Counterfoil

Research

Schooling

Education as an institution, and Illich’s case for learning without compulsory school.

  • Carl Hedman, 1934–2026

    Carl was a philosopher at UWM who had worked on cooperative neighbourhood projects since the 1960s. He introduced me to Ivan Illich’s work as we both volunteered our labour on Saturday mornings.

  • What is “counterfoil research?”

    Ivan Illich used this phrase in four books between 1971 and 1974 but never fully defined it. Read together with the questions this site starts from, Illich’s remarks about counterfoil research concern the public study of how tools and technological…

  • No mother tongue

    Illich grew up with several living languages and said he had no mother tongue. His distinction between learned vernacular speech and a taught, standard language shapes how we understand literacy.