Together we can reimagine education

If you're looking for progressive alternatives to conventional methods in education, you’re not alone.

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Why Do We Need Alternative Approaches to Education?

There are many reasons why progressive alternatives are becoming more popular, and why a growing movement of people are calling for our state education system to be reimagined.

Articles, News & Research

Staff of 2030: Future-Ready Teaching

August 19, 2020

In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Staff of 2030: Future-Ready Teaching report Esther Wojcicki advocates “20% time” to introduce self-directed learning into the schedule: “This should be “innovation or ‘moon-shot’ time where students are given freedom to come up with their own idea of what they want to do, what they want to study, and how […]

‘Drill and kill’ for England’s state schools while private sector goes progressive

August 19, 2020

“As ministers persist with traditional teaching, including children sitting in rows, independent schools have switched to team and project-based learning. There’s been a huge change in the educational approach of the private sector,” says Toby Seth, headteacher at the Pocklington school foundation in Yorkshire. “Why? Because schools have had to.” Employers, he says, want new […]

I was a Teenage Governor

August 19, 2020

These papers are the reports of the first and second stages in the ‘I was a teenage governor’ project, organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research in partnership with the Citizenship Foundation and Derry Hannam – Specialist Consultant in Pupil Participation. This was intended to be used as a practical tool for any school […]

Dancing to the Algorithm, by Dr Pam Jarvis

August 18, 2020

On the day that an exams algorithm robbed a significant number of working class children of the results they needed to access their university places, I watched Jon Snow’s interview with Nick Gibb on the Channel 4 news. Looking beyond the immediate problem, it gave me a very useful insight to an accountant’s view of […]

The Wrong Environment for a Child, by Jodie Smitten Bsc Psy. PgC Autism. MBPSs.

July 26, 2020

Hold on to your seats…. This may get a bit ranty! I absolutely love my job, the autistic children I get the privilege to meet and get to know are incredible. I’ve said it before but it needs saying regularly; they are brave, resilient, and beautifully natured. This makes it all the more frustrating, overwhelming […]

The Long, Insidious Shadows of Colonialism

June 15, 2020

“There’s a virus going around. You may have heard of it. It’s highly infectious and can infect whole swathes of the population at any given time. It is not known how susceptible children are to the virus, but it has been confirmed that they can carry it, even if they show no explicit signs of […]

The Black British History You May Not Know About

June 15, 2020

This article points out that the transatlantic slave trade and the US civil rights movement are largely the only black history taught in UK schools, normally in October when we celebrate Black History Month. Melody Triumph, policy specialist at The Black Curriculum (an organisation which teaches black British history in schools) states: “lf you’re omitting […]

Education: Time For a Change? By Zoë Neill Readhead

June 11, 2020

I would rather Summerhill produced a happy street sweeper than a neurotic Prime Minister” A S Neill, pioneering funder of Summerhill School A lot of things are emerging during this lock-down period that people had not really noticed before. Things about our lives, about ourselves, things about our friends and families too. Surely such recognition […]

Free to Learn? By Dr Pam Jarvis

June 6, 2020

What is ‘freedom to learn’? Arguments on this point stretch back into history. For example, Alfred the Great of England (849–899) expressed a wish for children of ‘free men’ to be formally taught to read English and for those boys with the aptitude to ‘be brought to higher office’ to learn Latin (Cunningham 2006, p.51), […]

Learn for Tomorrow. Now.

May 22, 2020

Parents and the State have an obligation to provide education for all children. To this end, compulsory education has been institutionalised and, depending on the country, it may take place elsewhere than in a school. At the moment, with the Covid-19 lockdown, almost all children are being taught at home. It’s a paradox: compulsory education […]

Coronavirus shows us it’s time to rethink everything. Let’s start with education.

May 12, 2020

Guardian columnist, George Monbiot says that now is the time for a Great Reset. “I believe that education should work outwards from our principal challenges and aims. This doesn’t mean we should forget Shakespeare, or the other wonders of art and culture, but that the matters crucial to our continued survival are given the weight […]

Headteachers Call for a Kinder School System

May 8, 2020

Ten years since Michael Gove’s reforms began, coronavirus shows up their failings, says the Headteachers’ Roundtable – and offers a chance for change. Ros McMullen, a founding member of the Headteachers Roundtable says: “Headship can be very lonely, and people are frightened of being sacked or exposed. Michael Gove’s mantra was about giving heads control, […]

Voices from the Sector

Parent Voice 3

October 25, 2019

Jessica – Unschooling Mum and Educationalist Educationalist, Jessica* currently home educates her four-year old and has chosen to follow the ‘unschooling’ approach. Jessica has worked in education for nearly 20 years in a number of capacities. She has been a teacher in colleges and universities, been involved in teacher training and the design of learning […]

Parent Voice 2

October 25, 2019

Ross Mountney – Home Educator and Author Ross Mountney is a parent, home educator and author. She started her career as a teacher which she says “was a bit daft really” as she was never at ease with the school environment. That was when she began to suspect that much of what went on at school was […]

Parent Voice 1

October 25, 2019

Kirstie Gran – Parent and Trainee Holistic Family Health Coach Kirstie has a son in mainstream school and a younger daughter at home. She’s become interested in progressive education since she started studying the brain and how it develops in children. She’s currently studying to become a Holistic Family Health Coach and previously completed a […]