The following text provides my personal thoughts on the European Commission’s Working Paper entitled “Schools for the 21st Century” SEC(2007)1009 published early July 2007 (link no longer available). The consultation paper took the form of an introduction followed by a series of eight questions, each accompanied by a short text. The deadline for contributions about the consultation to the Commission was October 15th, 2007. …
Ambient learning…
Ambient learning…
There may be a fundamental and insurmountable contradiction between the disempowerment embodied in the role of schools as guardians of young people and the vision of schooling as the empowerment of individuals and groups as deciders in their own learning processes… (Ambient schooling: Putting learning back into life)…
Ambient “schooling”: Putting learning back into life
The term “ambient schooling” is emerging as a new power word in the conceptualisation of tomorrow’s schools. By “power word” I mean one that has momentarily become magically imbued with extraordinary explanatory powers such that it is enough to use it in a conversation and all becomes clear (even if no one agrees on what it could be).
Using a gross over simplification, the concept of ambient schooling is largely driven by a techno-commercial scenario but includes a substantial pedagogical and ethical thread.…
Emotional Intelligence in schools
The following article is one of a series of texts about Emotional Intelligence sparked off by Daniel Goleman’s book about Emotional Intelligence and research work observing a number of primary schools in Geneva, Switzerland. I am also very much indebted to my two children, Zoé and Iannis, who are daily confronted with the refusal of school to take into consideration their emotional abilities and difficulties.…