Blogs
How do children best learn – a message to parents
Parents can support children in their learning – and this may be in addition to what school provides - or instead of school. We did research on adults to find out how they learned when they were younger. We studied senior leaders in organisations as well as experienced professionals. We asked them initially to identify what made them effective. There...
The GCSE Exam Results Scandal
Tens of thousands of young people will get worse results in their exams this summer due to factors beyond their control. The reasons for the award of GCSEs or A Levels (or other qualifications) are not simply down to those factors that are commonly cited - for example intelligence and hard work. Here is some uncomfortable research evidence for those...
Explorations in Self Managed eLearning
FROM TEACHING & LEARNING ONLINE - NEW MODEL OF LEARNING FOR A CONNECTED WORLD, VOL 2, EDS SUTTON, B. & BASIEL, A. 2014, ROUTLEDGE. I had thought that I might call this chapter ‘Explorations in the South East’ – but that would have been, perhaps, too elliptical and mystifying. My thought about the title was influenced by the model below...
Video - Education to Save the Planet at Summerhill Festival of Childhood
Watch Ian Cunningham's talk on Education to Save the Planet, part of the Summerhill Festival of Childhood. In celebration of Summerhill School’s centenary, the Summerhill Festival of Childhood and IDEC 2021 took place online between the 30th of September and the 5th of October 2021. More than 150 contributors presented, joined community discussions, shared ideas and performed. Here, Ian Cunningham, Chair...
SUBMISSION TO THE EU SURVEY ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
We made the strong case that children should have increased rights including the right to choose their own education – as we provide in SML College “Children should have the right to an education of their own choosing. This is the most significant problem at present. For instance, many children do not find the state provision meets their needs. There...
Visit to SML College Brighton - Esther Russo
Visit to SML College Brighton FEBRUARY 25, 2020~ TUMWACO As a teacher of formative cycles, during the last years my interest in new approaches to learning processes has grown, especially considering the contexts of my classrooms: lack of motivation, problems with time and goal management, stress, abandonment of studies, lack of social skills ... I observe all this in my students, who...
Some evidence on schooling problems – a submission to the EU survey on the rights of children.
Ian Cunningham – edited from ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’, Routledge, 2020. Abstract This extract from Chapter 6 of the above book provides sufficient evidence to show that the work in developing a New Educational Paradigm is both desirable and highly justified. And on the other hand, it shows that defence of the existing traditional schooling paradigm is...
If it works don’t fix it. Leave Home Education alone as it works. Sort out the problems in schools
There is no need for a change in current arrangements for home education. The law on the ‘otherwise’ criterion is clear on the right to an education that is not in school. Below is some evidence for the need for schools to change, based on the book ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’ (Cunningham. 2020) There is ample...