08 Apr

Posted at 20:23h in News

A Welsh Government consultation will mandate sharing of young people's data, including confidential medical data, without consent, or even their knowledge, with local authorities' education departments. This appears to be an attempt to further encroach on the parental duty to make the decision concerning, and then to secure, a suitable education for their child/ren, and in particular a back door into non-consensual data collection about children being educated otherwise than in school. This is being proposed despite the fact that the vast majority of "Children Missing Education" are known to be on a school roll, but not attending. An earlier version...

01 Nov

Posted at 08:31h in News

Dr Ian Cunningham, Chair of Governors at Self Managed Learning (SML) College in Fishersgate, has returned from an important international education conference in Nepal where he served as the keynote speaker. During this event, he had the opportunity to present his ideas to the Nepali Minister of Education. Dr Cunningham's presentation focused on the practical approach of putting learners at the forefront of 21st-century education. The inspiration for this approach came from his decades long research on Self Managed Learning which led to him establishing SML College, known for its unique learner-centred model, which challenges traditional educational norms. SML College stands out...

20 Oct

Posted at 09:18h in News

Dr Ian Cunningham, founder of SML college has just released his new book 'Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm'. Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm proposes revolutionary change to the educational system. The overwhelming research evidence is that the sum total of educational and training input accounts typically for only 10–20% of what makes a person an effective human being. Balancing theory, evidence and practice, this ground-breaking book demonstrates that current structures in education are ill-equipped to support a learning-based approach. It establishes the case that learning, as a core human activity, is too important to be left...

02 Sep

Posted at 09:20h in News

The following is an extract from the last chapter of ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’ by Dr Ian Cunningham. It is 29 March 2020 and we were in the early stages in England of the coronavirus or Covid-19 crisis. Schools have been closed and many problems are occurring from this. One example is around the well-being of children. Walker, 2020, comments that even at this early stages of the crisis, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and its phone service, Childline, have been inundated with calls from worried children. For instance, she said that...

05 Jul

Posted at 13:49h in News

The Centre for Self Managed Learning has always operated in a non-profit charitable mode. However it has not, until now, felt the need to register as an official charity. With the growth of the Centre’s work with young people (via the South Downs Learning Centre) has come the need to raise funds and so registering as a charity became important. On July 5 2005 the Centre received confirmation that its application for charitable status had been approved. The Board of the Centre have become official trustees of the charity and they are committed to continuing the work of the Centre in its...