Searching for the Ideal School around the World

Alys Mendus, Ph.D. (2017), University of Hull, UK, is an Independent Scholar and Casual Academic at Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne and Southern Cross University, Australia. Alys uses arts-based research, autoethnography and collaborative narrative inquiry to research innovative education, feminism and societal change.

• ForewordMichael KamenPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of FiguresAbout the AuthorIntroduction1 Alys the Guide2 Part 1 Covers…3 Part 2 Covers…4 Part 3 Covers…5 Alys the GuidePART 1: Fed up with the System1 ‘Fed up with the System’1 Alys the Guide: Introduction2 Fed up with the English Education System3 Fed up with Neoliberalism in Education4 Alys the Guide5 Performative Autoethnography6 The Multiplicities of Alys-We7 Summary2 My Nomadology1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the School Tourist: Where Did I Travel?3 Fed up with Fixed Home Dwelling: Introducing My Embodied Nomadology4 Alys the Van-Dweller Describes Their Life in 20175 An Ode to the Car Park – 13th September 20166 Alys the Nomad7 Vignette 18 Summary3 School Is Not the Answer1 Alys the Guide2 The Queering of ‘Bad-Alys’: The Green School Epiphany Poem3 Edge-ucation, Potentiality and the Utopian Performative of Hope4 Potentiality and Hope5 Alys the Guide: Utopian Performative of Hope for Education6 SummaryPART 2: Educating Differently4 Steiner Waldorf Education1 Alys the Guide2 Alys-We: Why Not Waldorf? A Play-Script from SE Asia3 Alys the Educator: What Is Steiner Waldorf Education?4 Kindergarten (3–6 years)5 Vignette 2: Alys the Performer6 Lower School (7–14 years)7 Vignette 3: Alys the School Tourist8 Upper School (14+)9 Vignette 4: Alys Educating Diffferently10 Vignette 5: Alys the School Tourist11 Alys the Guide12 Alys and Steiner: The Role of the Steiner Waldorf Class Teacher13 Alys the Theorist: What Are the Main Critiques of Steiner Waldorf Pedagogy?14 Alys the Guide: Why I Have Included Two Chapters on Steiner Waldorf15 Summary5 Alys Troubling Steiner Waldorf1 Introduction: Alys the Guide2 Alys the Theorist: What Is Anthroposophy?3 Alys and Steiner: Anthroposophy and Racism4 Alys the Theorist: Anthroposophy; the Elementals and Inner Work5 A Dialogue about Inner Work6 Alys the Theorist: Steiner Waldorf Education around the World – The Challenge with Eurocentricism7 Vignette 6: Alys the Performer8 Vignette 7: Alys the School Tourist (Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2008)9 Alys the Theorist: Steiner Waldorf Education and the Edge-ucation10 Alys Educating Diffferently: Moving from Blended – Pedagogy into Edge-ucation11 State-funded Steiner Waldorf Edge-ucation12 Vignette 8: Alys the School Tourist – State-funded Steiner Primary Stream, Australia13 Alys Educating Diffferently: Fed up with Behaviourism in the Classroom14 Vignette 9: ‘Acorn 1, 2, 3’15 Vignette 10: “You Can’t Sit There!”16 Vignette 11: Red on the Trafffijic Light Means No Playtime17 Alys the Theorist: A Response to Vignette 9, 10 & 11 in 201618 Alys the Guide: Why Steiner Waldorf Education Is Not My ‘Ideal’19 Summary6 Alys and Progressive Education1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the Theorist: Progressive Education3 Alys the School Tourist: Stories from Progressive Schools4 Alys the Educator: What Makes a 21st Century Progressive School Progressive?5 Alys the Educator: Project Based Learning6 Alys the Educator: Ron Berger and Expeditionary Learning7 The Queering of ‘Bad-Alys’: The Dangers of Putting Places on a Pedestal – The Green School, Bali8 The Queering of Bad-Alys… Feeling Uncomfortable Realising I Am Too Radical for What I Have Seen9 Alys the Guide10 Summary7 Alys and Democratic Education1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the Theorist: Progressive Education and Democracy3 Alys