A free school, sometimes spelled “free skool,” is a decentralized network in which skills, information and knowledge are shared outside of the institutional, authoritarian environment of formal schooling. In this context, a free school is a grassroots effort, a collection of individuals (often, but not always, adults) acting collectively to share knowledge and skills within their communities. One of the ways in which this type of student-centered learning environment differs from regular educational institutions (including democratic and alternative schools) is the lack of tuition; people help each other learn without charging fees.

By their anarchistic nature, free schools tend to come and go. However, we are compiling a list of such networks and would like reader input to this list. Send us an email if you know of a free school that’s not listed here, or to correct information about one that's already on our list.

FreeSchool Vancouver - Vancouver, British Columbia

Anarchist Free University - Toronto, Ontario

Tatamagouche Free School - Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia

Montreal Freeschool - Montreal, Quebec

Davis_People's_Free_School - Davis, California

Seattle Free School - Seattle, Washington

School of Everything - London, UK