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The World We Want

LXCL:This event is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. Donations of any amount help us keep the Salons accessible, support live interpretation, and make future global conversations possible.

General Admission

&quot;None of the three were utopias, but all were realistic and successful education realities.&rdquo; (Leonard Turton). Democratizing Schools:&nbsp;Tales of Building and Sustaining Community Our next Global Saturday Salon with Leonard Turton | November 14, 2026 In 1970, Leonard Turton helped start a small democratic school called Odyssey House. He spent eight years there, learning what it took to give children meaningful freedom over their education. Twenty-two years later, he tried something rather different: bringing democracy into an ordinary public-school classroom in Canada. The experiment eventually spread to five classrooms and lasted a decade. In 2002, he moved to Summerhill, the celebrated English democratic school, where he spent twelve years working with children aged ten to thirteen. These three experiences gave Leonard an unusually varied education in democratic schooling. He has built a school from scratch, worked within the constraints of a conventional school system, and helped rethink learning at one of the world&#39;s oldest democratic schools. At Summerhill, Leonard created an independent learning environment where children could pursue projects at their own pace. They built boats, made films, explored astronomy, designed models, and taught one another new skills. An Egyptian history project planned for four weeks lasted two terms. Other projects attracted intense enthusiasm for a few days before disappearing. There was room for both. Leonard understood that children could learn from abandoned projects as well as completed ones, and that enthusiasm rarely obeys a school timetable. But giving children freedom also creates difficult questions for adults. When should a teacher intervene? How do children learn to manage disagreement and share responsibility? How much organization does a democratic community need? And how does a school maintain its principles over many years, as students and teachers come and go? Over the years, Leonard has dealt with questions that rarely feature in idealized accounts of democratic education: how to finance a school, how to work within public-school regulations, how much authority adults can share with children, and how to create a community that can sustain itself over time. Leonard describes his three major experiments as having their own &ldquo;beginnings, middles and ends.&rdquo; Each took shape in a different setting, with its own possibilities, constraints, and solutions. Looking back across them offers a chance to understand what worked, what changed, and what proved difficult. For our next Global Saturday Salon, Leonard will revisit these three experiences, reflecting on what they have taught him about children&#39;s freedom, the role of adults, and the practical work of building democratic schools. We hope you&#39;ll join us for a conversation informed by more than fifty years of experience with democratic education. Join our next Global Saturday SalonDemocratizing Schools: Tales of Building and Sustaining CommunityGuest: Leonard Turton Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026 Time: 8:30 AM New York (EST) | 2:30 PM Central Europe (CET) This event will take place online via Zoom and is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. Donations of any amount help us keep the Salons accessible, support live interpretation, and make future global conversations possible. If you&rsquo;re unable to participate, please consider <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-educating-for-the-world-we-want" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">making a donation</a>. Your support helps sustain Educating for the World We Want and its ongoing programs. The team at Educating for The World We Want<a href="https://www.edfortheworldwewant.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" id="isPasted" fr-original-style="" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;"></a><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.edfortheworldwewant.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">edfortheworldwewant.net</a> Educating for the World We Want brings together educators and communities exploring democratic and ethical education in practice.

"None of the three were utopias, but all were realistic and successful education realities.” (Leonard Turton). Democratizing Schools: Tales of Building and Sustaining Community Our next Global Saturday Salon with Leonard Turton | November 14, 2026 In 1970, Leonard Turton helped start a small democratic school called Odyssey House. He spent eight years there, learning what it took to give children meaningful freedom over their education. Twenty-two years later, he tried something rather different: bringing democracy into an ordinary public-school classroom in Canada. The experiment eventually spread to five classrooms and lasted a decade. In 2002, he moved to Summerhill, the celebrated English democratic school, where he spent twelve years working with children aged ten to thirteen. These three experiences gave Leonard an unusually varied education in democratic schooling. He has built a school from scratch, worked within the constraints of a conventional school system, and helped rethink learning at one of the world's oldest democratic schools. At Summerhill, Leonard created an independent learning environment where children could pursue projects at their own pace. They built boats, made films, explored astronomy, designed models, and taught one another new skills. An Egyptian history project planned for four weeks lasted two terms. Other projects attracted intense enthusiasm for a few days before disappearing. There was room for both. Leonard understood that children could learn from abandoned projects as well as completed ones, and that enthusiasm rarely obeys a school timetable. But giving children freedom also creates difficult questions for adults. When should a teacher intervene? How do children learn to manage disagreement and share responsibility? How much organization does a democratic community need? And how does a school maintain its principles over many years, as students and teachers come and go? Over the years, Leonard has dealt with questions that rarely feature in idealized accounts of democratic education: how to finance a school, how to work within public-school regulations, how much authority adults can share with children, and how to create a community that can sustain itself over time. Leonard describes his three major experiments as having their own “beginnings, middles and ends.” Each took shape in a different setting, with its own possibilities, constraints, and solutions. Looking back across them offers a chance to understand what worked, what changed, and what proved difficult. For our next Global Saturday Salon, Leonard will revisit these three experiences, reflecting on what they have taught him about children's freedom, the role of adults, and the practical work of building democratic schools. We hope you'll join us for a conversation informed by more than fifty years of experience with democratic education. Join our next Global Saturday SalonDemocratizing Schools: Tales of Building and Sustaining CommunityGuest: Leonard Turton Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026 Time: 8:30 AM New York (EST) | 2:30 PM Central Europe (CET) This event will take place online via Zoom and is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. Donations of any amount help us keep the Salons accessible, support live interpretation, and make future global conversations possible. If you’re unable to participate, please consider <a href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-educating-for-the-world-we-want" target="_blank">making a donation</a>. Your support helps sustain Educating for the World We Want and its ongoing programs. The team at Educating for The World We Want<a href="https://www.edfortheworldwewant.net/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.edfortheworldwewant.net/" target="_blank">edfortheworldwewant.net</a> Educating for the World We Want brings together educators and communities exploring democratic and ethical education in practice.

The World We Want

Educating for The World We Want | Salon #7: Leonard Turton on Democratizing Schools

General Admission