Education
Rethinking schooling
Today’s dominant, mainstream education system largely reinforces the status quo on corporate power, dismantling diverse knowledge systems and cultures and alienating whole generations from nature. By building alternative, holistic schools – or bypassing schools altogether – we can dream a new education system into being. Resources in this section point to the growing movement to reclaim learning, the natural propensity towards curiosity and wonder, from schooling. With these Actions, create approaches to education that center not only academics, but also ethics of care, compassion and cooperation, for both other humans and the rest of the living planet.
Rethinking schooling Actions
Explore the unschooling and homeschooling movements.
Explore the unschooling and homeschooling movements.
The unschooling movement is motivated by the conviction that schooling as such is a technology of social reproduction of the assumptions and structures that undergird and accelerate the destructive consequences of modernity, and one that, ironically, undermines deeper learning in broader senses of the word. The unschooling movement aims to reclaim learning – the natural propensity towards curiosity and wonder - from the deadening and competitive strictures of four walls, a teacher, ranking and grades. Homeschooling is another response to conventional schooling's shortcomings, and comes in many forms and varieties. In this section, we highlight homeschooling approaches and examples that explicitly have ecological and community-building values at the core.
Take Action
- Connect with one of the pioneers of the unschooling movement, India’s Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, and the Shikshantar Resource Center for Homeschooling, Unschooling, Self-Designed Learners to find guidance and coaching, workshops, gatherings and more for those pursing alternatives to schools.
- Check out this master list of unschooling resources from Weed ‘em and Reap.
- Find and join local unschooling groups and connect with unschooling parents in your area with this list from Unschooling Mom2Mom.
- Learn about the whys and hows of unschooling through Unschoolers.org, offering courses, curricula, consultations, videos and more.
- Connect to the Family Unschoolers Network, which provides “articles, reviews, resources, web sites, books and lots of other information to help your homeschooling or unschooling efforts.”
- Learn how to start homeschooling your kids with How to start homeschooling your children and homeschooling strategies and resources by Lucy Legan, author of Planet Schooling: How to Create a Permaculture Living Classroom in Your Backyard. See also this Step-by-Step Guide and free online course, Homeschool with Confidence, from HomeSchool ThinkTank.
- Start an affordable microschool--a group of 5-10 kids with one adult guide--in your community with resources and support from Prenda (US).
- Find out about homeschooling with a specific focus on environmental ethics, highlighting how this unique approach to education can empower students to become stewards of the planet.
Get Inspired
- In A Journey of Re-imagining Education, Manish Jain relates how and why he founded Shikshantar and became a global leader in promoting the unschooling movement.
- The Lifelong Learning unschooling video series by Wild Ridge Community includes foundational principles of unschooling, case studies, debunking myths, and more.
- The Community Farm School in Massachusetts (US) has created a Homeschooling Cooperative to provide a space for homeschooling families in the surrounding area to come together and connect in an environment dedicated to ecological values and local food.
- EverWild is a not-for-profit homeschooling cooperative in Virginia (US) that promotes collaborative, nature-based learning to foster connection with and reverence for the natural world and to empower children to become agents of positive change in their communities.
- Through mentoring and online trainings, Luminous Youth (Australia) is an initiative pioneering a localisation-focused alternative-education pathway for families with primary and early high school students.
Introduce holistic programs into public schools.
Introduce holistic programs into public schools.
Introducing holistic learning programs and modalities into public schools is important for reaching the many millions of young people worldwide who learn within public school systems. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students themselves have introduced edible schoolyards, outdoor learning, Montessori education, mindfulness, and more into public school districts around the world. With these resources, you can bring holistic education into your local public school.
Take action
- Create public school gardens with the Greening Schoolyards Advocacy Toolkit from the Children and Nature Network.
- Weave permaculture principles into public school gardens and curriculums with these three books: Outdoor Classrooms – A Handbook for School Gardens; Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share in Education; and The School Garden Curriculum: An Integrated K-8 Guide for Discovering Science, Ecology, and Whole-Systems Thinking.
- In the US, encourage your district to offer a Montessori public school program, joining more than 500 schools across the country. The Montessori Public Schools page of the American Montessori Society offers resources to help.
- Bring mindfulness practices and learning into schools with Implementing Mindfulness in Schools: An Evidence-Based Guide from the Mindfulness Initiative, the Mindfulness in Education Handbook, and the Mindfulness-Based Learning Resources from the Coalition of Schools Educating Mindfully.
- Learn about the multifaceted dimensions of holistic education in a cross-cultural perspective, and its transformative potentials for advancing personal and planetary wellbeing, in the International Handbook of Holistic Education. Connect with the Center for Holistic Education at Southern Oregon University, and the Education and Being initiative.
Get inspired
- The Cringila Public School permaculture garden near Sydney, Australia is an oasis for gardening and cooking, all student-directed, within an industrial suburb.
