Radical educators wanted!

We haven’t talked too much about our education beliefs: I mentioned a couple of times that we firmly believe in the “doing” approach to learning. Breaking news: we also believe that learning can only happen under meaningful circumstances, and that it has to be consensual.

One of the most interesting and controversial movement in education is Free Schooling. Present in many countries, it is born out of the Spanish Anarchist movement of the late 19th century and promotes a non-hierarchical schooling structure, a curriculum defined by the students and the teachers together and a democratic decisional process. One of the most famous free school is Summerhill School, founded by A.S. Neill and still ran today by his daughter. Neil wrote a cult-book, A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, which illustrates his radical perception of education and of children’s sovereignty.

The high school program of the Albany Free School, the longest running inner-city democratic free school in United States, is currently looking for a full-time teacher, and so is the elementary program. They are offering a unique opportunity to learn more about this movement, its values, challenges and hopes. They even made a movie about the school, which allows us to penetrate the very seldom daily routine of this learning community, with its ups and downs.

They also have internship positions available.

Good luck!

News: Writers wanted

There are so many outstanding people doing groundbreaking stuff in the world, organizations who truly care about developing people’s potential to its full extant, human beings who are willing to question the way traditional education is made and to innovate to achieve their goals.

We don’t know them all.

That’s why we are looking for collaborators: writers who want to share their thoughts on education, on social entrepreneurship, or on the educative impact of social media. It could also be on any other topic that is of interest for people who believe that human beings naturally aim to achieve their greatest potential, if presented with the tools and opportunities.

You can be a mother, a professional writer, an home-schooled teenager, a professor, a blogger: as long as you are passionate about your topic.

It can be one article, a series or sporadic contributions.

Send us an email at info[at]e-180.com with your name and the topic you would like to cover.

News: 2009 = E-180′s Year!

Many new things to come this year for us!

We will be launching our Facebook application next week. With this app, you’ll be able to share your learning resolutions with your friends, and find people who can help you to achieve it. Kind of a first draft of what E-180 will be.

Also, we will produce video podcasts on non-traditional education and will enhance our blog content by collaborating with authors from around the world who want to share their vision of non-traditional education, social entrepreneurship or social media.

All of this to keep you busy while we are working on E-180′s official platform.

So stay tuned for the updates, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have comments or suggestions!