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Hey <<First Name>>
Last year we discussed the education system and how broken it is. I received quite a few replies from readers agreeing with me.
This year I came across a new school concept called the Acton Academy that offers an alternative to the current system. To explore it yourself check out this short documentary.
The central principle around which everything is built is that the kids take responsibility for their own learning. This is framed through the lens of the hero’s journey. Coined by academic Joseph Campbell in 1949, it refers to a wide-ranging category of tales in which a character ventures out to get what they need, faces conflict, and ultimately triumphs over adversity.
And that’s exactly what the kids in this school do. They’re encouraged to find their own passions and set their own goals to pursue. They face challenges along the way and are guided through how to face those. They return to their purpose constantly, reflecting on their learning.
Practically what this looks like in a typical day is:
- Launch - ‘guides’ set the scene with a discussion topic (“what enabled American Pharoah to win the Triple Crown?”) and then facilitate an open-ended discussion which the kids ultimately control.
- Core skills - self-directed discovery session in which the guides are there to prompt ideas and stimulate curiosity.
- Lunch - free time to play games, eat and whatever else they want.
- Clean up - student-led clean-up of their areas, each led by a champion responsible for that area.
- Projects - students work on their own projects, setting their own goals, for example, for how many Khan Academy math problems to complete, books to read, or pages to write.
- Close - students call each other out for accomplishments during the day.
- Badges - used for proof of work and not grades, the focus being on outcomes and creating things.
My mind is raising with ideas for how this can be applied to adult-learning too, with the growing trend of cohort-based online courses providing a perfect platform on which to test these principles.
If you have direct experience with Acton Academy, hit reply and let me know. I’m eager to learn more.
Till next time, stay curious,
Andrew
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I came across this fascinating research by BCG, which seems to indicate a trend of people in emerging economies prioritizing learning more than those in established economies.
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I came across this fascinating research by BCG, which seems to indicate a trend of people in emerging economies prioritizing learning more than those in established economies.
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