The Times - UK (2022-01-26)

Views

of the

students

Wednesday January 26 2022

the times

6 TIMES EDUCATION

COMMISSION Interim Report

“

We have a

simple rule:

act like you

would love

to be treated

by others

Case study

Learning for

life in school

with no rules

O

utside the

Agora school

in the

Netherlands,

teenagers

clamber over a car. They

jump on the bumper, pop

the bonnet, toot the horn

and open the boot. Music

is blaring from the radio

as they tear out the seats

of the Chrysler Voyager.

The science teacher,

Frank Neiss, has set his

pupils the challenge of

transforming the people-

carrier into a camper

van. They will spend six

months learning about

voltages, velocity and

aerodynamics as well

carpentry, plumbing and

design. That will be their

way of studying maths,

chemistry, physics and

art. “It will be a great

project,” Neiss said.

“Then, next summer, I

will go on holiday in the

van with my wife.”

Agora, a non-selective

state secondary in a

suburb of Roermond, has

no classrooms, no

timetables, no year

groups and no

curriculum. Pupils

decide what to study and

all the learning is done

through individual

projects that involve

making things, meeting

specialists or going on

expeditions. Instead of a

teacher the students

have a personal coach.

Rob Houben, the

manager, who is the

closest thing Agora has

to a head, said the school

was a combination of a

university, where all

knowledge is within

reach, a Buddhist

monastery, where pupils

can discover what

matters in life, a theme

park, where students can

have fun, and a

marketplace, where the

young people can

exchange ideas. In

Ancient Greece the

“agora” was the

commercial, social and

political centre of the

town. “We start with

you,” the school tells its

pupils. “What do you

want to learn? What are

your talents, interests

and ambition?”

In the past five years

projects have included

students building a

skateboard, baking cakes

and studying the Harry

Potter patronuses as well

as the Ancient Egyptian

pharaohs. The priority is

to engage students and

make them curious. “We

flying colours. Agora

covers all the elements of

the compulsory Dutch

curriculum and in their

last two years students

are taught by subject

specialists to prepare

them for national exams.

The coaches ensure that

there are educational

elements woven through

even the most apparently

fun-filled project.

Agora has turned the

structures and routines

of traditional education

on their head. The

school is built around a

giant atrium, which has

a climbing wall and a

kayak hanging from the

ceiling. Students work in

large common rooms

with sofas, armchairs

need to put a lot of

knowledge in these kids

but if we attach it to a

trigger, then it sticks,”

Houben said.

The approach has

struck a chord with

parents in the

Netherlands, where

happiness is valued as

much as academic

outcomes. The

Roermond campus

opened in 2014 with 30

pupils as an experiment

within another more

conventional school. It

has since expanded to

295 students and has a

long waiting list. There

are now 12 Agoras

around the country.

The school has passed

all its inspections with

and communal tables.

There is an “inventions

room” piled with lego.

Instead of being

divided into classes on

the basis of age, pupils

are put into “coach

groups” that span the

whole school. There are

flexible start and finish

times and no detentions.

“We have a simple rule:

act like you would love to

be treated by others,”

Houben said. “If a child

is happy at school, that

means they will open up

for learning.”

Agora school has at its

heart a huge atrium with a

climbing wall and meeting

rooms that appear to be

suspended in the air

“I would make a subject

about creativity where

students go outside and

they write about what

they think,” Moriah, 11,

from Ivybridge Primary

School in Isleworth, west

London, told the other

members of The Times

Education Commission’s

primary youth panel, one

of three groups of young

people, the others looking

a secondary and 16+ age

groups (Oliver Myers

writes). Echoing

sentiments shared by

national cultural

organisations and award-

winning artists, Moriah

added: “Children are

usually very creative and

their creativity shouldn’t

be kept in a box.”

Phoebe, 11, of Fulwell

Junior School,

Sunderland, said cooking

“needs to become a

proper lesson, because it

gives us life skills when

we’re older”. She would

start an activity-careers

day “so everyone gets a

real look into what other

people are interested in

when they’re older”.

Mia, 11, from

Belvoirdale Primary

School in Leicester, said

that she would like to do

more languages,

especially sign language.

Kai James, 18, of Exeter

School, told the

commission’s 16+ panel

that preparing for exams

began at too early an age.

“Exams are great for

people who have an

amazing memory and

ability to just churn out

question after question

after question, whereas it

doesn’t seem to cultivate a

sense of unique thinking.”

Some felt a mismatch

between exams and

future careers but others

seemed disillusioned by

their narrow scope.

Thomas Wicker, 15, from

Hastings, dropped points

in his science mock

because his answer was

not identical to the mark

scheme. He asked the

secondary school panel:

“Why is my knowledge

being defined by a sheet

of paper?”

Ana Nicolae, 20, who

emigrated from Romania

at 14, said: “It does matter

so much how you feel

that day... and it’s not

always accurate of what a

student actually knows.”

Every member of the

secondary youth panel

reported that they or a

close friend had had

mental health problems.

Armaan Amin, 18, at

college in Stockton-on-

Tees, spoke about

someone struggling with

remote learning, who

“started to derail” after

having messed up one

exam. “All the other

grades started to fall”.