Blogs
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...
Education in the future. Submission to UNESCO. 2020
UNESCO issued a consultation on Education in the Future. This is our submission to that consultation. Education in the future has to make dramatic changes. It is not fit for purpose. A major error is the notion that education means institutional learning – generally in a school, college or university. It also assumes that most useful learning occurs via a...
Achieving - what’s it really about
Saturday, 16 November 2019. There were two articles in newspapers about one of the world’s top cricketers, Ben Stokes. One was in the Times newspaper. The other was in the Guardian. It’s interesting that each focused on different aspects of what makes him successful. I’ll take each article in turn. Intelligence matters Michael Atherton...
Young people - take charge of your own learning
Coco Kirkland joined Self Managed Learning (SML) College aged 13. She had been constantly in trouble in her mainstream school, because the teachers accused her of just doodling all the time. She was also diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Having been labelled naughty, just because she sees herself as a visual learner, she decided she didn’t want to stay...
Transformation into happy students
As a learning adviser at SML college I have been amazed by some of the personal transformations that have taken place in students since joining. One particular student anxious, low in confidence and motivation has in the space of 8 eight weeks, started their own project, developed a group of friends and...
Students following their own interests
At SML College because we don't have a forced curriculum, students are allowed to follow their own interests, which results in wonderful examples of creativity. These have included a range of projects on a variety of subjects such as hedgehogs, wild cats, technological impact in medicine and bughouse making, to name a...
Making a computer game
SMLG’ (Self Managed League Gaming) is a game creation project that has been supported by learning advisor Louis since March. Its goal is to create a small 2d platform game, made entirely by students on the team. There is a real range of skills between them, and it’s been brilliant to see...
“Machine learning and human intelligence. The future of education for the 21st-century.”
The title of this review is the title of Rose Luckin’s latest book and Rose delivered our Presidential Lecture on July 8 at SML College on this topic. Her chair at UCL Institute of Education is in Learner Centred Design. It’s in that capacity that we have worked together in the past and in her latest book she does...