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core principles in 2020
The core principles of Schola Liberum include:
- ScholaLiberum is a step forward in learning. We harness the best learning science, the best of our team's very considerable experience, with the constant feedback from our learners and families to make this better than anything preceding it.
- This is a model for all children, worldwide. It works for comfortable families in thriving economies, but also for families and children that have been left aside by education. We are exploring entirely new approaches to funding their learning - the marginal cost of rolling out ScholaLiberum to huge numbers of students will be minimal, by intention.
- Students will know each other very well - each cluster is very much a learning "family", but links with clusters in other countries will be an expectation for project work. Being SchoLib alumni will indicate real experience and capability in an online and global world - and of course, will offer a ready-made network of trusted SchoLib collaborators.
- Learning is personalised, stage, not age, ambitious and prioritised. Each child has a dedicated on-line tutor who is personal & long term too.
- Learning is grounded - a substantial focus is on applied learning meeting locally defined needs whilst giving curriculum relevance at all times. For more experienced learners, a substantial amount of learning will be in the community, through internships and workplace experiences, in local organisations and facilities. There is an expectation that children will spend time applying learning in external activities; that would include playful, exploratory learning especially for the younger age children.
- Mixed-age and Stage, not Age. Clear research favours both. With tiny numbers in each Learning Clusters, these are natural organisational principles anyway. The age range is 2 - 18, although 0 - 18 or indeed to 21 (graduate) may be possible in later stages. In the first instance, cohorts in Schola Liberum's Learning Clusters will be targeted at 4 - 14, although older siblings would not necessarily be rejected. Those initial cohorts would then grow through to our ceiling age.
- Very local learning clusters. Typically around 6 - 10 children of all ages, one responsible adult at all times plus their nominated "helper". Indoor, outdoor, using other premises; museums, libraries, parks, workplaces etc. An agile approach to location.
- Sometimes adults will co-locate with these clusters too. Where adults are working from home it makes good sense to have their children learning at the same location
- All adults involved are DBS or ICPC cleared, including all participating parents. All learning locations will supported in attaining health, safety and suitability standards.
- Ambient conditions will be optimised to provide the best learning environment. This is a key element in helping every child to be their very best.
- Transparency. Placing particular emphasis on celebration and exhibition, the work milestones of children progressing through Schola Liberum will be exhibited and evident at all times. This applies between Learning Clusters as well as within. Communities will see and know what learning is occurring.
- A designedly global focus (very much in line with the Pisa recommendations) with a clear intention to provide our children with the remote working, and trans-cultural team based capabilities, needed for active participation in employment, citizenship and community going forward in this millennium.
- Schola Liberum will use existing resources. There is no intention here to become a bespoke publishing house. Our conviction, and considerable experience, boosted by the coronavirus experience, is that there are very many high quality on-line resources: free, charitably provided, or commercial. Any and all of these can provide significant personalised pathways but need careful curation and auditing for relevance. Additionally, adaptive testing and other personalised resources should, and can, play a part. This field is changing rapidly at present.
- This model is different, but importantly it is not a subset of existing school opportunities. It is a different set and we are committed to it being a better set for those who choose the ScholaLiberum path.
want to know more?
If you want to know more, to be involved, to become a Learning Cluster, or even to enquire from a national government position, please mail us now. We will stay in touch and answer your questions.
We will not use your email to sell you anything, or to sell you.
this page created June 24, 2016 by Prof Stephen Heppell, and last updated on Thursday, May 14, 2020 19:06