Welcome to The Rethinking Education Megamind

This community is run by Dr James Mannion and Kate McAllister. 

We have spent the last fifteen years or so immersed in the world of Learning to Learn - teaching young people how to teach themselves. 

We have achieved significant success implementing Learning to Learn in schools - improving attainment and closing the disadvantage gap by helping young people become more confident, proactive, self-regulated learners. If you would like to read more about the research that underpins our work, please see here. 

We have applied our ideas and practices in a range of contexts: from early years to universities; from schools in disadvantaged areas to elite international colleges; and from workplaces to refugee camps. We are now turning our attention to how we might apply these principles to homeschooling, as well as to aspects of school leadership and teacher professional development. We are also setting up new schools - Kate is currently in the Dominican Republic setting up a Hive School rooted in the principles of Learning to Learn, using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as the basis for a curriculum.

We also recently started the Rethinking Education podcast, which features in-depth conversations with fascinating guests. In particular, we explore ideas for how we might reform education so as to make it better suited to the purpose of preparing young people for life in an uncertain and rapidly changing world.

Around the world, there are lots of examples of fantastic, innovative educational practice - both within the mainstream school system and beyond. But too often, these forward-thinking practices take place in silos; we are so focused on what's in front of us that we don't take the time to connect with and learn from people on similar journeys.

The Rethinking Education community is an attempt to bring together teachers and school leaders, parents and carers, education researchers - anyone who thinks we should do education differently. This is a place where we can share our experiences, frustrations and achievements, learn from one another and perhaps even organise and bring about change. This is a welcoming space where innovative practitioners can join forces and scale up our efforts to reform education so as to create a more harmonious, equitable world.

We also want this community to provide support for parents and carers who have found themselves homeschooling due to covid-19. In the main feed, you will find a free video course - Learning to Learn at Home - that we hope will be useful for people who want to help their children become more confident, proactive, self-regulated learners.

Thank you for your interest in our community - we look forward to meeting you soon!