Progressive Education

Learn How to Set Up a School or Learning Community – NEW MEMBERSHIP PLATFORM Setting up a #School or #LearningCommunity is a wonderful, exciting and rewarding adventure, but at times it can feel overwhelming. This is why, in collaboration with Limitless we have launched a new #membership community which offers: Expert webinars: Live monthly webinars with founders of #innovative #schools and #learning communities and practitioners in #progressive methods in #education, where you get to ask the questions most important to you (recorded for those who can’t make it live). Group coaching: Live monthly #coaching for peer #support and #collaborative problem solving to help you overcome challenges and meet other #community members (online, so you can access wherever you are in the world). Community platform: In our online community platform we will be sharing resources and ideas, and supporting each other between sessions. Bonuses: We have included an array of extra bonuses too! Please click on the link in the comments below for more information. #NewEducationalParadigm #Innovation #StartUps #ReimagineEducation #HomeEducation #LearningCommunity #Schooling #ProgressiveEducation #AlternativesToSchool #AlternativeEducation #TimeForChange #21stCenturyEducation

“The secret of #change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” - #Socrates Have you dreamt of setting up your own #school? Something outside of the conventional #EducationSystem? Something which puts #MentalHealth, #wellbeing, #ChildrensRights, #SocialJustice and 21st century #LifeSkills right at the core? We’re delighted to announce that in collaboration with Limitless we have launched a new #membership platform for #StartUp #Schools and #LearningCommunities. This is your opportunity to sign up for ongoing #support and #guidance from our network of #experts. Together we can create a new paradigm of #education! There’s a link with all the details, including our EARLYBIRD offer in the comments below. #NewEducationalParadigm #Transformation #EducationReform #Innovation #StartUps #ReimagineEducation #HomeEducation #LearningCommunity #Schooling #ProgressiveEducation #AlternativesToSchool #AlternativeEducation #TimeForChange #21stCenturyEducation?

Thank you to all our 24 speakers and 2,200 participants who signed up for the INSPIRE Education Summit: The Pathway to Transformation! We really have loved every minute of it. Each session was heart-warming, insightful, #action-orientated and optimistic, and we believe there’s much to feel hopeful about for the future of #education. Prizes and Offers: Congratulations to all our #prize-winners who showed up live and helped to share our posts. It was a brilliant event and we couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you also to Crown House Publishing who gave all our participants a 20% discount on their #books. Don’t forget you have until 30th November to redeem your voucher. Recordings: Don’t worry if you couldn’t make the live sessions as the recordings will be made available ASAP. We’re just busy editing out the networking elements but they should be with you in the next few days. You can still sign up to receive recordings by registering for the event (link in the comments below). New Membership Platform: We are delighted to announce that our new #membership platform for #startup #schools and #learning communities launched at the Summit last night. In collaboration with Limitless we are bringing you this opportunity to sign up for ongoing support and guidance from our network of experts. You can find a link with more information about this (including our EARLYBIRD OFFER) in the comments below. Together we can create a new paradigm of education! #InspireEducationSummit? #neweducationalparadigm? #Innovation #Transformation #EducationReform #StartUps #ChildrensRights #SocialJustice #MentalHealth #Wellbeing #LifeSkills #21stCenturyEducation #Education #Schooling #ProgressiveEducation #AlternativesToSchool #AlternativeEducation #TimeForChange

