IS THE CURRENT EDUCATION SYSTEM WORKING FOR EVERYONE?

WE DON’T THINK SO EITHER

At Flourishing Education, we believe that there’s a profound difference between schooling and education.

Today’s mainstream schooling system works, but only for a minority. Around one third of our young people succeed in it. The rest are too often left to bend, break, or fit themselves into boxes and shapes they were never meant for.

Education, on the other hand, is a life-long, life-wide, and life-deep journey. It begins at birth and continues all the way to our final breath. True education happens when adults care FOR (not just ABOUT) and nurture our children and young people – like gardeners tending a living, unique and diverse ecosystem. 

When we honour our children and young people as unique BEAUTY-full and AWE-some individuals, they discover who they truly are in this garden called life. They uncover their gifts, their passions and their essence. From this place of self-knowledge, they can grow into adults who live fully, authentically and unapologetically. They are and become ready to care for themselves, their neighbours and their neighbourhoods and communities. They don’t just care for themselves, they also care deeply for others and the planet/world too.

Education is not a factory conveyor belt. It’s not about standardising young people to fit a ‘square hole.” As the late Sir Ken Robinson so brilliantly argued, forcing unique individuals through a rigid system harms too many. A few may get through unscathed, but many do not. Too often, this ‘fit in or be left out’ approach means shaving off parts of their identities, values, or dreams. This causes DEEP AND LASTING HARM. This is particularly true for and the lived experience  of all the numerous neurodivergent children and young people who do not fit in the neurotypical systems we have created.

We see education as an ecosystem which is living, diverse and ever-changing. At the centre are our children and young people who are surrounded by adult champions (parents and carers, educators, leaders, teaching and administrative staff, governors, and policy-makers). We all influence and depend on each other as we flow-form into BE-ing and BE-COME-ing together. We are all part of the problem AND of the solution. 

So how do we transform the educational ecosystem so we all flourish?

First, we recognise that there is no ‘one size fits all’. There is not ONE PATH but ONE’S OWN PATH. We acknowledge that none of us are COGS in a machine.

Imagine a wild meadow: oaks surrounded by ivy, daffodils, sunflowers, daisies and fungi. Each BEAUTY-full, each different, each distinct and part of the all. All in one, one in all. We human BE-ings are not separate. That’s because we all ARE Nature. We have our own strengths, interests, quirks, and dreams. Our diversity is our greatest gift. Together we learn to BE and BE-COME with self, neighbour(s) and neighbourhood and we BE-long.

At Flourishing Education, we are deeply inspired by mycelial networks and love exploring how TOGETHER we co-create:

SAFE AND SECURE SPACES,

 SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES,

IMPERFECTLY PERFECT  CONVERSATIONS,

 IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS

THAT  RE-MIND US

HOW TO RE-MEMBER

TO BE, BE-COME  AND BE-LONG

SO THAT WE CAN ALL FLOURISH.

 Are you ready to help re-imagine education as it could be and should be?

Let’s connect! Let’s grow a flourishing future for all

Get in touch