école autrement, école alternative, école différente, collège lycée innovant, expérimental ...
2018 ?                                       ... 2118 ?
Une autre école est-elle possible?
 

I Des écoles publiques "expérimentales" I I Actes du Séminaire International Freinet de Londres I I Freinet dans (?) le "système" éducatif (?) français ? I I Appel à une action commune pour une transformation du service public d'éducation I I FREINET & THE ANGLO-SAXONS I (Nicholas BEATTIE, University of Liverpool, G.B.) I FREINET AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION I (Hugh STARKEY, The Open University) I Persécutés dès le préau au Japon I JAPON : Les écoles de la liberté   Summerhill creed given a clean-up L'édition originale de "Summerhill" va être rééditée et ... rewritée, "excised", par la fille de A.S. Neill ... Plus "politically correct" ?

 

PROCES CONTRE LA FERMETURE A PARTIR DU 20 MARS 2000      Le gouvernement anglais ("socialiste" - tendance blairo-victorienne - depuis bientôt trois ans), stigmatisant l’état délabré de l’enseignement public encourage et organise depuis septembre 98 le sponsoring de celui-ci par des entreprises privées.       ...Et s’est bizarrement mis en tête de harceler l’école de Summerhill (qui ne reçoit pourtant aucun subside) quant au «niveau» de ses élèves et leur fréquentation des cours. Début 99, huit inspecteurs de sa Gracieuse Majesté sont venus, armés de tests, questionner les 56 enfants et adolescents - dont les 3/4 sont étrangers - et le 13 mars, Zoé, la fille de A.S. Neill, et actuelle directrice, a reçu un dernier ultimatum : remise aux normes (qui videraient ce lieu de sa substance même) ou fermeture.      Les enseignants, les enfants et adolescents, leurs parents, les anciens et d'innombrables amis à travers le monde, ont engagé une riposte de grande ampleur.       Si tous les travaux de mise aux normes concernant l'hygiène et la sécurité ont été réalisés, il est hors de question pour Summerhill de changer sa pédagogie (au profit de celle - ou de l'absence de - qui fait les ravages que nous connaissons en G.B. et ailleurs ?!)      Ce lundi 20 mars, s'est ouvert à Londres le procès intenté par l'école contre la décision de fermeture.     Zoe Redhead, headteacher of Summerhill in Suffolk,  surrounded by her pupils outside the High Court yesterday            Photograph: ANTHONY UPTON  AFP - lundi 20 mars 2000, 16h06   Les "enfants libres" de Summerhill font bloc au procès de leur école LONDRES, 20 mars (AFP) - Inquiets pour leur école connue dans le monde entier, des dizaines d'"enfants libres" de Summerhill se sont massés lundi à la Haute cour de Londres qui juge cette semaine si cet exemple unique de "démocratie scolaire" peut continuer ses activités. La direction de l'école fait appel d'une menace de fermeture de la part des autorités scolaires britanniques qui relèvent les faibles résultats de l'établissement. "Cette école est mon foyer, ma famille où j'exerce mes droits. Pour moi, c'est capital d'être présent", explique Alex Coad, 14 ans, un des 60 élèves de Summerhill (est de l'Angleterre), venu de son propre chef au tribunal. Les "libres enfants de Summerhill" -- titre du livre d'A.S. Neill plébiscité par des millions de personne -- ont annoncé leur intention de revenir pour la deuxième journée d'audience. Les enseignants sont également là pour défendre la philosophie révolutionnaire d'A.S. Neill, fondateur en 1921 de l'établissement où l'on peut "sécher" les cours pour aller plonger, éventuellement nu, dans la piscine. Sa fille et actuelle directrice de Summerhill, Zoë Readhead, avoue lors d'une suspension de séance être "tendue". Ses élèves, actuels ou anciens, l'étreignent, pleins d'émotion. "Ce qui est en jeu est immense", confie Michael Newman, professeur de sciences. Plus tôt, un des avocats de Summerhill s'est employé à réfuter les rapports d'experts concluant que l'établissement payant -- 6.550 livres ou 10.500 euros par an -- ne remplit pas "les obligations statutaires de logement, de santé et d'instruction des enfants". Le ministre de l'Education David Blunkett avait estimé l'été dernier que Summerhill incitait les élèves "à confondre la paresse avec l'exercice de leur liberté personnelle". "Ce n'est pas une école où l'on va de 9 à 15 heures. C'est une démocratie en continu. L'enseignement y fonctionne 24 heures sur 24", plaide Me Geoffrey Robertson. Et de rappeler qu'à Summerhill chaque décision sur la vie de l'école est prise lors d'un vote où la voix d'un enfant vaut autant que celle d'un adulte. "Le système éducatif de Neill rejette la tyrannie des examens imposés. La notation est hostile au progrès. Les élèves apprennent bien ce qu'ils choisissent d'apprendre", poursuit l'avocat évoquant des enfants "pleins de joie de vivre et d'entrain". Les autorités éducatives britanniques sont loin de partager cet enthousiasme. Se fondant sur de multiples inspections ces dernières années, elles pointent des faiblesses dans les connaissances des élèves. "Certains ont abandonné les maths pendant deux ans d'affilée", ont noté des experts. La dernière inspection s'est conclue en juin 1999 par une mise en demeure du ministère de l'Education, enjoignant à l'école de se mettre en conformité dans les six mois. Zoë Readhead a fait appel mais, si après huit jours de débats, sa cause est rejetée, Summerhill fermera. Cela serait "un acte de vandalisme contre l'éducation", estime Me Robertson, citant avec humour la réussite d'anciens élèves dans tous les métiers "sauf homme politique et inspecteur des affaires scolaires". "Il y a tellement de parents qui sont persuadés que Summerhill est la meilleure école du monde", lance-t-il dans une salle bondée acquise à son plaidoyer. Au coeur des reproches, l'assiduité facultative revient souvent dans les débats. "Les inspecteurs ont constaté que des élèves ne suivaient pas certains cours. Mais ils n'ont pas cherché à savoir à quoi ils employaient leur temps : souvent des activités leur permettant de développer pleinement leurs potentiels", assure l'avocat de Mme Readhead.  Selon lui, les cinq "fléaux contemporains de l'éducation", à savoir le racket, le racisme, les abus sexuels, la drogue et le vandalisme, sont inconnus à Summerhill. seb/bb/bds eaf ----------------------- THE TIMES - 21 03 2000 Pupils fight for the right to skip lessons              BY ADAM SHERWIN    PUPILS at the pioneering progressive school where lessons are optional abandoned class for the High Court yesterday where the fate of their establishment is being decided.  More than 70 years of liberal "child-centred" teaching was placed on trial as David Blunkett, the Education Secretary, sought permission to close Summerhill, the boarding school where swearing and nude bathing are encouraged.  But the pupils who packed into the court in Central London, many from abroad, heard that closing the school would be "an act of educational vandalism".  Ofsted inspectors reported that the co-educational school in Suffolk had failed to maintain proper standards.  