What is Expansive Education?

‘Expansive education’ is an umbrella term that applies to many organisations, schools, colleges, universities, practitioners, even governments around the world. Expansive Education: Teaching learners for the real world, is a great case study of many of these at an international level. The things we believe in are common to many across the world. The Network aims to crystallise that thinking, promote it to educators and policymakers, and bring people together to share in a common platform for change

The four points where we all converge are these: 

1. The point of education is more than exams. We believe in expanding goals which might include the importance of developing capabilities (often referred to as learning dispositions or habits of mind) alongside subject knowledge.  
   
   
2. The place where learning happens is not just at school. We believe in expanding the places we value as important. Maybe we want to recognise this learning formally;
   
   
3. The nature of intelligence is expandable. We believe in expanding mindsets so that learners do not perceive themselves to be limited by fixed intelligence. We want learners to understand that their capacity for intelligence can grow as they practise things;
   
   
4. The role of the teacher is as a learner, not always an imparter of knowledge. We believe in expanding teacher professional identity so that teachers seek always to develop their own professional practice and learn to feel comfortable out of their depths, just as they expect from their students.  
   

At the point of convergence we share a focus on helping children and young people to become better at learning so that they can thrive in all they do.

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