
Education Unbound
How to Create Educational Opportunity in Abundance
By: Ken Webster
Paperback | 21 August 2021
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182 Pages
19.84 x 12.85 x 0.99
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What are schools for? Who benefits from the current education system?
Could children get better education by reducing the school-leaving age?
Compulsory curricula, exams and published league tables damage children's learning, disabling their critical thinking skills, and they demoralise teachers too.
This book explores how we got to here, the challenges society faces, and how a new approach to education can rise to those challenges.
Education Unbound - How to Create Educational Opportunity in Abundance homes in on why our schools and universities fail so many learners. It offers a coherent yet visionary way forward that will bring the joy back to teaching, strengthen democracy and above all, be fun. Written by educationalist James Pitt and economist Ken Webster, and with a foreword by Sir Anthony Seldon, it is aimed at concerned parents, frustrated teachers, home educators, and policy makers of all political persuasions. Inspired by radical thinkers such as Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Illich and Paulo Freire the authors place learners of all ages at the heart of education, and argue for a radical localisation of educational provision. The book provides a handle for seeing where things have gone wrong and how to build a hopeful future.
Industry Reviews
"Extraordinarily liberating and thoughtful ... it will help change you and those who you encounter for a lifetime." Sir Anthony Seldon.
"This book reminds us that learning is an effect of the communities we belong to, whether those are schools, friendship groups, families, clubs or digital networks. It also suggests that learning is a transformational process at personal, social and political levels. The book is timely as well as deeply engaging." Richard Andrews, Professor in Education, University of Edinburgh
"This is a much-needed clarion call for education once again to be about the full development of an individual, including all their creativity, curiosity, sense of adventure and fun and enquiry, not just about the absorption of received wisdom. It is important and significant." Lord Chris Smith, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
"Learning is central to who we are as humans. Learning excites us, motivates and fulfils us. The opportunity for learning exists all around us, in every person that we meet, and throughout our lives. What we experience in schools should be the starting point for a lifetime of curiosity, learning and excitement - and this is what the schooling system should be evaluated on, the ability for people to go into the world and deploy creativity and energy in every aspect of their lives. This book focuses attention on what needs to change in formal education; but this needs to be matched with the creation of opportunities and infrastructures for continual, informal learning, peer-to-peer, in our neighbourhoods and cities." Tessy Britton, Founding Chief Executive and Head of Design, Participatory City Foundation
"A good educator doesn't teach - they share their view, engendering a love of learning and creative curiosity that becomes life's foundation. As the world has changed, it's time education caught up. In this important book James Pitt and Ken Webster have shared their view, and it is inspiring." Susan Scurlock MBE, Founder and CEO Primary Engineer
"Abundance, participation, passion and a hope for humanity are themes that ring through this book which offers a well-balanced view of opportunities and possibilities for an education system with a strong moral purpose. Creating school communities which enable and inspire the 'turning over of a stone to see what lies beneath' and the 'unfolding of a person' seems to me to be a place where learning will lead to success. If we can co-create a curriculum that allows for spontaneity, stretching beyond zones of comfort and a habitual examination of assumptions, we are more likely to bring about sustainable change and better futures for all." Victoria Pendry, CEO The Curriculum Foundation.
"I worked with both James Pitt and Ken Webster over many years. It comes as no surprise to me that they have produced this short book which challenges the status quo in education. It provides a manifesto for those who wish to be informed and take action to improve the educational opportunities for all young people so that they are empowered to meet the challenges facing the world." Dr. David Barlex, formerly Director of the Nuffield Design & Technology Project
Part One: Learner-centred education 21
Early educators 24
Socrates, Aristotle, Avicenna, Ibn Tufail, Locke and Rousseau 24
Schooling, education and learning 28
What is the difference? Where does real learning take place? Ken Robinson and looking for alternatives 28
A frightening experience in Kazakhstan 31
The DHL model of curriculum 32
Why we are on a road to madness 32
More historical examples 33
L'cole Mutuelle - people learn from each other 33
Tolstoy (1828 - 1910) - learners in the driving seat 35
John Dewey (1859 - 1952) - the centrality of experience38
Paulo Freire (1921 - 1997) - education for critical consciousness 41
Ivan Illich (1926 - 2002) - Deschooling Society 44
Other examples of real education 48
Steiner-Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, the International Baccalaureate, learning through projects, home education, why the mainstream is failing (Michael Gove and E.D. Hirsch) 48
What's going on in schools today 52
What parents and business actually want, teacher burnout 52
Pupils' mental health 56
Schools modelled on prisons 56
Education is dumbing us down; Gramsci and hegemony 57
Is it time for a change? 61
The failure of a compulsory curriculum and standardised testing 61
Part Two: The State of the World Today 65
Business as Usual 68
Climate change 68
Mass migration and populism68
Disease 69
Artificial intelligence, fewer jobs and the changing nature of work69
Plunder of the Commons 70
Democracy at risk 71
The changing economic context 72
The growth of debt 74
The emergence of the precariat 75
A new global class structure 76
The neo-liberal myth 79
The economy and social cohesion 82
The 2008 crash 84
How might educators respond to Business as Usual? 87
A Better Vision 90
Life in towns and cities - the Global Ecovillage Network, Athens, Barcelona 91
Local initiatives - Barking and Dagenham94
Citizen Action - Citizens UK, Locality 95
A new society based on belonging, not alienation - Kevin Carson, Rutger Bregman, George Monbiot 96
Co-operatives that work - Mondragon, Preston, the Co-op 99
Universal Basic Income (UBI) or Universal Basic Dividend (UBD)102
Should we call it 'Universal Basic Income' or 'Universal Basic Dividend'? 104
How to pay for UBD and taxing unearned income 106
Creating money to help everyone 109
Drivers of change and the importance of systems110
A point of transition 112
Part Three: A way forward - returning education to the learners 117
Community Learning Exchanges 118
The need for a physical centre 118
Three roles for learning exchange staff 120
Mentors 120
Resources managers 123
Experts 124
Recruitment125
The future of jobs in education 127
Pedagogy - project-based learning 129
Learner progression, assessment and accreditation132
Meaningful assessment 133
Lifelong learning in the community based on new principles135
Open to everyone 135
Localism and why a compulsory national curriculum cannot empower learners136
Making the most of remote learning 137
How to get from A to B 139
Flexibility 142
The pains of transition 143
Number of Jobs 143
Safeguarding 145
Antisocial behaviour 147
A new social contract 149
Governance issues - how might a local CLE be managed? 149
How to pay for a community learning exchange 151
Business interest 153
Returning learning to the learners 154
ISBN: 9780955983115
ISBN-10: 0955983118
Published: 21st August 2021
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 182
Audience: Professional and Scholarly
Publisher: TerraPreta Publishing
Dimensions (cm): 19.84 x 12.85 x 0.99
Weight (kg): 0.18
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