The school was founded in 1921 by A.S. Neill so that children could "develop free from fear" and became the pioneer of "trendy" teaching methods that became derided by traditionalists.  The school, which charges its 59 pupils boarding fees of £6,550 a year, is appealing against a notice of complaint issued by Mr Blunkett last summer after the highly critical Ofsted report.  The inspectors found that pupils were allowed to "mistake idleness for the exercise of personal liberty". Reporting serious weaknesses in children's learning, it added: "The root cause of the defects is nonattendance at lessons."  Geoffrey Robertson, QC, for Summerhill, told the independent schools tribunal that the freedom exercised by the school's pupils whether or not to go into the classroom was not negotiable. He said: "It's freedom or nothing. If you insist that it is negotiable, as Ofsted wants to make it, that will be the end of Summerhill. It would have to close and that would be an act of educational vandalism."  For some pupils, Summerhill offered "the best education they could possibly have", he claimed.  The court was told that in 1992 a schools inspector had tried to find the children not attending class.  Two boys were playing with a dagger in the woods, four others were sleeping in an impromptu campsite and two "unselfconscious" pupils were swimming naked in the mixed pool.  Mr Robertson said: "The inspector found Summerhill's element of enchantment. But happiness is not for inspectors and never again did they venture back into the woods."  He told the tribunal - headed by John Wroath, a retired circuit judge - that the burden of proof rested on Mr Blunkett to show that Summerhill had failed to provide "suitable and efficient instruction".  Alison Foster, counsel for the Secretary of State, said that it was not Mr Blunkett's intention to make attending lessons compulsory. But the norm, either through ignorance or peer pressure, had become non-attendance. The minister wanted Summerhill to change, consistent with its ethos, and had emphasised the need to make lessons attractive to encourage attendance without compelling it.  Outside court Zoe Readhead, the headteacher and daughter of A.S. Neill, said compromise was impossible. "They are asking us to change our philosophy, which we cannot do. The pupils must be entirely free to choose whether to come to class or not," she said. Mr Robertson, meanwhile, asked the tribunal to note how many of the "so-called failed pupils" had doctorates and degrees and were working in the creative arts, accountancy and management.  He said that almost every profession was represented, with former pupils including the successful film actress, Rebecca de Mornay, Mike Bernal, Professor of Mathematics at London University, Bunny Leer, the author and historian, and Evelyn Williams, the artist.  Mr Robertson said pupils who suffered bullying at other schools found a new lease of life at Summerhill, where racism and sexism did not exist. GCSE results were also improving.   A LA POUBELLE ! Dès les premières protestations des responsables de l'école, un haut fonctionnaire s'est hasardé à déclarer que "si ce rapport ne leur plaisait pas, ils n'avaient qu'à le jeter à la poubelle". Ce qui fut fait, solennellement et joyeusement,par tous les participants de la rencontre internationale cet été à Summerhill. Depuis, de nombreuses autres opérations de "bining" ont régulièrement lieu - photos à l'appui pour alimenter le site de l'école - à travers le monde entier. A notre connaissance, aucune manifestation de soutien n'a encore eu lieu en France. Le rapport est disponible à l'adresse ci-dessous. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/summerhill.htm   Une imprimante, une poubelle, un appareil photo... A vous de jouer !   Zoe, fille de A.S. Neil, jette le "rapport" à la poubelle ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  January 14 2000                        TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT                        News & opinion     Fight is on to save radical school Summerhill's defenders are preparing their case.     The campaign to save Summerhill - the progressive Suffolk school where children choose whether to attend lessons - is gathering pace as supporters prepare to fight for its future at an independent tribunal.  An independent inspection report will challenge the judgment of Education Secretary David Blunkett, who ordered that the school must change fundamentally or close.  A self-appointed team of educationists and headteachers who spent six weeks at the 78-year-old school have concluded that it should be free to continue its policy of not forcing pupils to learn.  The inquiry team, led by Dr Ian Cunningham, a visiting professor at Middlesex University, will contest the findings of school inspectors who last May "failed" the school.  Their study, to be published later this month, will say that the inspectors failed to give sufficient emphasis to the school's abovaverage GCSE results.  Inspectors' claims that pupils were "idle" when out of lessons were called ill-founded because there had been no systematic observation of pupils out of lessons, they will say.  Dr Cunningham said: "Parents are happy with what the school has to offer.We have seen no evidence to suggest that the school is operating any differently from the way it has done for the past 78 years.  "The Secretary of State should acknowledge the importance of different types of education in a pluralist democracy, and withdraw his notice of complaint. "  Among those on the inquiry team are children's author Michael Rosen and Jill Horsburgh, head of a leading private girls' school, the Godolphin School, Salisbury.  The school, which was set up by the legendary AS Neill, is refusing to comply with three of six aspects of the complaint notice, including forbidding adults and pupils of both sexes from using the same toilets. It has been told to ensure that all pupils either attend lessons or are given self-supporting study programmes. This is seen as an assault on the school's central philosophy.  The case will be considered by an independent schools tribunal in March. However, pupils recentlyn surprised their teachers by voting for more lessons in the afternoons. Until now pupils have opted only to have formal lessons in the mornings.  Warwick Mansell  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L'ICEM-FREINET  REPRESENTE A SUMMERHILL        " I am very happy to represent the Modern School Cooperative Institute - Freinet Pedagogy at this conference, very happy because it has enabled me to come back to Summerhill, to meet so many people from alternative schools and to talk to you about a French educationalist who is almost unknown in the English-speaking world.  I think that we in terms of democratic education we ignore each other on both sides of the channel. It was a great pleasure to me to meet with so many interesting people here. " Raphaël Doridant.