- Dumingag National High Dapiwan Extension, a public high school built for Indigenous youth in Dumingag, Philippines, centers organic farming in its education curriculum.
- Monocacy Montessori Communities, Inc in Maryland, USA operates two Montessori public charter schools, including one for high school students, serving hundreds of students.
- The WESSA Eco-Schools Programme, based in South Africa, has reached 4500 schools and over 1 million students worldwide with project-based environmental education in schools.
- SECMOL, the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, has for over 20 years put into practice a head, hands, and heart vision of education for youth from across the region that have been failed by the mainstream system.
- Project DEFY is a holistic education initiative based in India and reaching as far as Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, that is pioneering new learning spaces which have no teachers, exams or curricula; where children and adults of all ages decide what, when and how they learn.
- The Global Ecology Studies Program at Poolesville High School in Maryland, USA, is an environmental education program within a non-charter public school that emphasizes field trips and integrating sustainability into standard subjects. Your author is an alum. :)
Choose nature-based education.
Choose nature-based education.
Nature-based education addresses one of the greatest shortcomings of the conventional education system, namely its neglect of and alienation from the natural world that sustains all life, and in which we are deeply enmeshed. Whether through forest schools, wild schools, or like approaches, nature-based education gets children out of the four walls of buildings, away from technology, and back to their roots where learning is integrated into bodily engagement with the land community.
Take action
- Set up a forest school using the comprehensive guide How to Set Up a Forest School from the Forest School Association (UK).
- Check out the extensive resource hub from the Children and Nature Network, which includes free toolkits, reports, infographics and advocacy tools for promoting nature-based education.
- Connect with the movement of Free Forest Schools (US) to find a group or start a group centered on nature-based play and moderated by volunteers. Currently, there are 214 groups in 46 US states and 7 countries.
- Join Inside-Outside (US), a network of nature-based educators; start by finding a local chapter.
- Learn about wild schooling, an approach to homeschooling centered on the natural world, from The Wild Schooler's resource page What is Wild Schooling? and their nature-based kindergarten curriculum, which includes lessons on bushcraft, homesteading, and sustainability.
- For those starting a new nature-based program or "naturalizing" an exsisting classroom, make use of Redleaf Press' books Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: The Handbook for Outdoor Learning by David Sobel, and Nature-Based Learning for Young Children: Anytime, Anywhere, on Any Budget, by Julie Powers and Sheila Williams Ridge.
- Create bountiful gardens in existing schools with the Greening Schoolyards Advocacy Toolkit from the Children and Nature Network.
- Enroll in the Nature-Based Early Childhood Education Certificate Program at Antioch University, focused on training teachers, administrators, and founders of nature preschools and forest kindergartens.
- Find an outdoor school near you with the Outdoor School Directory by Run Wild My Child.
Get inspired
- The articles How forest schools boost children’s immune systems and Why Finland's 'Forest Schools' Are Great for Kids illustrate the benefits of nature-based education for children.
- Marudam Farm School in Tamil Nadu, India, connects children to place and their own sustenance through engaged and embodied eco-learning. Learn more on the Marudam Farm School website, and through their profile on the Vikalp Sangam website: Marudam Farm School: becoming while it is being.
- The Community Farm School in Massachusetts, US is a farm and nature-based preschool and kindergarten, where among other activities, the children eat and help produce the food on the Clark Farm, which also provides organic vegetables, berries, and meat for a CSA community, farm stand, and local farm to table restaurant.
- Shared Earth Learning is a co-operative of forest school practitioners in Frome, Somerset, UK, whose aim is to nurture a love of nature and build community through forest school and outdoor activities for children, teenagers and adults alike.
- The Chestnut Tree Ecological School in Catalonia (Spain), places nature, ecological pedagogy, emotional intelligence, cooperation and community at the heart of its learning programs.
Find or start an alternative school.
Find or start an alternative school.
Offer a holistic, learner-centered education to your kids in a community setting with an alternative school. Montessori, Waldorf, and others have some structured classroom learning and group activities, while also placing more attention on the children and creating mixed-age learning opportunities. Find or create this educational setting for your family and community with the following resources.
Take action
- Browse the list and map of Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) member schools as a starting point.
- Find a Waldorf School with the Waldorf World List by Freunde Waldorf for an up-to-date list of schools worldwide.
- Find a Montessori School through the worldwide Montessori School Directory by the Montessori Foundation. Connect with country- and regional-level associations including the Association Montessori Internationale chapters and the American Montessori Society.
- Find a democratic school--one where students participate in making decisions about school governance--with the worldwide Democratic Schools Directory from AERO.
- Search online for national-level resources and lists of alternative schools, checking multiple lists. Some organizations, such as Progressive Education (England), maintain regional lists and resource databases. Note that in the US, "alternative schools" sometimes refers to public schools for students who are not functioning well in standard public high schools.
- If you are seeking a school within your region or another specific geographic area, contacting food cooperatives, intentional communities, nature centers, or other aligned organizations will likely connect you with someone who knows the local alternative education landscape.
