Underway

On 26 April I, with Tom, my husband and Freya and Kai, my two children, arrived in San Francisco. After a couple of days sorting out transport we made our way northwards 800 miles to Portland, following the wild Pacific coast through northern California...

We were on a voyage of discovery - I to learn about Place-Based Education - a way of teaching and learning that creates happy, confident students who love learning, know a lot about where they belong, and have a keen awareness of and responsibility for their community and the environment.

Roll forward to 6 May, when I have my first PBE meeting - an interview with Professor Greg Smith of Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon. What a fascinating and enthusiastic man! He is one of the founders and key proponents of PBE in the U.S. His efforts have planted the seeds of PBE in many schools and communities across the States. The accounts in his books and during the interview point clearly to the success of the PBE approach and to its continuing grassroots growth. For example he speaks eloquently about Tom Horn at the AL Kennedy Alternative School for credit-deficient students, which bases its curricular framework around five elements of sustainability - forestry, agriculture, energy, architecture and community, and takes a practical, problem-led approach to learning. The result is more engaged and much better educated students. There are many such examples of success. Yet it remains the case that, at State and Federal level, what is considered 'real' school continues to focus on national economic goals and takes a market-based tests and standards approach to education. PBE schools that aim to grow enthusiastic and engaged students with a strong knowledge of the area they belong to, and active participation in local and global social and environmental issues, remain a minority, albeit an organically growing one.