"Times Educational Supplement" - September 17 1999             Russians defend Summerhill ethos           Nick Holdsworth            Democrats fear the threat to the school represents a shift           towards totalitarian education policies.                              Nick Holdsworth reports from Moscow               Summerhill, the threatened school famed for its free-thinking but           controversial methods, has received a vote of support from an           unexpected source.            Leaders of Russia's democratic education movement have rallied           to its defence, warning Education Secretary David Blunkett that           closing the independent school would "damage the authority of the           English education system".            The Suffolk school has been given six months by Office for           Standards in Education inspectors to address concerns including           students skipping lessons and dirty toilets. But closing it would be           a blow to progressive education worldwide, the Russians say.            In a letter to Mr Blunkett, teachers and educationists expressed           their anxiety about the fate of the school. They said that the           example set by Summerhill, established in the 1920s by free           school advocate AS Neill, had remained an inspiration to           innovative teachers the world over. The existence of such schools           was an essential bulwark against the international tendency           towards "totalitarian education policies", they added.            Alexander Tubelski, head of the Moscow School of           Self-Determination, a state school where pupils are expected to           attend lessons but can choose which activities, projects or studies           to pursue throughout the day, said: "Preserving Summerhill is an           issue of human rights, academic freedom and educational culture.            "Real developments in education are not due to government           standards or policies, but to practical precedents that either live or           die. If they live they have influence for all progressive systems of           education," said Mr Tubelski, who is also president of the Russian           Association of Democratic Schools.            His school, established in the mid-1980s when Soviet orthodoxy           still dominated education, had drawn upon the influence of AS           Neill despite the fact that no Russian translations were available of           his work. News of Summerhill's methods reached Russia through           a network of personal contacts,he said.            Professor Yulia Tourchaninova, the deputy head of the Russian           national teacher retraining centre, said the fact that Neill's books           were never translated in Soviet times demonstrated the threat he           posed to totalitarian systems.            Professor Tourchaninova, who has just finished the first Russian           translation of Neill's Summerhill: A Compilation, said: "It's ironic           that in such a democratic nation as Britain totalitarian approaches           to education are threatening a school such as Summerhill." ---------------- En fin de page, article du T.E.S. du 28 mai 1999 et dépêche AFP du 13 juillet 1999. -------- 14 juillet : Le meeting de Summerhill school à "Downing Street".

