School is dead? Long live learning! @ COP26

Six months after COP26 and in the spirt of ‘slow news’, we reflect on the event We Are Wonder held as part of the ‘Peoples’ Coalition’ at COP26: School is dead? Long live learning! - An open discussion space on ways to make education better for people and the planet.

True to our value of forming deep connections with the natural world, we hosted the event in the woods, on the site of an Iron Age fort, Camphill, at the top of Queen’s Park. On a crisp and sunny November day we installed three old school desks in the ‘classroom’ of the forest. The first interactive desk contained 1000 paperclips. Based on NASA’s paper clip test, our intent was to playfully engage participants to think creatively and ‘outside the box’. The Paperclip test is a fascinating demonstration of divergent thinking and how it tends to decline from the age of five! George Land and Beth Jarmans Paperclip Test 1968

The other two desks were set up as writing spaces to share thoughts and answers to the question: What would a ‘school’ that put the well-being of children, young people and planet at its core look like?

Under the bare beach trees in the winter sun we discussed ‘learning’ and ‘education’, people and planet care, while drinking warm spiced apple juice and eating pumpkin cookies. We were joined by people local to Queen’s Park, some faces we knew and some that were new to us, and others who had traveled from Ireland and as far away as Africa. 

The conversations we began that day are continually evolving and we feel we are coming closer to understanding what form a space that puts the well-being of children, young people and planet at its core would look like here in Glasgow. We will explore this further in future blog posts.

Lillias is a visual artist, mother, co-founder and member of We Are Wonder.