IDEN

International
Democratic
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IDEC : International Democratic Education Conference

Once the organisers of a conference have been appointed, everything is in their hands - dates, participants, cost, accommodation and style of conference. The length of the conferences has varied between two days for the first one to a fortnight in 1997. Young people of school age have nearly always played a large part; the conferences at Sands School in England in 1997, in Tokyo in 2000 and in Berlin in 2005 were in fact run almost entirely by young people. The longer conferences have included days of sight-seeing and varied social and cultural events. Sometimes there has been a full programme of prepared talks and workshops, and sometimes the programme has been entirely decided by the participants after they arrived; sometimes there has been a bit of both. For the first few years, when the conferences were smaller, they were funded entirely by the host organisation or by outside agencies, but more recently participants have had to pay a fee. All decisions about such matters are taken by the organisers.

The first conference was in 1993, in Israel, at the Democratic School of Hadera. A few teachers and students from democratic schools found themselves at a large conference in Jerusalem, called "Education for Democracy in a Multi-cultural Society." The participants were mostly philosophers, professors and politicians, so the teachers and students hardly had any opportunity to contribute. A small group was invited to Hadera for two days after the big conference, and the discussions were so stimulating that it was agreed to meet annually.

For the first four years it was known as the Hadera Conference, and David Gribble sent out a newsletter two or three times a year. There were few contributors, and eventually it was abandoned. The hope was expressed that the internet could provide a substitute, and Jerry Mintz now offers an IDEC listserver (ideclistserve@yahoogroups.co).

There are differing views as to the purpose of the IDECs. Some see them as an opportunity to discuss shared problems in a supportive atmosphere, where you know that other people share your values. Others hope to spread the idea of democratic education by inviting possible converts and attracting favourable publicity. Others see the conference as a means of bonding schools so that they can offer support in times of crisis, on the "united we stand, divided we fall" principle. Some see them as a way of improving the public perception of the host schools in their own countries. The purpose of any given conference is decided by the group that is organising it.

The host organisation sometimes restricts attendance. The first few conferences were by invitation only, but now anyone who is interested can enrol. Usually efforts are made to ensure that as many as possible of the participants are either still at school, or recent leavers.

The 2000 IDEC in Japan was organised by a committee consisting mostly of students from Tokyo Shure, and attracted around thousand participants.

For anyone who wants to follow the development of IDEC, here is a list of the sites of the annual conferences and the countries represented at each one.

1993 The Democratic School of Hadera, Israel
Austria, Israel, UK, USA

1994 Sands School, England
Austria, Israel, UK

1995 The WUK, Vienna, Austria
Austria, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Norway, UK, USA

1996 The Democratic School of Hadera, Israel
Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, UK, USA

1997 Sands School, England
Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Palestine, Turkey, New Zealand, Ukraine, UK, USA

1998 The Stork Family School, Vinnitsa, Ukraine
Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, UK, Ukraine, USA

1999 Summerhill School, England
Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, UK, USA

2000 Tokyo Shure, Japan
Australia, China, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Palestine, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Thailand, UK, Ukraine, US

2001 The conference was to be held jointly in Israel and Palestine, but the international situation reduced it to a comparatively small event, attended mainly by Israelis, Palestinians and Germans.

2002 Tamariki, New Zealand
Australia, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, New Zealand, the UK and the USA

2003 AERO and Albany Free School, Troy, USA
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, Ukraine, USA

2004 Schoolscape, Bhubaneshwar, India
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, UK, USA

2005 KRÄTZÄ, Berlin, Germany
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lesotho, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, Ukraine, USA.

2006, AAPAE, Sydney, Australia
Australia, Burma/Myanmar, Canada, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA.

2007 World Education Forum, Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil
Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, USA.