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
The Wrong Environment for a Child, by Jodie Smitten Bsc Psy. PgC Autism. MBPSs.
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
“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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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, […]
Online Resources for Learning at Home During the Coronavirus Lockdown
Six weeks into lockdown, you might be looking for new inspiration for home-based activities for children and young people. We’ve pulled together 10 blogs and articles which list hundreds of imaginative ideas for online learning at home. 1. Freddies Mummy UK Lists over 80 free or cheap online home education resources: Https://freddiesmummyuk.com/homeschooling-websites-uk/ 2. Clinical Psychologist […]
Unschooling Reading and Maths: Challenging our Fears, by Heidi Steel
Unschooling, in its most basic form, is living a life without school. It challenges us, as adults, to consider what learning looks like without school and whether conventional methods of tuition are necessary for learning to occur. Often our deepest assumptions are challenged when we consider how our children will learn to read or learn […]
The New World of Home Learning, by Ian Cunningham
It is 2 April 2020 and we were in the early stages in England of the coronavirus or Covid-19 crisis. Schools have been closed and many problems are occurring from this. One example is around the well-being of children. Walker, 2020, comments that even at this early stages of the crisis, the National Society for […]
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, […]
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 […]