The Right to Refuse We don’t value the right to say no, when it comes to children. We pretend that we do. We teach them about consent, and that their body is their own. We read them books and show them films about saying no to adults who tell them not to tell their mum about a secret or who try to lead them away from their family. Then we tell them that they have no choice about where they spend their time, what they learn and how. ?We tell them that we know best, and that their job is to respect that. We pressure them into kissing relatives or sitting on Santa’s lap. ?We punish them by forcing them to stay in rooms by themselves or sitting them on a step ‘until you’ve calmed down’. They don’t consent, but it doesn’t matter. There are things which children do which can make them unsafe – running across busy roads or hitting other people, for example – and then adults have to step in. But we use this to justify why they can’t be allowed to make choices about anything else. We tell them (and ourselves) that it’s for their own good to do what they are told. Then along come the children who don’t agree. The ones who continue to refuse. The ones who say Why do you get to tell me what to do, but I don’t get to tell you? The ones who say, Why do I have to do this when I think it’s a waste of my time? The ones who ask questions that adults find hard to answer. There are names for children who say No. We call them defiant, wilful, stubborn or resistant. ?We ask why a child ‘isn’t listening’ when we really mean ‘isn’t doing what I want’.?We don’t allow for the fact that they may be listening, and yet disagreeing.?We call that ‘naughty’. Taking away children’s right to refuse has serious implications, because it means that what they think doesn’t need to be central when adults are making their plans. If children refuse school, the answer isn’t to make school better. It’s to punish them and fine their families. If children don’t comply, the answer is to push harder, set firmer boundaries, rather than ask ourselves why. We don’t value saying no, when it comes to children. And yet it’s the children who refuse to comply who show the rest of us up. It’s them who push us to change systems which aren’t working. It’s their clear-sightedness which leads us to ask whether something really does have to be done this way. Many of us lost touch with our ability to say No years ago. When our children show us the way, are we listening? ?

If you could design a new paradigm of education, how would it look? Tomorrow, on Monday 25th November, you can meet some #pioneers who have done just that… Join us on the final day of our free online INSPIRE Education Summit: The Pathway to Transformation! 12pm GMT: Interview with Zo? Neill Readhead Zo? is the director of A.S.Neill's Summerhill School and daughter of #education pioneer, A.S. Neill. 12.45pm GMT: Expert Insight Panel After Zo?’s interview we will be joined by a panel of 5 #unschoolers who will be sharing their lived experiences of #homeeducation and #learning within #selfdirected learning communities. 7.30pm GMT: ‘Ask the Expert’ Q&A We hope that the #InspireEducationSummit has been a source of inspiration to those who are striving to create something new… So if you’ve ever dreamt of setting up your own learning provision, come and learn from those who have been there and done it. Our panel includes: Melissa Kendall, founder of Griffin Club and co-founder the first Lumiar Education school in the UK; Lucy Stephens, founder of The New School UK, a democratic school in London; Sophie Christophy, co-founder of consent-based, self-directed learning communities The Cabin and The Lodge (Herts/Essex border); Dr Ian Cunningham, founder of the Self Managed Learning College (Brighton), and author of several books including, ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’. NEW MEMBERSHIP PLATFORM And finally… for those that really have that fire in their belly to #BeTheChange, we’re delighted to announce that during the ‘Ask the Expert’ Q&A, in collaboration with Limitless, we will be launching our new membership platform for start-up schools and learning communities. We can do this. Let’s create a new paradigm of #education together! We hope to see you there! Link to register in the comments below. #NewEducationalParadigm? #Innovation #Transformation #EducationReform #StartUps #ChildrensRights #SocialJustice #MentalHealth #Wellbeing #LifeSkills #21stCenturyEducation #Schooling #ProgressiveEducation #AlternativesToSchool #AlternativeEducation #TimeForChange