the School Tourist: My First Democratic School Visit4 Alys the Educator: What Is Democratic Education?5 Alys the School Tourist: Diffferent Places That Call Themselves Democratic…6 Alys the Educator: What Makes These Democratic Schools Diffferent from Other Schools ‘Educating Diffferently’?7 Alys the Educator: What Is the Role of the Teacher in Democratic Education?8 Alys the Theorist: Democracy-in-Action?9 Alys the School Tourist: Observation of Democratic School Meetings10 Alys the School Tourist: A Discussion with an Experienced Democratic Educator11 Alys the Guide: Reflections12 Alys the School Tourist: Gems from Democratic Schools13 Alys the Edge-dweller: Democratic Education and the ‘Ideal School’14 Alys the Educator: Unschooling15 Alys the Guide16 Summary8 Alys and Montessori Education1 Alys the Guide2 Alys and Steiner: The View of Montessori3 Alys the School Tourist – What Is Montessori Education?4 Alys the School Tourist: Combined Pedagogical Approaches5 The Queering of ‘Bad-Alys’: Seeing Montessori with New Eyes6 Alys the Guide7 An Interview with Emma Hughes, Primary Montessori Teacher, July 20218 Alys the Educator: Gems within Montessori Education – Exploring Montessori Maths Resources9 Emma Explains…10 Emma Gives Another Example from Her Teaching…11 Summary9 Alys and Edge-ucational Gems within the System1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the School Tourist: Using Autonomous Approaches with a Set Curriculum3 Alys the Guide4 SummaryPART 3: Towards a Paradigm Shift10 Performing School Tourism1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the Theorist: A Theoretical Discussion of Performing School Tourism3 A Troubling of Performing School Tourism4 The Ethics of Performing School Tourism5 Alys the Guide6 Summary11 Becoming a School Tourist1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the School Tourist: Other School Tourists…3 Alys the Theorist: What Counts as a School Visit?4 What Do I Do as a School Tourist?5 Alys the School Tourist: Group and Solo School Tourism6 Alys Educating-Diffferently: Working with School Students to Find the Ideal School7 Alys the School Tourist: Visiting Innovative Schools with Preservice Teachers8 Alys the Theorist: Becoming-Identity9 Alys the Guide10 Summary12 Composting the Rhizome: The Earth-We1 Alys the Guide2 Alys the Theorist: Discussing the Big-Picture3 Vignette 29: Alys the Edge-Dweller – Learning from the Dark Mountain Weekend4 Alys the Guide5 Alys-We Performing School-Tourism for the ‘New Story’6 The Queering of Bad-Alys: Moving beyond the ‘New Story’7 Vignette 30: Come Dance My PhD8 The Multiplicities of the Alys-We and the Earth-We9 Alys the Guide10 SummaryConcluding Thoughts1 Alys the Nomad: New Van, New Possibilities, New HopeReferencesIndex

"This is the finest critique of ‘schooling’ that I have come across since Illich’s ‘deschooling society’ blew us all away in the 1970s. The book is written as a buoyant post-colonial, feminist romp through our various education systems in the west, interwoven with autoethnographic passages of fluid writing that touches the souls of readers. This is going to become a ‘classic’ text!" – Jane Speedy, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Bristol"Searching for the Ideal School around the World is a must-read and must-use pedagogy for our time. The arts-based performative approach embodies a reflexive and collaborative autoethnographic ‘we’ encouraging the reader to use the book as a transformative and practical guide to efficacious educational adventure. Mendus invites us to ‘educate differently’ through entanglements of COVID, human exceptionalism, and isolationism. Personally and politically compelling, Mendus’ work offers a life affirming pedagogy in these times of great possibility." – Tami Spry, author of Body, Paper, Stage: Writing and Performing Autoethnography