What does a rewilded education look like?

We want education to be healthier, fairer, and wilder. We do not want to wait. We do not hold this up as a set of aspirations that we might, one day, manage to achieve. We want it now.

We want to transform education, but we do not want to replace our current one-size-fits-all model with another one-size-fits-all model. There is no single blueprint and there are no simple recipes to follow. The process of rewilding education can take place in schools, in alternative learning settings, in homes, in parks, in nature reserves, in forests, in colleges, in universities and online, which means that they will all look different in practice. These contexts present their own set of challenges, but we firmly believe that within all of them, including those within rigid constraints, there is some space for manoeuvre. We just have to find it.

How would we know if education has been rewilded? What would we use to measure the health of this new type of ecosystem? We need an entirely new set of measures. The current system values academic grades, compulsory attendance, compliance with a set of behaviour standards and so on. A rewilded education is different. We would hope to see self-directed and autonomous children and adults who have a sense of themselves and a care for others, a collaboration and co-operative dynamic between children and adults which is not underpinned by coercion and control, a varied set of curriculum opportunities which does not prioritise some subjects over others, a culture which supports a deep connection with the living world, a flexibility of approach which means that diversity is welcomed and everyone can feel a deep sense of inclusion and belonging, a transformed structure and new processes which enable grassroots involvement in decision-making, a culture which values authenticity and encourages open conversation and honest expression of the self. And more, and more. What do you think? What do you value? What would you expect to find in a rewilded education?