Rethinking Education

Creating creative educational spaces for ND young people

Some of you know I’ve been working on an education project for a while now. THE THING (which will one day have a name, promise!) is a passion project that was seeded while I was working in mainstream schools.  I spent years watching my young people be forced to jump through hoops, to conform, to learn and exist with their classmates within the rules and expectations of the system, and to inevitably berate themselves when they ‘failed’. Even within the best classrooms, with the most creative teachers, our young people were never truly given time to explore the world in a way that gave meaning to their learning. There was always an outside force impacting what, how, why and when they could learn. There was never enough time to divert from the curriculum and chase passions, never enough space to explore what really made my young people light up, and while this impacted everyone, it was very clear that it disproportionally affected neurodivergent learners. For neurodivergent learners who needed the freedom to learn monotropically, to dive deep into each subject area before coming up for air, to lean into their passions - the National Curriculum, and school pressures, did not and could not support their way of learning - and the impact was profound. 

During my last year as a mainstream teacher, nearly all of my classes would have been labelled ‘difficult’.. I was purposefully given ‘the needy kids’, ‘the anxious kids’, ‘the kids who never listened’... While some of our young people were fortunate enough to be aware of their needs and gain some accommodations, most were undiagnosed neurodivergent young people, many from impoverished backgrounds who already had a tonne of trauma to carry with them - they simply didn’t ‘fit’ within the school environment. While on paper, the schools I worked in were ‘outstanding’, they repeatedly failed to provide accommodations for these young people. There were group changes, timetabling changes, and in some cases extra equipment as a way to increase engagement. But none of these initiatives actually provided these young people with what they needed - an environment which felt safe, in which they could learn about themselves, in which they could understand their needs and build their confidence, and explore the things that brought them joy. 

Working in alternative education was… interesting. One particular school had the most beautiful, dynamic way of being, which served not only the young people but the staff as well. I know now that we were building in many different ways to co-regulate. There were set lessons, and subjects we had no choice but to follow, but HOW we reached those goals was up to us. It was a collaborative process. There were many negotiations, but nothing was forced, and if anyone was dysregulated we shifted things - we went to the park, or for a walk round town. We learnt yoga and meditation, kick boxing and music. We gave space for our young people to talk about their emotions, to share their experiences, to build trust - and from there, I can honestly say I had the BEST year of my teaching career. All of our young people were confident in their abilities, they knew when to step back and had tools to use when things felt tricky, they knew how to ask for support, and they all achieved their goals. The following year, after a change in senior leadership, our ability to work fluidly with our young people vanished, we lost the ability to support in the way that was needed, and I handed in my resignation.

As I am writing THE THING, I am constantly thinking of that last cohort of young people. Of how they were let down. Of what tools would have made the difference. I have since spent 2 years working in unschooling spaces, in neurodivergent spaces, and the one thing I feel that is consistently missing is a space for our young people to explore who they are. All young people, but especially our neurodivergent young people, should be given space and support to develop their understanding of self. Remember those labels given to my mainstream learners? I know many of them will still be carrying those negative labels today -  If only they knew that they needed to move their bodies more to be ready to learn? If only they knew that they are not lazy, but need to work in a monotropic way, focusing on one thing at a time to gain deep understanding before moving on? If only they had been given the tools they needed to recognise their emotional states AND the tools to process them… so many ifs. 

The first step in creating THE THING has been to develop a space which provides our young people with the tools and knowledge that they need to truly understand themselves -  understanding their biology, how the body functions, and what their internal experiences are, and how that then impacts on the way that they move through the world. I want them to have this knowledge before diving into other topics for many reasons, but to me the most important is that by developing a strong sense of self, I hope that they will have the understanding they need to make positive choices around their future. 

Note I purposefully didn’t use the word learning there, and I say this because our idea of what learning, education, school, looks like - really REALLY needs to change. Learning is something that happens everywhere, everyday, in every setting. Curriculum’s inform learning within formal educational establishments, they guide and support, but they do not infer learning. This is one of the reasons I’ve found THE THING difficult to talk about, because it doesn’t have a set of predetermined goals, or steps that have to be worked through in sequential order, but instead it is an invitation to simply get curious about yourself, and the world around you. 

And through those moments of curiosity, of chasing the things that are interesting to us, we inevitably learn more about the real world and our place within it, and research has shown time and again that when we are intrinsically motivated to learn, that knowledge STICKS. 

So THE THING is about empowering young people to have the freedom to get curious, to learn about themselves, to have agency over their learning and therefore, over their future. Because they will be supported to learn in ways that are truly nourishing to them, that centre their wellbeing, and help them become happy healthy human beings who know how to find, and create, joy in the world.

Addie x

---

If this post resonates, let me know, share, and subscribe to stay in touch. :)