Neill's Educational Legacy
Neill's notions of freedom and education, considered controversial in their time, influenced many of the progressive educators who came after him.
Modern advocates, such as John Taylor Gatto, John Holt and many others in the unschooling, democratic education and homeschooling movements, have taken Neill's ideas further and updated them, providing energetic and radical critiques of the compulsion-based schooling which is still prevalent in most countries. There are now many schools all over the world based the ideas of democratic education (see list); many take part in the annual International Democratic Education Conference whose initial meeting was held in Israel in 1993.
Summerhill School, which Neill founded, was in 2007 accepted by OFSTED as providing a good quality of academic education for children. Summerhill has also been recognised by the United Nations for its exceptionally good treatment of children.
"The convention of the Rights of the Child makes particular reference to children's rights to participate in decisions affecting them and Summerhill, through its very approach to education, embodies this right in a way that surpasses expectation." - Paulo David, Secretary, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
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