Sociocracy in Schools
“We are so happy to be using Sociocracy in our school with full participation in Member (children), Staff, Parent, and Board circles joined by a Community Circle. The kids are amazingly confident, free, happy people who are excellent communicators because of our weekly Change Up meeting, where we try out new practices one week at a time.
Sometimes our meetings end in tears because people have never experienced a workplace where every voice truly matters both in sharing feelings about how things are going and checking in with each other emotionally, and also in policy decisions such as paid overtime, staff hours, and how our governance works. Every time we ask for feedback on our processes, people share how clear and efficient our meetings are. There are still difficulties, as collaborative skills are not widely shared in the larger world, and we are starting from scratch with a lot of our parents and staff so training is necessary to bring everyone on board. We are still learning how to be clear about power and responsibility with roles and our circle structure. However, seeing the children lead effective meetings, make consent based decisions together, and check in about “good enough for now, safe enough to try,” it gives me hope for the future.
For classrooms
Tools and processes that support more democracy and participation in classrooms
For entire schools
How can everyone’s voice sing the same song – each in their different way?
For Classrooms
Open Sociocratic elections for classrooms
A brochure for teacher who are ready to try consent decision making instead of an election using majority vote.
Self-determination only with co-determination
An article about the important of participation in decision making in education.
By Simona Zäh, Unico School, Switzerland
Consent decision-making for student voice
“The Conversation Series – Episode 1 – Audrey Cheynut – “Consent decision-making for student voice” by Learn to Change
“I’m so glad to have found sociocracy- which is democracy, as it could be- to help with the subtle art of compromise.”
Hope Wilder, Pathfinder
For Entire Schools
How does one organize a whole school in circles?
Click through the images to see how others do it.
Who is already using sociocracy to run their school?
Note: this list is FAR incomplete! Help us make it more complete (see map). Another resource to find sociocratic schools is Wondering School with a map.
- Austin Waldorf school ( TX, USA)
- Arpego (Berlin, Germany)
- Pathfinders (US)
- LOS school (NL)
- Unico Schule (Bern, Switzerland)
- Integrale Tagesschule Winterthur (Switzerland)
- Enkindle School (Australia)
- Lighthouse project (Wales)
- Morey Flextech school (MI, USA)
Highlights of School-Related Resources
Sociocracy Starter Kit
An article describing the phases of introducing sociocracy into a complex orgainzation.
School circles
A wonderful, feature-length documentary about three sociocratic schools in the Netherlands.
A must-see for anyone who is interested in sociocracy and schools.
Produced by Marianne and Charlie from Wondering School.
Sample governance agreements
Documents that lays out a governance agreement for schools
See Unico school document (translated to English from German)
General Resources for Learning and Implementation
Meeting posters
Having a visual makes every meeting easier to follow.
Use them in your meeting room, or laminate and bring along?
Study group curriculum
6 1.5-hour sessions with exercises, readings, handouts, perfect for groups of 5-8 people. Video-led – just turn on the video and learn! By donation/coaching on a sliding scale.
Talk to a real human!
You’re not alone on this journey! We can connect you to others who have done it before, or talk you through a strategy that works for your particular circumstances.
Sociocracy Handbook
Written by the co-founders of Sociocracy For All. 300 pages.
All Education-Related Resources in Sociocracy For Al
