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Episode 271: Democratic Schools and learning environments: A global perspective
Linda Nathan, Jonathan Mendonca, Gus Rojas Ayala are the co-editors of the book “Designing Democratic Schools and Learning Environments”. Through the book they study 38 schools from 14 countries and have developed a framework to study and create schools that develop a deep sense of participation, compassion, and civic responsibility in our future generations.
Linda, Jonathan and Gustavo met in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Linda was their professor with many years of experience designing and establishing democratic schools. Jonathan had extensive experience in India working at the grassroots with over 100,000 schools and Gustavo from Mexico led one of the country's most influential education policy think-tanks. Seeing the need and the potential of democratic across their contexts they decided to embark on the journey to produce a book about democratic education initiatives across the world. This book is structured on a framework that emerged through the study of practice across many schools and the co-editors first hand experiences. The framework helps study and design democratic education, which comprises four pillars:
- Democratic education emphasizes the open flow of ideas, choices, and perspectives, regardless of their popularity
- Democratic education holds students and all educators to high expectations while respecting students’ and educators’intersectional identities and varied cultural values and beliefs.
- Democratic education supports and interrogates the “common good” through critical and compassionate dialogue, active listening, and critical reflection to arrive at consensus and compromise.
- Democratic education is built upon collective decision-making structures with students, families, educators, and community members in order to solve theirs and society’s most urgent challenges.
- There is now a 5th pillar: Democratic resilience which includes four intertwined dimensions:
- a shared purpose and analysis of power that explains why democratic education matters and whom it serves;
- relationships of trust that act as the cement between the other pillars;
- the resilience and renewal of educators, without whom no democratic practice can endure; and
- structural supports—networks, legitimacy, and alliances—that connect individual schools to something larger than themselves.
About our guests:
Linda F. Nathan, Ed.D.
Linda F. Nathan is a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Cambridge College, Puerto Rico, where she teaches courses on designing democratic schools and organizational change. With decades of experience in education, Linda brings deep expertise in founding and leading schools and nonprofits to her teaching and leadership coaching, supporting educators both nationally and internationally.
She was the founding principal of Boston Arts Academy—the city’s first public high school for the visual and performing arts—as well as the co-director of Fenway High School and founder of the Tobin Bilingual Middle School for the Arts. Linda has also established three nonprofits focused on arts advocacy, youth development, education reform, and creativity. As the co-founder and co-director of the Perrone Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership, she has helped prepare hundreds of educators for leadership roles in schools and nonprofits.
Linda is the author of The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test and When Grit Isn’t Enough, and co-editor of Designing Democratic Schools and Democratic Learning Environments: A Global Perspective. Her forthcoming book Democratic Schools Matter will be published in October 2026. She regularly shares reflections and resources on her blog.
Linda holds a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University, Master’s degrees from Emerson College and Antioch University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jonathan F. Mendonca is the Co-founder of Human Studios is a global consultancy that helps schools and education organizations rethink learning and practically integrate technology in meaningful, responsible ways. He is also the Co-founder of The Unifly Collective, a non-profit that builds school leadership for the twenty-first century across over 130,000 schools in India.
He has served as an educator, author, institute builder and policy advocate. Jonathan designed Rehnuma, the world's first incubator for school principals, helping them rapidly increase the pace of school improvement and amplify their impact to influence implementation across their region. From grassroots implementation to policy, he brings a human-centred and systems-driven approach to complex school challenges.
Jonathan holds a degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was awarded the New World Social Innovation Fellowship by the Harvard Kennedy School for his efforts toward systemic social change. He is also a Saul Zaentz Fellow, Young India Fellow and won the Falling Walls award for education innovation.
Gustavo Rojas Ayala is the Founder and CEO of Aquí Se Aprende Liderazgo, a leadership consultancy firm operating across Mexico, Chile, and Latin America that supports school leaders and entrepreneurs in building the skills, structures, and communities needed to lead with purpose and lasting impact.
He has served as an educator, consultant, researcher, and policy advocate. Gustavo developed Liderazgo con PIES Firmes, a proprietary leadership model that integrates the human, political, structural, and symbolic dimensions of organizations, and has applied it through coaching processes and professional learning communities with school networks, public education systems, and founder-led businesses across the region. He previously served as Director General of Mexicanos Primero Sinaloa, where he led evidence-based advocacy and systemic reform efforts in Mexican public education.
Gustavo holds a degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a former Enseña Chile fellow. And he serves in several honorary advisory roles in organizations such as Harvard Alumni for Education, Center for Artistry and Scholarship, Radix Education and Teach For All.
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