It all starts with a Problem!!!
The current school system is fundamentally flawed
1) The system is based on Industrial Age Values
- Set up to train people to work in factories
- Children are taught in batches
- Learn to follow instructions
- Rewarded for doing exactly what they are taught to do
- Success is wholly dependant on being able to fit into a specific box. A box that was designed for a workforce that existed 120 years ago
2) Rather than focusing on students getting real understanding of valuable concepts, the entire focus is on:
- The ability of a child to memorise facts
- Teaching children that their level of success in life is dependent on their level of success at school which is based on their ability to retain facts and then be able to regurgitate those facts when tested
- Ultimate importance being placed on test/exam scores. Even though, it has been proven that most facts memorised in this way are long forgotten after the exams
3) Due to the volume of the current syllabus:
- A significant number of topics are covered, however, they are covered at a high level and not to a point that creates deep learning/understanding
- There is a lot of pressure on well-meaning educators to just get through and tick the boxes. This results in them not having enough time to consider each individual student’s passions, interests and learning styles
4) Questionable real-world relevance
- A prescriptive methodology simply cannot keep up with the extreme rate of change of future workforce requirements
- Students (and most adults) struggle to see the practical relevance of the syllabus
- Without relevance, students find it hard to be motivated and engaged with school
5) Sends a clear message that you are not in control of your life
- Every minute of your life is managed by someone else
- You must follow strict rules, even when their relevance is being questioned
6) Lecturing style of teaching:
- Listening to a teacher speaking at you for 5 hours a day can be dehumanizing experience, and certainly not engaging
- Does not accommodate students with different levels of understanding
So what is the solution
Project Based Learning
What started off in September 2000 in the USA as a small High School with 450 students, has grown into 16 campuses serving kids from K-12. The results were so astounding that they made a movie about it.
IT WORKS!
If so, why don't all schools adopt it?
Challenges include:
- It is much harder to tick boxes that were created for traditional teaching
- When teachers attempt to create engaging project based content, it still needs to be marked with those old tick boxes
- Major challenge to find the right educators
- Government Funding allocation to schools is based on an organisation being able to tick those same boxes
Successfully Implemented PBL in Australian Schools.
The feedback received by teachers, students and even parents is that the experience has been life changing.
The JSI Program has been recognised as an Endorsed Program by the Department of Education.
What about Neurodivergent kids?
The Founders story
The reason we formed Just Start It was because we wanted to do something about the problem that many students felt that they got no real world value from school and felt highly disengaged.
The reason we formed Cap-A-Village was a more personal one. It stemmed from having an amazing and brilliant son who would not thrive in the old school system, due to his neuro diversity.
After over 2 years of home schooling, and him thriving, we realised the extent to which the current school system fails neuro diverse kids.
With all the amazing experiences, came a number of challenges and this is what made us decide to build Cap-A-Village.
