To Dare to Do: A Conversation About the Future of School, with Tim Milner & Ben Fugill

This episode features Ben Fugill and Tim Milner: two educators who are friends, who are both working in atypical teaching and learning contexts, and who are both part of a group working to develop Auseras, a new kind of school that has pared everything back to two essential questions: what is school, and what should school be for?

I worked with Ben for two years at the residential United World College in San José, Costa Rica - he's the IB Coordinator and teaches Global Politics - and we became firm friends as we worked alongside one another and students from over 75 countries in a two year programme that went far beyond the usual academic profile of a school in favour of a holistic education that offers three pillars: academic, co-curricular and residential threads. My first introduction to Tim and the Auseras project therefore, came from Ben: and he was right in that the manifesto was something that instantly filled me with both a joy a curiosity about the project that made me want to know more. Auseras is a vision for a school that will challenge conventional thinking, facilitating self-directed learning, encouraging individual creativity and nurturing the development of the whole person.

This episode takes in so many different ideas that it’s hard to sum up with a nice soundbite, but the main themes are:

• Things can (and must) be done with students at the heart of the design
  
• Teachers need to be trusted to decide what their students need, and be given time to ask
  
• The right learning environment will serve each student individually. This is an urgent need in post-COVID context.
  
• Things need never go back to the way they were if they weren’t working for the teachers or the students. It’s up to all of us to decide what comes forward with us to the new normality.
  
  It’s up to us as educators to align and join with others who share our values. Auseras is one group of motivated people working to make change, but there are many others, and if we consider ourselves lifelong learners then it’s up to us to start making enquiries. You can begin with learning more about Auseras at www.auseras.com, or by following Tim on twitter @auseras. You can read more from Ben at glopoib.wordpress.com or follow him on twitter @crproj3ct.

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