David Gagnon and a group from Vancouver have submitted a proposal to host the 2008 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC). The organizing group would be the Society for the Advancement of Non-coercive Education (SANE), a group affiliated with Windsor House School, the longest-running democratic school in Canada.
This would be the second IDEC held in North America since the IDECs began in 1993, and first held on the West coast of the continent. The proposal, which is the first and only proposal thus far for 2008, will now be discussed through the IDEC listserve by educators and students from around the world, and could be approved before the 2007 IDEC in Brazil this September.
The complete proposal is presented here. For more information or to contact David, email him at countplatypus@gmail.com.
March 11, 2007
Friends,
We submit this letter to formally request approval to host the 2008 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Vancouver, Canada. We look forward to bringing our resources, skills, passion and hard work to this endeavour.
Who we are:
We are The Society for the Advancement of Non-Coercive Education (SANE); we have been organizing under this title since 1992. Our mandate is to support democratic, non-coercive learning environments.
SANE grew from the Windsor House School parents group in order to support Windsor House Democratic School with a broadly mandated advocacy group. The members of SANE bring with us, the experience of growing and learning with Windsor House throughout its 35+ years history. We are a collaborative group of former and current Windsor House teachers, students, parents, founders, researchers, and supporters. Windsor House is Canada’s longest running democratic school; it is distinctive in the international democratic school community for having a combination of parent participation, public funding, little academic coercion, a democratic government and multi-age groupings.
Our involvement with IDEC:
Of our current organizing committee, 1 of our members attended IDEC at Summerhill in England (1999), 4 members attended in Berlin, Germany (2005), and 14 attended in Albany, New York (2003); we intend to take part in IDEC 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We look forward to bringing the knowledge gained from these experiences home to Vancouver in 2008.
Our motivation to host:
As a location:
This will be the first Canadian IDEC and the first conference to be hosted on the West Coast of North America. Due to the social and cultural makeup, amenities and natural resources, Vancouver is a highly desirable destination for people from around the world. Additionally, Canada’s comparatively accessible border facilitates the attendance of many international visitors.
As an organization:
SANE is in a time of transition. As with transitions generally, this is rich in both rewards and challenges. We are excited to be broadening our goals and directing our energies towards imagining and planning a broad-spectrum democratic educational institute. Simultaneously, Windsor House School is currently in crisis. As a community, we have creatively negotiated many challenges through the generations; our past, present, and hoped for futures will work together to inform this conference. We feel this is a powerful time to invite members of the international democratic education community to share our strong and distinctive history and to collectively strategize for our uncertain and exciting futures. We are motivated by the conversations and connections that we expect to develop, by the task of working together to create such an exciting event, and by the anticipation of raising our profile locally and internationally.
As a group:
We are well positioned to take on this project. As our history of working together attests, we are skilled at creating success by overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We have a strong collaborative relationship, have successfully worked on many other committees and projects together, enjoy working with one another, and trust each other’s competencies. Additionally, we have a large community of people to assist with supporting this conference.
Our goals for the 2008 IDEC conference are to:
• Incorporate a profoundly interactive, flexible, and exciting democratic program for young people as a central part of the conference; this will be modeled on Windsor House and organized and run by alumni and students.
• Foster dialogues across locations, experiences, and approaches within democratic schooling.
• Network and strategize internationally regarding issues facing democratic schooling including the benefits and dangers of public funding.
• Provide a forum to discuss models of how to raise our children given the many crises we face in the world.
• Conduct a conference as carbon neutral and as environmentally friendly as possible.
• Facilitate workshops and events that enrich schools and help them grow in strength.
• Help people experience other democratic schools around the world.
• Generate and increase interest in democratic education in our region and internationally.
• Raise the profile of SANE both within our region and internationally.
• Have a great deal of fun, meet new people, increase allies, and inspire creative strategies for our futures.
Thank you for your consideration and support. We look forward to bringing our commitment, experience, energy and skill to creating a vibrant, fun, and informative IDEC 2008.
Vancouver IDEC Organizing Committee; SANE