Michael P. Smith, EDUCARE PER LA LIBERTÀ, 2019

The idea that the assumption of education is the freedom of the child and the aim of education is the freedom of the adult human being is shared by a broad spectrum of progressive pedagogical theories. But it is only the anti-authoritarian approach that with unquestionable consistency believes that the educational process to achieve those results must also be thought of and carried out in the field of freedom. Through a historical-pedagogical excursus that from Godwin, Tolstoy and Ferrer reaches Goodman, lllich and Read, Smith traces the essential features not only of the libertarian reflection on education, but also of the many experiments carried out over time in various parts of the world. And it does so while highlighting the fruitful influence that the libertarian approach has had on the main educational avant-garde, which have often taken up key concepts such as “integral education”, “autonomy”, “incidental learning”, “deschooling”.

Michael P. Smith, English, has long been principal of the pioneering Kingston Polytechnic College, now Kingston University London, as well as directing various pedagogical journals.