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.

What The Flexi School?

A personal reflection on the process of applying for a flexi schooling arrangement. From Headteacher support, to Council refusal, later becoming the first family (officially) to flexi school in Glasgow.

Not heard of flexi schooling? Neither had we until 18 months ago. Definitions vary but  generally agree that flexi schooling is a blend of part-time school attendance and part-time home based learning. There are also entire flexi schools where schools offer part-time hours with alternative provision at home or engaged in community activity. This has been beneficial to many small, rural communities facing closure due to low numbers (Poultney and Anderson, 2021, Thomson, 2020) . 

Playing under the giant beech trees in Queens Park. WAW meet here on Fridays from midday.

As far as we were concerned our children were going to school age 5 for 5 days a week and we hadn’t given it much more thought. Then, as they turned 4 the way they were playing was noticeably different. The development in their communication, physicality, confidence, their imaginative play… it was blossoming in a way that previously hadn’t been so obvious, at least to their parents, all of its own accord. It was inspiring!

The prospect of sending them to school 5 days a week at age 5 started to feel counterintuitive, it was as though it would interrupt their natural progression and development. Despite assurances that the curriculum was heavily play-based in P1 and P2, attainment and standards in literacy and numeracy still heavily influence the landscape of play provision in many schools. Genuine ‘Free play’ is not valued as highly as it could be in terms of the benefits it has both at the level of the individual and at a national level for attainment and social inequality (Palmer, 2020,Upstart, 2015).

A favourite hangout is Baltic Street Playground in Dalmarnock.

Some desktop research into flexi schooling suggested it had been around as an idea since the early 80s (Times, 1987) however most of the literature centred on English and Welsh case studies and we struggled to find much in Scotland. Fortunately a review carried out by Dumfries and Galloway Parent Science Gang (2019), provided an analysis of Scotland’s approach to flexi schooling, flexi schools and comparisons of different approaches by local councils. 

The primary conclusions of the research state that; 

“There are significant regional variations in how government guidance is interpreted and implemented. What guidance does exist makes clear that “The feasibility of each request [to flexischool] should be considered on its own merit… 

“…This guidance has statutory status. “It is not the law that local authorities must consider each flexi schooling request, but it is the law that they should have regard to the guidance which tells them that they should do this.” It would appear that the two local authorities who told us they do not allow flexi schooling—Aberdeenshire and North Ayrshire—are unlawfully “fettering their discretion” in this matter.” 

A quick scroll to section 3.6 of the  Home Education Guidance on the Scottish Government website and the picture became clearer;

“Local authorities may occasionally receive a request to withdraw a child part time from school, e.g. for the child to attend school only on certain days, or for certain subjects. The feasibility of each request should be considered on its own merit, while taking into consideration that under Section 28 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 ' so far as is compatible with the provision of suitable instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure, pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents' . Ultimately, however, it is a decision for each local authority and school as to whether they can support such an arrangement.”

We felt confident in this information (despite the small sample size), that there was precedent and that in theory, flexi schooling as an approach was supported at national level. We approached the Head Teacher at our local primary school and started a conversation about whether this could work.

Why Flexi School?

Reasons for seeking a flexible arrangement to schooling will vary from family to family, this is an individual approach and below are some of our reasons.

• Benefits of extended free play to nurture children’s innate curiosity to learn.

• Benefits to extended Kindergarten stage >P7. Supported by Upstart Scotland.

• Flexibility for family work/life balance.

• Not keen for children to be tested/rated against peers so young.

• Maximising well-being and growth mindset.

• Prioritising nature connection. 

• More time to exploring own interests, at own speed.

“Education in Britain feels as though it has reached peak insanity. Children are so over-tested by 11 now with five tests in seven years and an obsession with grammar, algebra and rote learning that they are disengaging. A YouGov poll published last week suggests parents would prefer it if primary schools were judged on pupil happiness rather than test results.”

(Times, 2020)

What we proposed:

• Flexi schooling the kids for P1 and P2 then reviewing.

• 3 days in school, 2 days at home. 

• Home-based learning would be child-led, free play in character, project-based and in connection with nature as much as possible.

• Socialising with a mixed-age group, within the local community using freely available resources.

Forest Skill Share session, making rafts and whittling sticks.

We began discussions around flexi schooling 10 months prior to the children starting P1. Although the school was receptive to our request, the process was far from clear and we spent a lot of time going between the school and the council trying to figure out what information was required to make an application. 8 months, 3 refusals and 3 appeals later we found ourselves sitting down at the school with the Head Teacher and the Director of Glasgow City Council discussing what would later become a change in policy and helping to map out the planning process of Flexi Schooling Arrangements (FSAs).

Are you interested in a flexi schooling arrangement for your family? 

Start a dialogue with your local school and Head Teacher  to explore if this is something they can support. We found the wider research supportive to our situation (links below) however your situation and the support required may be very different. The hope in writing this post has been to share a personal experience with a view to supporting other families who might also benefit from flexi schooling. 

Gina is a member of We Are Wonder, a social enterprise creating more opportunities for self-directed education in Glasgow. 

Making woodland friends at Pollok Park, Autumn 2021.

References:

The Dumfries and Galloway Parenting Science Gang (2019) 'Flexischooling in Scotland: What We Did and Why' In: Organizational ethics: healthcare, business, and policy: OE 8 (1) pp.58–67. At: https://www.othereducation.org/index.php/OE/article/view/234 (Accessed 22/04/2022).

Flexi-schools would ensure our pupils thrive (s.d.) In: The Times At: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/flexi-schools-would-ensure-our-pupils-thrive-ssrwqft9v (Accessed 22/04/2022).

'Flexischool' opens for learning: Parent power in schools." Times [London, England], 9 Sept. 1987. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A117569694/AONE?u=ucca&sid=AONE&xid=593d79ea. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021.

History (s.d.) At: https://www.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/history/ (Accessed 22/04/2022).

Palmer, S. ‘Play is The Way’ (2020) CCWB Press, (S.L).

Poultney, V. A. and Anderson, D. B. (2021) 'Leading change for survival: The rural flexi-school approach' In: Management in Education 35 (4) pp.182–188. At: https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020619878809



Upstart - The best start for Scotland’s Children (2015) At: https://upstart.scot/ (Accessed 22/04/2022).

Withdrawing a child from school (s.d.) At: https://www.gov.scot/publications/home-education-guidance/pages/3/ (Accessed 22/04/2022).