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
Rethinking Education: Launch of Podcast Season 2, by James Mannion
[A link to the audio version of this article is found at the end.] If you follow the mainstream education debate as avidly as I do, and really here I’m talking about the debate as it plays out largely on the internet – social media and blogs, predominantly, as well as at conferences and in […]
Learning Through the Lens of Nature and Natural History is Child’s Play, by Lisa Carne
Lisa Carne shares with us a flavour of her book, Natural Curiosity, which is a warm and contemplative insight into her family’s experience of moving from mainstream schooling to home education, and learning through the lens of nature and natural history: “People say to me, ‘How did you first become interested in animals?‘ and I […]
Diverse Educators Call to Action
Context: Since July 2020, Diverse Educators have held a quarterly Diversity Roundtable with national stakeholders invested in, and committed to, a system-wide strategy for collaborating on a DEI strategy in our schools. They collectively wrote to the DfE, the SoS, the NSC and the Equalities Team on March 1st 2021. They are yet to receive […]
Books about Self-Directed Learning and Democratic Education are like London Buses, by Derry Hannam
…None appear for ages, then they all come at once! Does this mean that we are looking at a Post-Pandemic Overton Window for our ideas? And how do we feel about ‘for-profit’ democratic schools? I grew up in South London and my dad was a bus driver. There was supposed to be a number 47 […]
Collaborative Decision-Making: the beating heart of classroom learning, by Dr Geraldine Rowe
This article describes my doctoral research into shared decision-making in the classroom and offers hope and encouragement to teachers and school leaders who seek greater collaboration with their pupils. In my mid-fifties, having worked as an Educational Psychologist for over 30 years, I decided that I needed to find a way to reinvigorate my professional […]
A Call For Youth Liberation, by Alexander Khost
“Why are those teachers screaming at those kids?” my son James asked me, with a look of true shock and concern on his face. He was observing some teachers across the cafeteria as they were berating a group of students sitting at lunchroom tables. It was James’ first time attending a public school class. The […]
Portsmouth Home Educators’ Legal Action is Important for All Families, by Randall Hardy
Following the establishment of a state-controlled education system in England and Wales through the Education Act 1902, most people in Britain have become used to the belief that education is the responsibility of the government. That, however, is far from the truth. The Act’s provisions on Elementary Education (s.9) charged the new Boards of Education […]
Not A Chance: How Self-Directed Children Find New Things to Learn, by Dr Naomi Fisher
When I start talking about self-directed education, one of the first questions which comes up is, but what about exposure? Surely children don’t know all the things which are out there, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that they do? Isn’t that what an education is all about? How can we leave Maths ‘up […]
Response from Summerhill on National School Abuse Scandal
A Statement from Zoë Readhead-Neill, Principal at Summerhill School: Today the UK government is launching an enquiry into sexual harassment, physical violence and even rape between students in UK schools. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launching a special helpline to learn more about its prevalence and offer support […]
Catching up from COVID, by Dr Naomi Fisher
Children’s long term well-being depends on being given the time to make sense of their experiences. What will we want to do when finally this pandemic is over, and restrictions are lifted? See people we love, go to places we’ve missed, buy non-essential items in shops, find a crowd and just marvel at how many […]
#ImLearning: Celebrating children’s learning during Covid, by Dr Caroline Palmer and Kathryn Pratt
[This article was originally published on Age of Awareness which is Medium’s largest publication dedicated to education reform.] Join the #Imlearning movement and showcase kids’ learning to squash the “covid gap” narrative With the assumption that only measurable, National Curriculum-based learning is important, the government has identified, and publicised, a ‘covid gap’ in learning. To […]
Unschooling School: supporting the Innate Philosophy of learning within our current schools, by Heather MacTaggart
Our world needs creative problem solvers. People who know how they learn, how to communicate, and are adept at creative collaboration. But how do we nurture these natural qualities within the current education system which is based on the Standardization Philosophy? We politely, kindly, and insistently agitate for change. We join together and advocate for […]
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 […]