- Learn about starting a Waldorf School with the document First Steps Towards the Foundation of a Waldorf Initiative by Freude Waldorf.
- Start an alternative school with the 15-week online School Starters course from AERO.
Get inspired
- The Sahyadri School in Pune, India runs a seed bank with more than 200 varieties of heritage seeds available to the surrounding community. Learn more in the 25-minute documentary The Seed Savers of Sahyadri School.
- At the Arthur Morgan School in western North Carolina, US, preteens go on three multi-day wilderness trips per year as well as an 18-day trip that they plan around a topic of their choice, recently Forced Migration and Birth, Death, and Life.
Create intergenerational learning opportunities.
Create intergenerational learning opportunities.
Creating opportunities for people across generations to work together is essential for building thriving local communities and for bringing joy into the lives of young and old. From preschools inside nursing homes, to community centers and schools where the elderly learn skills alongside children, discover ways that you can transform your community with intergenerational programs.
Take action
- Host a Grandparents Day any day of the year to unite young and old with the comprehensive Grandparents Day Planning and Activity Guide from the Legacy Project's Across Generations Program. The organization also offer dozens of straightforward Activities & Guides for intergenerational bonding.
- Find an intergenerational learning program near you with Intergenerational Program Database by Generations United (US).
- Create an intergenerational program in a school, community center, government office, healthcare clinic, cultural center with the extensive toolkit Connecting Generations, Strengthening Communities by The Intergenerational Center at Temple University in the US.
- Advocate for public policy supporting intergenerational families with the Resources page from Caring Across Generations (US) and the Public Policy page from Generations United (US).
Get inspired
- Since the 1970s, Kotoen in Japan has brought a daycare, an elder care center, a home for people with intellectual disabilities, and several other care-related businesses under one roof to create a delightful atmosphere of mutual play and learning. Read more in the article Kotoen: An Intergenerational Facility Under One Roof, written by a visitor who founded the Joo Chiat Social Club Intergenerational Community Care Space in Singapore.
- The Intergenerational Schools, two public charter schools in Cleveland, US, bring elderly local residents into schools to read, dance, garden, learn computer skills, and interact together.
- At Providence Mount St. Vincent in Seattle, USA, nursing home residents share their space with a daycare five days a week, with young children and elderly residents interacting every day, to everyone's benefit. Read more in the article The Preschool Inside a Nursing Home in The Atlantic.
- Residents of a neighborhood in Puerto Rico, US came together to found ARECMA, a community organization that focuses on intergenerational participation in their summer camp, communal gardens, kitchen, and laundry, and events. During the disasters of Hurricanes Irma and Maria and COVID-19, the tight-knit community quickly mobilized to support each other and save lives. Learn more in the three-minute video The 2020 Eisner Prize: ARECMA.
- At the permaculture centers Rancho Mastatal in Costa Rica and O.U.R. Ecovillage in Canada, facilitators host permaculture and natural building courses designed for families and intergenerational learning.
Voices from the field
- The documentary Schooling the World by Carol Black is a searing examination of the history of modern schooling, and the devastating impact this social technology has had on traditional cultures around the world.
- In the talk Reimagining Education and the podcast episode From Deadlihoods to Alivelihoods with Local Futures, Manish Jain outlines both his critique of schooling and his work on life-affirming learning alternatives in India and globally.
- In the series of short films, interviews and talks Re-imagining Nai Taleem, curated by Shikshatar Andolan, critics of education in India and worldwide inspire viewers to "dream beyond the dominant model of factory schooling and co-create new models of learning and living for the 21st century."
Resources
- The book Everywhere All the Time: A New Deschooling Reader, edited by Matt Hern, contains essays by some of the strongest critics of modern schooling, showing the destructive nature of this institution, and presenting inspiring historical and contemporary alternatives.
- The book Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, written in 1971, is a classic critique of schools and arguably still the most penetrating. Illich analyses schools as places that promote consumerism and obedience to authority, and where genuine learning is replaced by competitive advancement through institutional hierarchies and the accumulation of credentials.
- The book Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by John Taylor Gatto, is another classic in this field, persuasively arguing that “conventional schooling is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills we’re born with, replacing it with rule-following, fragmented time, and disillusionment.”
- The article A Roadmap for Making the Most of Our Increasingly Multigenerational Society, by Eunice Lin Nichols and Marc Freedman, shares an overview of programs that bring older and younger generations together for mutual learning and problem-solving.
- The book Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work, by Akilah S. Richards, argues for the possibility of unschooling to support "any human to learn, grow, socialize, and thrive, regardless of age, ability, background, or access to money."
- The essay collection The Harm of Coercive Schooling and the article Why Our Coercive System of Schooling Should Topple, by developmental psychologist Peter Gray, show how the overwhelmingly coercive methods employed in most modern schools produce a range of destructive and troubling effects on children and on society at large.