THE FREE AND HAPPY SCHOOL: AN OUTSIDER ALTERNATIVE IN CHILE

ABSTRACT This article examines the Proyecto Escuelita Libre y Feliz María Lefebre Lever (‘María Lefebre Lever Free and Happy School Project’), which gathers the largest network of schools outside the formal educational network in Chile. Drawing on a qualitative case-study based on in-depth interviews with staff and parents, it highlights the experiences of the community members who have founded this alternative educational network at the margins of prevailing educational formats in Chile. The main findings show how a community of parents and educators dissatisfied with the mainstream educational system have initiated, developed, and expanded a new educational project. The data goes on to describe the main characteristics of this model, and to relay the benefits and disadvantages of being part of an only contingently recognized schooling movement in the Chilean context.