If you're looking for progressive alternatives to conventional methods in education, you’re not alone.
This online hub explores progressive approaches to education which are forward-thinking and aim to equip students with appropriate skills for the 21st century.
We present a variety of options so that parents/carers, teachers, students, policy makers and other professionals can make informed choices. Our directory includes a list of progressive schools and learning communities in the UK, and our Voices section showcases innovation from the state and private sectors.
We are committed to sharing the voices of key stakeholders so that together, we can reimagine education.
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
Real World Learning: School 21 and XP
Here is a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), commissioned by the Edge Foundation (published June 2019), which presents the findings of research into real-world learning (RWL) in School 21 in Stratford, East London and XP School, in Doncaster: https://www.edge.co.uk/documents/9/real_world_learning_xp_and_school_21_june2019.pdf While the emphasis in each school was slightly different – School 21’s […]
Punishment, by Sean Bellamy
”When people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” Albert Einstein There was a rule at Sands until recently that fridges could not be dropped out of trees. There was never any corresponding punishment created. This rule has recently been removed because there are […]
The Side Effects of School: A Crisis in Mental Health Can’t Be Solved Through Therapy, by Dr Naomi Fisher
We’re facing a crisis in young people’s mental health. Every day I get emails from several parents, asking if I can help their children. They tell me how distressed their children are, how they are harming themselves and how they don’t know how to help. There are so many that I can’t see most of […]
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 […]
Rebooting Public Education – Part 1, by Richard Fransham
Introduction This essay is for people who steadfastly believe that healthy democracies are dependent upon public education being everybody’s first choice. It is written for those who strive for the open-mindedness John Dewey[1] describes as follows: “Openminded is the active desire to listen to more sides than one; to give heed to the facts from whatever […]
A New Educational Paradigm for the 21st century, by Dr Ian Cunningham
Just a week before writing this piece, the CEO of a major company and I were discussing what the educational world needs to provide for his leading edge business. After discussion, he emailed me the list that follows. These are his words. “Building the right mindsets, critical reasoning, understanding of biases, creative thinking and problem […]
Rewilding and Deschooling: a dialogue between Max Hope and Sophie Christophy
Authors: Max Hope & Sophie Christophy Max Hope, Director of Rewilding Education and advocate of freedom is passionate about rewilding and is excited about how concepts of rewilding can be used to ignite radical educational change. Sophie Christophy, Founder of The Cabin and unschooling parent, is a feminist and children’s rights activist and originator of the concept of consent-based education. […]
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 […]
Play, by Sean Bellamy
The desire to play is fundamental to the human condition and is impossible to suppress. Even in the most challenging situations, it will find a way to exist. Children played in the bomb craters of the Second World War, Continue to play in the devastation of Syria and will play in the wasteland of our broken […]
Educational Rights (for Dummies!), by Katy Zago
How can we recover respect for human rights in education? There’s a reason for the ambiguity of my title. Too many people seem to ignore, through ignorance or negligence, the true meaning and purpose of the right to education. So it is essential first to recall the purpose—and then to question its implementation in practice, […]
Let’s Journey the Wilderness Together, by Dr Jo Sweetland
Watching our oldest child’s interest in learning slowly disappear and their curiosity and creativity dwindle became the motivator to us choosing to take all three of our kids out of the state system. It was not that their school was bad, or that the teachers were poor, or that the leadership team were without vision […]
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, […]
Voices from the Sector
Parent Voice 3
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
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
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 […]