New Educational Society. The Illich’s Utophy

The aim of this article is to consider the power of school system based on Ivan Illich’s (1926 – 2002) thoughts. This article is based on a doctoral research in which Ivan Illich’s work on m o d e r n i z e d p o v e r t y w a s a n a l y z e d systematically by an immanent reconstruction concentrating on his most essential books published in the 1970s. This article, however, focuses on his book Deschooling Society (1971), and represents systematic analysis of its school-related criticism. Furthermore, the r e s e a r c h e r s’ i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o n t h e interconnectedness of Illich’s core concepts is introduced as the ultimate result. Illich’s purpose is to show that the society is extorted into a form of school and that we all are dependent on institutionalized services from professionals, in the same way that students are dependent on teachers complying with a curriculum. Along with his criticism, Illich has proposed an alternative model of school system: learning Webs that enable learning on t h e l e a r n e r ’s o w n t e r m s w i t h o u t a predetermined plan. From the perspective of the science of education, the essential elements of Illich’s work include a demand for the liberation of education, preservation of autonomy, and increasing reliance on selflearning.peerReviewe