No set subjects and no homework are just some of the ways that Ireland's alternative schools operate.

The schools are run by consensus between teachers and students, with no particular hierarchy.

The Wicklow Democratic School opened in 2016, and caters for primary and secondary students.

Ciara is a staff member there and told Lunchtime Live: "There's no principal; the staff and the students run the school together.

"There's plenty of rules, but they're chosen by the children and the staff together."

How it works

Ciara explained how the system works.

"Twice a week there's a school meeting, which is where all the decisions are made," she said.

"Anybody can write a proposal for it, and everybody gets to vote on it.

"In terms of choosing what to learn, that's up to the individual student.

"They work with staff to figure out if they want a timetable for themselves, or if they just want to get on and do it themselves independently or do things in classes in groups together".

A timetable is also created at the start of each term, and this can see parents teaching as well.

Curriculum

She said the children design their own curriculum.

"There is a timetable, but there's no one who does everything on the timetable and there's some who do nothing on the timetable and there's lots who do something on the timetable," she said.

"The children basically design their own curriculum - they tend to focus on anywhere between one and three topics or subjects or areas of interest and dive deep into that."

Leaving Cert

The school does not follow the State curriculum or offer the State exams; however, Ciara said students can choose to sit them if they wish.

"The option is there to do it if they want; we don't facilitate it - as in hold it in the school.

"If somebody wants to do it they're studying independently.

"In our experience, some older student who join the school come in with the idea they want to do it, but then by the time they're graduating, they're not doing it - they're choosing to go a different path."

She said most of their graduates "with one exception" have gone on to do PLC courses.

"The learning is much broader, and it's really redefining what learning is", she added.