Hello,
I’m Max Hope.
I’m passionate about bringing together alternative education, freedom, social justice and the wild world.
I am a facilitator, educator, researcher, activist, and writer. I want to revolutionise our education system. I am working to build a stronger and fairer system that works for all children, young people and adults. I believe that the best way to do that is to offer greater freedom within education, to advance social justice and to deepen our connections with the wild world.
Nine reasons to revolutionise the education system:
Inflexible
It is based on a factory model which assumes that all children and young people are the same and therefore promotes uniformity. It forces the child to fit the school rather than enabling the school to fit the child.
Rigid Curriculum
It uses a curriculum model which is built on what children and young people should know rather than what they are interested in, curious about, or desperate to learn.
Testing Focused
It is obsessed with comparing students and over-emphasises formal testing and assessment.
Unequal By Design
It creates inequality by placing greater value of some types of learning (academic, traditional subjects), and giving less worth to children and young people with other skills, interests and abilities.
Authoritarian
It promotes a culture of fear in which adults have absolute authority
Directive Teaching Style
It believes that in order to learn, children and young people need to be told what to do and made to learn.
All Work and No Play
It totally undervalues the importance of play in learning.
Invisibility
It prioritises academic attainment over ensuring that students feel seen, heard, cared about, and respected as individuals.
Nature Disconnection
It disconnects young people from the wild world and fails to help us understand our place in the wider ecosystem.
click here to read my five core values about how education should be run
What people say about me…
Creating radical change needs visionaries, activists, scholars, teachers, parents, researchers and educators to learn together and build a new future.