          99 May 27: Britain's most famous progressive school could
          be facing closure, following a damning OFSTED report
          which has accused it of "not providing an adequate
          education".

          Summerhill School in Suffolk, where pupils attend
          lessons only when they want to, is expected to face a
          notice of complaint from Education Secretary David
          Blunkett, which would mean that the school would have
          six months to make changes or face closure.

          Ofsted inspectors say the school allows pupils'
          education to "drift" and that many of the older children
          have poor standards of numeracy, reading and writing.

          Non-attendance at lessons is believed to be a root
          cause of the problem, with some pupils abandoning
          maths for up to two years.

          However, head teacher Zoe Redhead has vowed to
          "fight as hard as we can" against any moves to close
          the school which was founded by her father 78 years
          ago.

          Ms Redhead vehemently opposes any change to the
          school's unique system of education, particularly the
          introduction of compulsory lessons.

          "That would strike at the root of our philosophy of
          freedom for the individual and self-government in a
          democratic community," she said.
 

Axe hangs over the last free school

            Geraldine Hackett

            Summerhill - famous for giving pupils choice and nude bathing - has fallen foul of OFSTED.
                Geraldine Hackett reports
 

                The doors may be about to close on Summerhill, the progressive Suffolk school that for 75 years has allowed pupils to choose between swimming or going to lessons.

                It looks as if the privately-owned school has fallen
                foul of Her Majesty's Inspectors once too often.
                The clash of ideologies is likely to mean a final
                warning will be issued this week and that the school
                will be struck of the list of registered independent
                schools. Once off the register, it cannot legally
                operate.

                Inspectors say the school has allowed too many
                pupils to confuse the pursuit of idleness for the
                exercise of personal liberty.

                This time, there is no mention of nude bathing as
                there was in an Office for Standards in Education
                report in 1994, which noted that staff and pupils
                shared an interest in unconventional extra-curricula
                activities. But there is criticism of the sanitation
                arrangements - namely that adults and children of
                both sexes use the same lavatories.

                Zoe Readhead, principal of Summerhill and
                daughter of its founder AS Neill, fears the school
                cannot comply with the notice of complaint she is
                expecting from Department for Education and
                Employment officials because it would mean insisting
                that pupils attend lessons.

                "I will not compromise on our philosophy that
                children have the freedom to choose whether they
                attend lessons. Most of our children have been
                traumatised in the state system or other private
                schools," she says.

