Articles
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 is 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...
The problem of treating young people as children – the Caterpillar to Butterfly Fallacy.
There are a number of reasons why it is difficult to get adults to treat the views of young people seriously. And because of this syndrome we have problems in convincing many adults to accept a truly personalised education that responds to what the young person wants and needs. The Fallacy One error is what I...
WHAT IS WORTH LEARNING IN SCHOOL?
(Published in ABC Magazine, Winter 2014) There is currently a debate in educational circles about whether it is more important for children to learn facts or to learn skills. This either/or thinking – where it has to be one or the other – does not make sense to me. So it will be worth considering what is important to learn...
Why schooling is a major contributor to the crisis – and what can be done about it.
(Published in Lorimer, D. and Robinson, O. (2010) The New Renaissance, Floris Books, Edinburgh) IAN CUNNINGHAM bio. Ian Cunningham BSc, MA, PhD, FIoD, FRSA, Chartered FCIPD, FCMI is Visiting Professor at Middlesex University; chair of Strategic Developments International Ltd and chair of the Centre for Self Managed Learning. Previous positions have included Chief Executive of Roffey Park Institute; Senior Research Fellow...
Teaching Times - In This Revolutionary College Students Manage Their Own Learning
Introduction In this article I want to explain how we work with young people, such that they can take charge of their own learning. As well as running a college on the Sussex coast, we have also been working in schools utilising the approach. I will first, start by explaining how Self Managed Learning College works and then go on to...
Uspire Life - Overhauling the education system!
College thrives as it rewrites curriculum BY NADIA MENDOZA September 20, 2020 For original article, please visit https://uspire.life/2020/09/20/good-news-education-student-wellbeing-sml-college-dr-ian-cunningham/ Student success skyrockets as...
Personalised Education Now
Big thanks to Josh Gifford and his team for the second edition of P.E.N Journal. The first edition brought together some of the contributions of last years, very successful Alternative Educational Futures conference. We were delighted to be asked to contribute once again. You can download a pdf version of the journal and read our piece looking at the student experience...
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...