Starting mid to late March
People who believe in human rights and self-determination are invited to join this short term book club. It is not to be a talkfest, but rather the defining of how to attack the problem revealed by George Dennison’s 1969 comment made with reference to the Free School Movement.
“One hears more frequently now of parents banding together, finding teachers, and starting little schools . . . There are no signs that a movement exists, but there are many signs that one might . . .”
The problem is that the quote is as true today as it was back in the 60’s, and we, those described above, are the people we need to do something about it. To help you decide if the club is for you, the following is information about resources to be discussed. Please register here if you are interested in participating.
Resources to Be Considered
First a word to people working outside conventional school systems
We are at a point of having to bridge between the old and the new. People working on the outside are crucial to the change process. They are needed to help with the data collection Don Berg describes as essential, to be the pioneers of local learning ecosystems and education cities, and to help with the bridging to, or the hospicing of the old regime in order to get resources flowing from the old to the new. The prospect is that the more successfully we can conduct the bridging, the more the resources of the old will become available to the advocates of natural learning. The task is to take what Don calls the moral hunch stage we are in to the internal coherence one. This is the bridging work to be done.
The Resources
The plan is to first discuss the newly published book by James Mannion titled Making Change Stick, which draws on implementation science and looks at education remaining stuck in the economy mentality as a people problem. Follow the link to obtain the first three chapters for free. James gave this talk at the INSPIRE Education Summit last November.
Don Berg’s new book titled The Agentic Schools Manifesto is to be discussed next. Don to me is one of the foremost thinker about how to bridge between the old and the new. He gave this talk at the 2022 IDEC.
The final meetings are to consider the role of technology, including AI, in the future of education. The starting point is to be the PHEONIX platform of World Systems Solutions and its potential to support a global, all-encompassing new age of learning needed to promote human flourishing and to sustain life on earth.
Derry Hannam is to be the host of the book club. He is one of the strongest voices for bridging between the old and the new. He’s book Another Way is Possible – Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State School results from his years of experience teaching in public schools. He now champions the 20% Proposal which he presents in this Learning Planet Festival event that took place January 28th. This event included Mia Schmallenbach, the producer of the QUEST documentary film Suvemäe – Pioneer of Possibility and Charlie Moreno-Romero who founded the Suvemäe school in Estonia. Suvemäe is a school based on human rights and democratic principles and operates as a school within a conventional school.
Je’anna Clements and Sifaan Zavahir have done much conceptualization work required to pull education into alignment with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This talk by them at the INSPIRE Education Summit gives an excellent overview of what it involves.