                The future of the school has been uncertain for 10
                years. It has escaped closure by making
                improvements to facilities and producing what HMI
                describe as "promising" plans of action. However,
                the latest inspection report suggests the plans have
                only partially been implemented. It insists that
                inspectors are not passing judgment on Summerhill's
                "unique philosophy", but on whether the education
                being provided is effective.

                There are only 60 pupils, aged 10 to 17. The fact
                that two-thirds are from abroad, is according to Mrs
                Readhead, testament to the regard in which the
               British "free" school movement is held in other
                countries. The school seems to be particularly
                attractive to families from Japan and Korea,
                countries with highly-competitive systems.

                As the report says, the pursuit of high academic
                achievement and improved rates of pupils' progress
                are not regarded as priorities by the principal and
                staff. The principal puts it more succinctly: "I would
                rather Summerhill produced a happy street sweeper
                than a neurotic Prime Minister."

                The school is run as a community and its rules are
                devised and imposed by a two-weekly meeting of
                all staff and pupils, where fines are handed out for
                transgressions.

                This week the school was published a booklet
                celebrating its 75th anniversary. In its description of
                the school its asks the reader to:

                "Imagine a world where a child can tell you to fuck
                off not only with confidence, but with the joy of
                being an individual, and sharing the revolution
                against the normal values of adult and child, that
                brings a warm shared smile or laughter between
                both of you." Boarding fees are Pounds 6,250 a
                year.

                LOOKING BACK WITH NOSTALGIA

                SUMMERHILL is the sole survivor of the "free
                school" movement that began in the 1920s and
                reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s. The
                weekly council at which pupils and staff decide the
                laws of the community is the forerunner of school
                councils, though none in the state system is allowed
                to decide policy.

                The school's future still arouses passions. June
                Libardi, who has a 10-year-old daughter at the
                school, is angry because she believes the school has
                been unfairly judged.

                "The inspectors did not understand the school's way
                of learning. They are expecting the kind of changes
                that cannot be made," she said.

                Chris Austin, a film-maker, who sent both his sons
                to Summerhill, said he was appalled at the prospect
                of the school closing.

                "This is a fundamental attack on parents' right to
                educate their children in the way they see fit. What
                children do at Summerhill is of far greater value than
                what is provided at traditional schools."

                His sons, he said, benefitted from their time at the
                school. One is a student at the London film school
                and the other is an inventor.

                Former students look back with nostalgia. Sara
                Kuwakara, 19, and Yoko Nishimura, 17, are both
                studying art A-level at more traditional institutions.
                They chose to go to lessons, particularly in the
                run-up to taking GCSEs, but they also spent long
                summer days in the swimming pool.

                "We even used to sneak out at night to swim in the
                pool," said Sara. Their Japanese parents had read
                about Summerhill and sent them to England to
                escape their own pressured system.

                Among the school's devotees is Roland Meighan,
                former professor of education at Nottingham and
                one of the founders of Education Otherwise, the
                organisation which assists parents who wish to
                education their children at home. He views the threat
                of closure as an attempt to impose "an authoritarian
                domination model".

                "I see Summerhill as a candle in the wind," he said.
                "Other schools, such as Dartington have been
                closed down. The ethnic cleansing in the Balkans is
                a direct result of state-imposed domination-based
                systems of education."

                * SIX MONTHS TO IMPROVE OR CLOSE
                DOWN

                THE school is condemned by inspectors for failing
                to provide suitable education and for failing to
                safeguard the welfare and safety of boarders. David
                Blunkett, the Education Secretary, was due this
                week to issue a notice giving the school six months
                to improve or close.

                The root problem, says the report, is that pupils do
                not attend lessons. Some abandon maths for up to
                two years and the curriculum for the great majority
                is fragmented, disjointed and narrow.

                Few improvements have been made since the last
                inspection and the school has rejected advice from
                Suffolk social services that separate toilets should be
                provided for boys and girls.

               The report says that many pupils who do not
                regularly attend classes between the ages of 11 and
                16 have poor reading and writing skills. Children
                with special educational needs make insufficient
                progress because they do not go to lessons.

                Two-thirds of pupils are from abroad and many do
                not attend the English-as-a-second-language
                lessons. As a result they do not acquire enough
                English to be able to take full part in the school's
                democratic system which is said to be a distinctive
                strength.

                Pupils take GCSEs, but the school was unable to
                provide the information required to make
                comparisons with national results. In 1998, 20
                pupils aged between 15 and 17 took 69 GCSEs
                and 52 of these gained A*-Cs.

