Blogs
Learning without classrooms
200 people gathered at the Freedom to Learn conference at Summerhill School on 6th, 7th and 8th of May. I ran a workshop on different ways of learning particularly focused on learning without using classrooms. I generally find when talking with many people about learning that they have a bit of a blank in thinking of alternative ways of...
Shakespeare would have been proud
On the evening of 27 April, a full house was treated to the SML College production of Romeo and Juliet. Looking at the programme, all of the students of the College were involved in some way, and, It was evident that a lot of work had gone into bringing the play to the audience. In many ways, it was a...
Spring term review by SML College student, Ro Frederick
This term has been very busy for us and lots of interesting things have happened over the last few weeks. At the beginning of term James held a rhetoric speech workshop where we learnt about how to use different types of language features and we wrote...
My internship at SML College
by Hannah Laura Bernard, our colleague from Germany who spent time with us earlier this term In the context of my bachelor in pedagogy and educational science, I made a five-week-long internship at SML College this autumn. I wanted to know what school might look like when there is no curriculum, no classroom structure and no one who tells students what...
Learning, not education
This title may seem a bit bizarre. After all, most people in authority believe education is a good thing and there are organisations attempting to create compulsory education worldwide. The basis for this is the idea that there is an entitlement to education for young people. So I have to explain what I mean by ‘learning, not education’. My...
Excellent outcome from Ofsted visit
One morning last October we had an impromptu visit from two Ofsted inspectors at SML College, Brighton. The lead inspector spent some time quizzing most of the students on an individual basis. He asked about what they did and how the college ran including the times which they attended. The Chair of Governors in the College, Dr Ian Cunningham, explained...
Career direction
It’s best to know where you’re going - and why Some years ago I was working in a school running a Self Managed Learning project. In the group with which I was working there was a talented 13-year-old girl musician. She said that she would like to have a career as an orchestra musician. We looked at the life of...
The Twelve Days of Christmas at SMLC
On the first day of Christmas, the students gave to SMLC Unlimited super-fast broadband for free On the second day of Christmas, the students gave to SMLC Aira’s kitchen checklist and unlimited super-fast broadband for free On the third day of Christmas, the students gave to SMLC A Unity game from Lily, Aira’s kitchen checklist and unlimited super-fast broadband for free On the fourth day of Christmas, the...