In recent years Poland has seen an upsurge in the development of so-called democratic or free schools. These are initiatives set up by parents who, dissatisfied with mainstream schooling, take their children out of school and create alternative educational establishments. The schools typically express their commitment to the core principles of democratic education (as outlined by the European Democratic Education Community), i.e., equality and respect as central values, self-directed learning and collective decision making. The empirical basis for this presentation comes from an ethnographic research project conducted in five such schools in different parts of Poland, where a team of researchers carried out long- or shorter-term observations, interviews with staff members, parents and students, and document analysis. My aim is to explore how the values of equality and respect play out in everyday practice at these schools, with a particular focus on relationships between children and adults. Using a conceptual framework based on Foucault’s theory of power as productive and always circulating (Foucault 1980, 1995) and the concept of positioning (Davies and Harré 1990), I intend to: (1) explore how the interrelated positions of children and adults are constructed through practices such as making plans and taking decisions, using space, or engaging in bodily contacts; (2) establish the practical meaning of equality and respect as central values. Preliminary findings demonstrate that: (1) The ways in which children and adults relate to each other and their specific positions are established are influenced by discourses that circulate in the democratic education movement, especially those related to autonomous learning, non-violent communication, attachment and unconditional parenting; (2) Despite common references to equality and respect as central values, child-adult relations take different forms in specific schools, as children’s involvement in decision-making practices or their co-responsibility for the school are conceptualized and practiced differently; (3) In the social context characterized by a hierarchical generational order, the processes of establishing child and adult positions founded on the values of equality and respect may require a conscious effort from adults. Staff members and parents, while declaring their commitment to these values, may nevertheless find themselves forced to confront and reconsider their own ways of approaching children. As a result, egalitarian and respectful relationships between children and adults cannot be taken for granted in a democratic school; rather, they are a product of systematic, challenging work.

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