                The school accepts the widespread use by both staff
                and pupils of crude language that many people
                would find offensive, though it is a school rule that
                adults or children should not swear in front of
                visitors.

                The inspectors found pupils to be well-behaved and
                courteous. Standards of speaking and listening are
                good, as is the reading of 14 to 16-year-olds.

                The school does not have a teacher with a
                qualification in special education needs.
                Expectations of children with special needs are
                generally low and such pupils are not well catered
                for.

                To stay open, the school will have to raise
                standards, especially in English, maths and science;
                improve the quality of planning and teaching for
                seven to 11-year-olds; and make the welfare
                provision required by the Children Act.
 

---------Dépêche AFP du 13 07 99 -------------------------------------------
Le gouvernement veut mettre au pas les
"libres enfants de Summerhill"

LONDRES, 13 juil 1999 - Pour des millions de personnes, Summerhill a
symbolisé l'école alternative, fondée sur le libre-arbitre des élèves. Mais à 78 ans, "la plus vieille démocratie d'enfants au monde" voit son avenir menacé par les autorités éducatives britanniques.

L'école de Summerhill est née en 1921 de l'imagination d'un professeur écossais, A.S. Neill, aujourd'hui disparu mais dont les principes très libéraux en matière d'éducation scolaire animent toujours Zoë Readhead, sa fille âgée de 52 ans qui a repris le flambeau.

La lettre officielle du ministère de l'Education est arrivée voilà deux semaines, raconte à l'AFP la  combative directrice de la petite école de Leiston (est de l'Angleterre), qui accueille une soixantaine d'enfants âgés de 8 à 16 ans, venus du monde entier.

Le ministère a décrété au terme d'une inspection que l'établissement ne remplissait pas "les obligations statutaires de logement, de santé et d'instruction des enfants". Et sommé sa directrice de se mettre en conformité dans les douze mois, faute de quoi l'école fermerait.

Le dossier est mal engagé : si elle admet que certains bâtiments méritent d'être renovés, Mme Readhead ne reconnaît absolument pas la validité des critères éducatifs mis en avant par les autorités.

Des millions de lecteurs à travers le monde ont dévoré dans les années soixante et soixante-dix les ouvrages d'A.S. Neill racontant la vie quotidienne des "Libres enfants de Summerhill", autorisés selon leur gré à "sécher" les cours pour aller plonger dans la piscine ou paresser dans le jardin de six hectares entourant l'école.

"Ici, on a même le droit de...s'ennuyer", proclame la brochure de l'établissement, "fier de ne pas être une usine à examens" et qui encourage le travail du bois, le théâtre et la musique au même titre que les mathématiques ou la géographie.

"Nous demander que tous les enfants suivent régulièrement un enseignement, comme le fait le ministère de l'Education, va complètement à l'encontre de notre philosophie", explique Mme Readhead.

Selon elle, le "sensationnalisme" du rapport d'inspection, couplé à des articles de presse brossant le tableau indigné d'élèves nus dans la piscine de l'école à l'heure du cours de maths, révèlent avant tout une cabale contre un établissement atypique.

A Summerhill, on tutoie son professeur et chaque décision sur la vie de l'école est prise lors d'un vote où la voix d'un enfant de huit ans vaut autant que celle d'un adulte. "C'est la plus vieille démocratie d'enfants au monde", assure ses défenseurs.

Cette démocratie a un prix : les frais scolaires s'élèvent à 6.550 livres par an (10.152 dollars, 10.021 euros). "Summerhill est une école privée parce qu'aucun gouvernement n'a proposé de la financer !", rétorque Zoë Readhead aux accusations d'élitisme.

En outre, 75% de nos élèves ont réussi en 1998 leur examen de fin d'année, souligne-t-elle.

"Mais il ne s'agit pas seulement de Summerhill, il s'agit de la liberté d'éducation et du libre-choix des parents", prévient Mme Readhead dans un pays dont les 800 pensionnats privés témoignent d'un grand attachement à ces principes sacrés.

Pour le court terme, l'école doit déposer mercredi à Downing Street des lettres de protestations. Au delà, "nous sommes prêts, si nécessaire, à saisir la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme !", prévient Zoë Readhead.

Quant aux bains nus dans la piscine, ils sont effectivement autorisés car "c'est une question de choix personnel". "Mais en fait, presque tout le monde porte un maillot de bain", assure la directrice.

