempt to make the kids aware of many of these topics from various fields, yet we have no doubt of our inability and the inability of any school to expose the children to all existing and emerging disciplines in the world. The question of being a brilliant biologist , or a huge musician, or "huge whatever", is such that it is impossible to answer. Just try to ask it the other way around: "What if Mozart was exposed to Western philosophy, he may have turned into a brilliant historian of Western philosophy!" Then the problematic nature of the "exposure" question becomes more clear. There is a huge number of topics which we all are exposed to, and myriad additional topics we are not exposed to. No one knows which discipline s/he is destined to devote their lives to. However, the basic areas (such as language and mathematics) provide for a learning infrastructure to a variety of other topics, and learning them provides for an infrastructure to be successful and progress in other areas. This fact is discovered by the children with the help of the staff and provides for an impetus for learning, not forced, but voluntary learning.

In fact it can become strange to teach in a non-multi-age group, where children are of the same age, but without any common interest to engage in a particular topic. Learning is governed by interests and personal need. While engaging in learning, teaching, or any activity in a multi-age group the teacher always targets the "higher" segment of the group. Typically the older children, and a bit higher, then adjustments are made based on everyone's ability to comprehend the topic. From experience in the field we see that the younger children make a real effort and of course get help (staff or older students) if they seek and need it. Often the younger children surpirse and one by one disprove the theories of developmental psychologists by demonstrating that they can meet or exceed the achievements of the older kids. More on multi-age from the Institute for Democratic Education.