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
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 […]
Let’s change our minds about lockdown learning, and give kids a break, by Naomi Fisher
Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist and author. Her book ‘Changing Our Minds; How Children Can Take Control of Their Own Learning’ is out now, published by Little, Brown. This time a year ago, we’d never have guessed how many people would have spent this year homeschooling. School seemed as much part of life as […]
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 […]
Whatever Happened to Alternative Education? By Freya Aquarone
[This article was originally published by Radix whose vision is a sustainable society where all citizens can live securely with dignity, are active participants in society and are free to pursue their own interpretation of the good life.] Over the past half century, despite many changes of government, and many impassioned pleas for alternative visions, […]
The Student Experience of Self Managed Learning (SML): Evidence From Research
By Nicola Sankey, March 2008 (with Introduction by Dr. Graham Dawes) [At the time what is now Self Managed Learning College was Called ‘South Downs Learning Centre’. The name was changed after this report was produced.] Originally designed for adults, Self Managed Learning (SML) has more recently been adopted with young people through the work […]
‘This is the Best Thing in School’: Self Managed Learning at Uckfield Community Technology College
By Andrea Hazeldin, Deputy Principal and Head of College, Uckfield Community Technology College, 2013 Introduction The title is taken from a comment made by a Year 8 student at the College. This article outlines the approach that prompted that comment – and others such as ‘I’ve learned more from these five sessions than in my […]
Home Education Trends, Preliminary Report
By Wendy Charles-Warner, EducationOtherwise.org December 2020 This report examines trends in numbers of home educating families in England. The data was obtained by sending freedom of information requests to each of the 151 local authorities in England. It also shares results from surveys undertaken across a mix of home education groups to ascertain the main […]
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 […]