A Sudbury school is a school that practices a form of democratic education in which students individually decide what to do with their time, and learn as a by-product of ordinary experience rather than adopting a descriptive educational syllabus or standardized instruction by classes following a prescriptive curriculum.
Students have complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by direct democracy in which students and staff are equals.
The name ‘Sudbury’ refers to Sudbury Valley School, founded in 1968 in Framingham, Massachusetts, the first school of this type. Around the world, there are now more than 30 Sudbury-type schools. These schools are not formally related in any way, but are a loosely connected network that are mutually supportive of each other, operating as independent entities.
The model varies in some ways from other types of democratic schools and anarchistic free schools, but there are many similarities:
De-emphasis of classes: There is no curriculum or set of required courses. Instead, learner interest guides things, with students studying what they want to study. Generally, there are no classrooms, just rooms where people choose to congregate.
Age mixing: students are not separated into age-groups of any kind and are enabled to mix freely, interacting with those younger and older than themselves; free age-mixing is highlighted as a powerful tool for learning and development in all ages.
Autonomous democracy: parents have limited involvement or no involvement in the school administration; Sudbury schools are operated by a democratic school meeting where the students and staff participate exclusively and equally. Such meetings are also the only authority on hiring and firing of staff, unlike most other schools.
Sudbury schools are based on the belief that no kind of curriculum is required to prepare a young person for adult life. Instead, these schools emphasize learning as a natural by-product of all human activity.