When we think of education we usually think of school and schooling.  There are many quotes from Albert Einstein, Mark twain and others which reflect this view:

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
Albert Einstein 

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Albert Einstein

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.
Mark Twain

What I mean by education is everything which contributes towards supporting people in their development – children as well as adults. We usually think that adults educate children, but just consider for a moment, how your own biological children or the children you teach or coach have contributed to your own education – have helped make you the person you are today.

We all educate each other, constantly.  In fact I’d say that the purpose of education is to enable us to become life long learners.  How can we do this – at home, at sour schools, colleges and universities, in our leisure activities?

All of my work is about education in it’s broadest meaning.  I’m not a teacher, but I am an educator – a passionate educator.  Everything I do, wherever I go, is about educating educators and  hopefully doing my bit towards changing education, in a small way.

Soon I’ll be leaving for China to talk about education.  I’ll be visiting Steiner schools and kindergartens, talking with parents and running workshops for professionals.  I’ll be talking about our senses and how we can nurture them to be more present to our environment, more perceptive towards others and I’ll be talking about children who are really perceptive but are regarded as having learning difficulties because their senses andtheir learning styles are incompatible with classroom culture.

Check out my calendar to see where I’ll be and what courses and lectures I’ll be doing.

While I’m away I’ll be travelling and being educated – I hope that I come back a slightly different person than I am now, and I hope I’ll have the same effect on the people I meet.  I want to talk about Childhood and children and how they can BE CHILDREN, full of curiosity, questions, amazement … and not be dumbed down or forced to become little adults before they’ve discovered themselves and some of the wonders of the world around them.

As Ken Robinson says,  “We shouldn’t be medicating our children and putting them to sleep, we should be waking them up – to what they have inside themselves.”

So….watch this space and keep in touch

Barbara