A unique school with no curriculum, classes and teachers

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Whoever crosses the threshold of this unique school will forever change their attitude towards studies, teachers and classmates, because instead of the usual classes with desks and a blackboard, there are playrooms and theme parks, and instead of teachers, there are coaches who participate in children's games, discussing only those topics that interest them.

But despite this unusual approach, the students achieved high results in many fields of knowledge, from writing poetry to researching nuclear physics or creating IT programs.

When we talk about school, most of us imagine noisy corridors, classrooms with rows of desks and teachers with a pointer at the blackboard, but that’s until you look into the unique educational institution Agora College, which is located in Roermond (Netherlands). Having crossed the threshold of a conventional classroom, students find themselves in a huge hall with different thematic zones, where in a chaotic manner you can see tables littered with books, paints, laptops and all sorts of small things, a bunch of armchairs, chairs and incomprehensible boxes and a large TV for presentations. This kind of creative work environment is usually seen in architectural firms or advertising agencies, but is not in any way associated with the school process.

Interesting:When a group of enthusiasts secured permission in 2007 to open an experimental school, Agora College, which was intended to enhance student creativity rather than teach, children were given the opportunity to design the classrooms themselves. This decision was justified by the fact that when the teachers were asked to do this, they offered a standard boring interior, and the founders sought to ensure that it was the children who enjoyed their studies and developed.

No less surprising is the beginning of the school day, when children from different age categories (from 12-16 years old), united in one group, come up with … myself lesson for this day or several, depending on how deeply they want to study the topic they like. After 10 minutes, the coach, by no means a teacher, gives each child the opportunity to present his plan for today to the whole class in order to show that he will not idle, but really engage in research in one direction or another that is interesting for him.

The coach, with the help of questions, tries to direct the child's search in the right direction, involving classmates who give advice on how to do it easier and better. And this is not just research for the sake of a tick or a mark. Each student has his own journal, in which they note not only the direction, but also how the matter is progressing, and when the topic is exhausted and the child has determined that he is already sufficiently versed in this issue, he puts a special seal that the task has been completed.

After a collective discussion, the children go to that part of the hall in which it is more convenient for them: who goes to the music room, who goes to the workshop or atelier, who sits at the laptop, and who even goes out into the corridor where the climbing wall is installed. All this action is watched by coaches who do not interfere in the process, but can only direct the child in the right direction with leading questions, without imposing their point of view or generally accepted concepts.

One of the mentors of this unusual school, Rob Houben, said that the motto of their school is the words of Albert Einstein - "Imagination is much more important than knowledge." That is why the entire teaching staff is trying to move away from an authoritarian attitude towards students, in no case resorting to the generally accepted system of rote memorization, because it is these two components that forever kill the desire for learning and creative thinking in children.

Looking at such a system of education and complete freedom of action, a reasonable question arises: "But what about the ministerial curriculum, scheduled by the hour and the arsenal of knowledge that children should receive in each subject?"As it became known to the authors of Novate. Ru, in this European country the Ministry of Education does not “lower the approved norms from above”, from which teachers have no right to deviate either to the right or to the left, but only … asks to bring pupils or students to the desired level of knowledge within a certain period of time.

Thanks to such a loyal attitude of government agencies, it turned out not only to open a school that has been actively promoting freedom of education for more than 10 years, but eventually to release from its walls a creative generation that has high communication skills, teamwork skills, flexible thinking and the ability to quickly and efficiently solve any interdisciplinary tasks. And these are precisely the qualities that are most valued by employers and will certainly come in handy in life.

The experience of Agora College is to actually give up all the control that the coach (teacher) usually has over the activities of the students, entrusting them with their own education, while unobtrusively helping.

There are times when a student is very carried away by some specific research, and the knowledge of the curators or the information found on the Internet is not enough, then he is allowed to contact specialists in this industry, providing free access outside the school during classes. These students can also create interest groups, and not necessarily classmates. Carrying out their research, they have the right to invite the necessary consultants on this issue, as well as enthusiastic peers from other schools by arranging round tables.

And another important aspect, even if the child absolutely does not like mathematics, physics or geometry, and it is necessary to obtain the necessary level of knowledge in all subjects in order to pass the national final exam, which is compulsory for all educational sessions of the country, then they found a way out of the situation. Having complete freedom to do what they like to do, the student spends the first couple of school years, but in the third year they begin to learn what is necessary to pass this exam as conveniently as possible.

So, for example, all students need to know the Pythagorean theorem and a few more mandatory rules and laws, but many are not interested in mathematics or physics, then coaches find other branches of knowledge that are close to a particular child, and where the necessary theorem or law is applied with the most practical and interesting point of view. This is how children begin to understand why it is necessary to know this, and not just mechanically memorize, because it is necessary.

When teachers of a non-standard school are asked what the basic rules of learning are, the answer is always the same: “We give children the opportunity to play, because when children play with something, they become interested. And then you don't need to teach them, and you don't need to control them. The fact that such a training system is becoming more popular is confirmed by the fact that for the next three years all groups are completed and there is no recruitment anymore.