As part of the #InspireEducationSummit on Monday 25th November (7.30-9.30pm GMT), we are holding a FREE online ‘Ask the Expert’ Q&A, so that #school #startups can have the opportunity to meet founders of #innovative schools and learning communities, to learn from those who have been there and done it. Come and find out how four pioneering founders are paving the way for a new paradigm of #education, which places #ChildrensRights, 21st century #LifeSkills, #SocialJustice and #MentalHealth right at the core. Dr Ian Cunningham is one of our panellists. He’s the founder of the Self Managed Learning College (Brighton) and author of several books. Everyone who attends our panel Q&A live (as opposed to watching the recording afterwards) will be entered into a prize draw to win a digital copy of Dr Cunningham’s book, ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’. This book proposes revolutionary change to the educational system.?It goes beyond just a critique of current practice in showing how a New Educational Paradigm can work! Our other panellists include: - Melissa Kendall, founder of Griffin Club and co-founder of the first Lumiar Education schools in the UK; - Lucy Stephens, founder of The New School UK, a democratic school in London; - Sophie Christophy, co-founder of consent-based, self-directed learning communities, The Cabin and The Lodge (Herts/Essex border); In collaboration with Limitless, this event celebrates the launch of our new #membership community for start-up #schools and #learning communities, the details of which will be announced live in this webinar. Send Us Your Questions: Please email your questions for the panel to [email protected] Limitless podcast host, Alex O'Neill will be asking them live in the session on your behalf. You can register for free using the link in the comments below. We hope to see you there! #InspireEducationSummit? #neweducationalparadigm? #Innovation #Transformation #Wellbeing #21stCenturyEducation #Schooling #ProgressiveEducation #AlternativesToSchool #AlternativeEducation #TimeForChange

The Declaration of Child Rights-Centric Education is now launched! We hosted a session at the INSPIRE Education Summit today, the 35th anniversary of the UNCRC, and the recording will be published next week. In the meantime, you can read and sign the declaration at https://lnkd.in/gBda_Y6q. While the official declaration is in formal language, the essence of it is that if anything in education is inconsistent with human rights, and especially child rights, then we have to prioritise human rights.

In a recent?essay for?The Times?on AI and education,?Anthony Seldon?explored what separates human beings from 'intelligent' machines. It's a question I've been asking since I wrote the book Why Do I Need a Teacher When I've Got Google? over a decade ago. Seldon identified ‘seven core facets of humanity’ which I have listed below along with provocations for schools as they come to terms with AI-proofing their children and young people: ? Curiosity ? How are you tapping into children’s innate desire to learn, to ask questions, to discover for themselves, to explore? How are you celebrating the learning of new skills and new knowledge? ? Agency ? How are you giving children and young people ‘a sense of control’ (Csikszentmihalyi)? How are they participating authentically and visibly in the life of the school? How are you helping them develop intrinsic motivation? Consciousness ? How are you helping young people ‘grow into their own skin’ as it were, to develop what Freire referred to ‘conscientiza??o’. How are you helping them learn about the world around them, the forces that impact that world, the others they share that world with and their place and potential in it? ? Awe and Wonder ? How are you creating opportunities for learners to be moved, to be dumbstruck, to be amazed? What emotive and inspiring experiences are you offering, both within and beyond the curriculum, that will stay in their minds, long after their school days have ended? Love and Empathy ? In a world that seems increasingly self-centred, how are you developing and demonstrating values such as kindness, respect and love in all members of the school community? Are you modelling?‘unconditional positive regard’ toward all your children and young people, even those who are presenting the most challenging behaviours? ? Apprehension of the Divine ? How are you helping children and young people feel part of something bigger than they are? Whether it is through religion of any denomination or moments of spirituality and transcendence, how are you helping then tap into that part of us that is both uniquely human yet beyond humanity too? ? Family and Belonging ? How are you ensuring every child and young person feels like they belong in your school? What are you doing to make them feel welcome, safe, valued and loved? How are you practising the idea that belonging comes before behaviour and not the other way around? And how are you helping your families and the wider community be part of your work too? ? There are many answers to my prescient Google question but it really depends what sort of teacher you are – or are allowed to be. For me, a teacher that brings his or her humanity into the classroom is one that will be difficult to replace, no matter how good the AI becomes. In this way, that teacher helps children and young people retain and develop what makes them worth more than the machines as they enter a world that will be unlike the one we entered not that long ago.?[ITL]

This is happening at 12pm GMT today. On UNICEF’s #WorldChildrensDay Je'anna L Clements and Sifaan Zavahir are launching the Rights-Centric Education network, of which Progressive Education and Limitless are founding members. Do come along today to find out about RCE’s aims and ambitions and most importantly how you can get involved to help put #ChildrensRights at the centre of #education. There’s a link to register for free in the comments below. #InspireEducationSummit

This is happening in a couple of hours…