Category: News

Sep 20
Five Top Tips to Set Up a School or Learning Community

Inspiration and guidance to pave the way for a new paradigm of education! We are delighted to announce that we have a new resource for school start-ups… Setting up a school or learning community is a wonderful, exciting and rewarding adventure, but at times it can feel overwhelming. To seek inspiration and support, we have […]

Aug 19
Start-Up Schools & Learning Communities – Webinars to Order

We are delighted to announce that our webinars for start-up schools and learning communities are now available to order. We recently teamed up with Limitless to offer two webinar series to help new schools and learning communities get off the ground: Series 1 The first series included six ‘Ask the Expert’ Q&A sessions with founders who have been there […]

Feb 27
Webinars for Start-Up Schools & Learning Communities

Are you thinking about setting up your own school or learning community? Or perhaps you’ve been running for a while but you’re still exploring different educational approaches and practices. This webinar series aims to guide you on your path to creating a progressive, holistic community where young people can thrive outside of the conventional, authoritarian […]

Sep 06
Learn How to Set Up a School

If you dream of setting up your own school, to create something outside of the conventional, authoritarian education system, this is your chance to ask an expert who has been there and done it! Following the success of our ‘Ask the Expert’ webinars for start-up part-time learning communities for home educated young people, Limitless podcast host, […]

Jun 07
Learn How to Set Up a Learning Community

Announcing a New Collaboration… Limitless podcast host, Alex O’Neill and Progressive Education founder, Jo Symes have launched a webinar series for learning community start-ups. This is your chance to learn from the experts who have been there and done it, and ask any questions you might have. You will get to meet: Sophie Christophy Sophie […]

Jan 07
Happy New Year!

Wishing you the best for a happy 2023. May this new year bring much inspiration to us all for reimagining education. 2022 was an exciting year for Progressive Education founder, Jo Symes. She was lucky enough to be accepted onto the School for Social Entrepreneurs start-up programme. This year-long training and mentor programme gave her […]

Jun 27
Progressive Education Events Line Up

June  15th, 11am BST – How can educators prepare students for adult life? Live webinar in the Progressive Education Group:- Ortal Green will share with us how, through Design Thinking, Glittering Minds programme for schools enhances students’ resilience, problem-solving, communication, creative thinking, empathy and collaboration skills. Simply join our Facebook group to attend and the webinar […]

Mar 09
Announcing a series of 5 FREE events by Progressive Education and Omnis Education

We are delighted to be collaborating with Omnis Education to bring you a series of five live webinars in our Progressive Education Group on Facebook. Omnis Education provides an online learning platform for self-directed learners to help every member of the family – children and parents – create learning adventures tailored to their interests, passions and […]

Jan 09
Live Events in the Progressive Education Group

We are excited to announce the launch of Progressive Education Facebook Lives which will be taking place in our Progressive Education Group on Facebook. These will be a series of talks and interviews with education innovators, changemakers, activists, authors and founders of progressive schools and learning communities. The first event will be on Thursday 20th […]

Nov 06
Response to UNESCO’s ‘Education in a Post-Covid World’ Report

In UNESCO’s Progress Update on the Futures of Education, published in March 2021, UNESCO denied the value of Self-Directed Education and autonomous learning, despite much significant scientific evidence to support its efficacy. Considering such a stance could seriously jeopardise the UN agenda 2030 to lead to a regenerative education by 2050 for more just and sustainable futures. Gabriel Groiss, […]

Jan 28
Right to Education and the French Authoritarian Context

Three European organisations advocating human rights and freedom in education – ALLI asbl (Luxemboug), Les Enfants d’Abord (France), and Full Human Rights-Experience Education – as well as independent philosopher, Bertrand Stern, have come together to write a letter to the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe. They are concerned […]

Oct 24
What Are Your Training Needs?

Courses/workshops on progressive education coming soon: Please feed back as to what content and format you require. Progressive Education is collaborating with Holistic Learning and Mindful Magic, along with some other inspiring individuals and organisations to bring you online sessions on:- How students learn. How to build on students’ natural learning ability and curiosity. How […]

Sep 06
Do Students Need to “Catch Up?”

There is much talk in the news at the moment about students needing to “catch up” post Covid-19, but is this extra pressure on parents, teachers and students justified? Here’s a blog post by author and lecturer on education, parenting and human behaviour, Alfie Kohn on this subject: Is Learning “Lost” When Kids Are Out […]

Aug 19
‘Drill and kill’ for England’s state schools while private sector goes progressive

“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 […]

Jun 15
The Long, Insidious Shadows of Colonialism

“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 […]

Jun 15
The Black British History You May Not Know About

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 […]

May 12
Coronavirus shows us it’s time to rethink everything. Let’s start with education.

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 […]

May 08
Headteachers Call for a Kinder School System

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, […]

Apr 07
School’s Really Out…

Clinical psychologist, Dr Naomi Fisher with an update to her recent article, as children learn at home during the coronavirus pandemic. “On a global scale, this is unprecedented. Never have so many children been educated at home. Whilst this isn’t the same situation as home education, because schools still hold the responsibility rather than parents, […]

Mar 11
School Refusal: Crime, Mental Disorder, or Human Right?

“Views on school refusal depend on beliefs about children and human rights.” Read the full article here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/202002/school-refusal-crime-mental-disorder-or-human-right Published by: Psychology Today Date: February 2020 Author: Dr Peter Gray, Psychologist and Research Professor

Mar 11
School’s Out… Arguments for Self-Directed Education

“I set out to find out more about education where children are active agents. Perhaps the most radical type of all is self-directed education, where the children are not made to follow any curriculum at all, unless they want to. I interviewed psychologists researching learning in home educated children, and others focusing on children in […]