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Ces libres enfants
qui agacent le gouvernement britannique

 Le Monde - 20 février 2000
 

LES enfants ne sont plus vêtus de parkas en peau de mouton comme sur la couverture très «seventies» de l'édition du livre d'A. S. Neill chez Maspero. Aujourd'hui, c'est plutôt le style rap qui prédomine, mais le temps ne semble pas avoir passé sur les libres enfants de Summerhill. Ils s'ébrouent toujours par petits groupes sur la pelouse râpée, dans la salle de jeux de la bicoque en briques rouges peu rutilantes, dans les chambres en désordre des bungalows en bois. « Es-tu occupé, Nathan ? » « Non », répond aussitôt Nathan, gentiment prêt à se rendre utile. Il est rare, à Summerhill, que les enfants soient « occupés ».

C'est Zoe Readhead, la propre fille du fondateur A. S. Neill, mort en 1973, qui dirige maintenant l'école. A cinquante-quatre ans, elle en est elle-même une ancienne élève, y a mis ses quatre enfants et est restée en tout fidèle aux principes de son père. Ses 58 pensionnaires, qui viennent des quatre coins du monde, vont aux cours s'ils le veulent, quand ils le veulent, c'est-à-dire peu. La plupart commencent par passer une ou plusieurs années sans y mettre les pieds. « Pendant deux ans, je ne suis allé à aucun cours, reconnaît Nathan. Et puis, à un moment, j'avais fait tellement de cabanes que je n'avais plus rien de mieux à faire. » « C'est l'ennui qui devient ennuyeux », renchérit Côme, un pensionnaire français qui déclare aller « assez souvent » en classe. Mais Risako, une Japonaise de quinze ans, commence à s'inquiéter de savoir à peine lire. « Mon envie d'aller aux cours n'est toujours pas venue », dit-elle sans se trouver drôle, vaguement gênée.

Les bienfaits de « l'école du bonheur », les enfants sont les premiers à en être convaincus. Mais que deviennent donc les anciens élèves de Summerhill ? « Des génies ? Jusqu'à présent, non », admettait Neill, pour qui l'objectif n'est pas la réussite scolaire ou professionnelle, mais le bonheur. Il précisait aussi que le succès d'une scolarité à Summerhill dépend largement de la qualité du milieu familial, lequel reste privilégié - le coût de la pension est de 6 500 livres par an (environ 5 400 francs par mois). Pas de génies, donc, mais le niveau de réussite des « Summerhilliens » au GCSE, sorte d'équivalent du BEPC, n'est pas inférieur à celui de la moyenne nationale. La presse britannique multiplie les témoignages d'anciens élèves épanouis. Ils ont appris à ne faire que ce qu'ils aiment et à prendre confiance. Ils sont ébénistes, acteurs, fermiers, conseillers en gestion, professeurs en sciences médicales, ingénieurs. Certains ont poursuivi des études à l'université, d'autres non.

MISE EN DEMEURE
« On apprend mieux, parce qu'on le fait quand on en a envie. » A Summerhill, c'est à croire que c'en est devenu une comptine, pour ne pas dire un catéchisme. Le ministère britannique de l'éducation, lui, se montre peu sensible à la reconnaissance du désir de l'enfant. Que Summerhill soit une institution privée entièrement autonome, destinée à une poignée d'élèves généralement inadaptables au système scolaire traditionnel, ne l'émeut pas davantage. Depuis une dizaine d'années, et particulièrement sous l'impulsion des travaillistes, il tente de mettre fin à cette minuscule enclave libertaire, vieille de soixante-dix-neuf ans. En mai 1999, un rapport d'inspection accablant a été rendu public. Du non-respect des programmes à la mixité des toilettes, l'école est mise en demeure de se conformer à ses recommandations, sous peine d'être fermée.

Zoe Readhead a obtempéré sur certains points, mais refuse de transiger sur la philosophie fondamentale de Summerhill. Elle poursuit le gouvernement en justice, prête à faire appel s'il le faut devant la Cour européenne. La première audience est prévue autour du 20 mars. Pour les élèves, qui ont déjà rencontré des parlementaires et un membre du bureau des Nations unies, la cause est capitale.
Et, pour les Lords, l'occasion trop belle d'ajouter un poil d'ironie au désordre ambiant : certains d'entre eux ont donc exprimé envers Summerhill un soutien radical. Si ce n'est pour défendre sa philosophie, du moins son droit à exister.

  M. V. R.

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