The International Association for Learning Alternatives
http://learningalternatives.net/html/about_us.html
IALA’s mission is to lead, promote and support learning alternatives and choice options.
This mission signals our interest in seeing that parents and students have choices of
educational programs to meet their needs, interests, learning styles and intelligences.
We believe that one-size education program does not fit everyone and that education is
best served by having choices for all
AEROhttp://www.educationrevolution.org/
The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989
by education expert Jerry Mintz to advance learner-centred approaches to education. AERO is considered
by many to be the primary hub of communications and support for educational alternatives around the world
Institute for Learning Innovationhttp://www.ilinet.org/abouttheInstitute.html
Established in 1986 as a not-for-profit learning research and development organization, is dedicated to
changing the world of education and learning by understanding, facilitating, advocating and communicating
about free-choice learning across the life span. The Institute provides leadership in this area by
collaborating with a variety of free-choice learning institutions such as museums, other cultural
institutions, public television stations, libraries, community-based organizations such as scouts and
the YWCA, scientific societies and humanities councils, as well as schools and universities, striving
to better understand, facilitate and improve their learning potential by incorporating free-choice
learning principles
Informal Education and Lifelong Learning - infedhttp://www.infed.org/Our aim is to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal education
and lifelong learning. In particular, we want to encourage educators to develop ways of working and being that foster association, conversation and relationship
Parent Directed Educationhttp://www.parentdirectededucation.org/
Contains a variety of opinions and information on various aspects of education -- all designed to assist
parents in making informed choices. In parent-directed education, there usually isn't a "right" answer
that fits everyone because it all depends on one's personal thought process.
SCHOMEhttp://schome.open.ac.uk/wikiworks/index.php/Main_Page
The education System for the Information Age. Wikiworks is the collaborative information space for folk
interested in schome. Help us design the education system for the Information Age - to replace the current
school / college / university /l ife long learning divide.
Free2be.com http://www.f2be.com/about.htm
This website hopes to help challenge current perceptions about what education is all about. It suggests
that the old systems are no longer relevant to today's technological society and that education should
increasingly be about valuing learning, thinking and feeling abilities over the simple acquisition of
knowledge. It brings together the work of people worldwide who are actively exploring the nature of human
consciousness and potential and it calls for a new way of learning that is about the freedom and
fulfilment of the individual. Massive links listings http://www.f2be.com/organisations.htm
Life Learning Magazinehttp://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/enews.html
Life Learning is a bimonthly, reader-written magazine that is a forum for trustworthy, inspiring information and intelligent
discussion about self-directed, life-based learning. This type of learning is also sometimes known as "unschooling",
"unstructured homeschooling" or "natural learning" when it refers to the education of children, but
also includes adult learning. We do not discriminate about the age of learners, believing that a learner-directed
philosophy of education is valid at any age.
The 21st Century Learning Initiativehttp://www.21learn.org/
Led by John Abbott their essential purpose is to facilitate the emergence of new approaches to learning that draw upon a range of insights into the human brain, the functioning of human societies, and learning as a community-wide activity. ‘We believe this will release human potential in ways that nurture and form local democratic communities worldwide, and will help reclaim and sustain a world supportive of human endeavour.’
Campaign for Learninghttp://www.campaignforlearning.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo.htm
Working to build motivation, create opportunities and provide support for learning in families and communities, workplaces and schools. Key elements of our work are national promotion campaigns, project partnerships, policy and advocacy, publications, events, research and award schemes.
Performing Arts Labshttp://www.pallabs.org/what_we_do.php
PAL (Performing Arts Labs Ltd) began in 1989, in a Jacobean manor house in Kent, with three ten-day residential laboratories for writing for theatre, film and opera. PAL was founded by Nicky Singer and Susan Benn. Each year PAL has grown to become a crucible for cross-fertilisation of ideas and talent in film, media and technology, the visual and performing arts, architecture and in education and science.
ECSITEhttp://www.ecsite-uk.net/index.php
ecsite-uk represents over 80 science centres, museums and discovery centres in the UK. Ecsite-uk's purpose is to raise the profile of science centres, and to establish their role as a forum for dialogue between science specialists and the public and as an informal learning resource for learners of all ages.
Human Scale Educationhttp://www.hse.org.uk/
Human Scale Education is an education reform movement committed to small scale learning communities based on the values of democracy, fairness and respect. HSE works directly with schools and parents to promote human scale learning environments where children and young people are known and valued as individuals.
The Centre for Self Managed Learning (CSML)http://www.selfmanagedlearning.org/
was established as a non-profit organisation in 1994 to develop and promote the wider use of Self Managed Learning (SML) and provide a network giving advice and support to people involved in SML.
The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learninghttp://www.learningbenefits.net/
(WBL) was established by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in 1999 to investigate the full range of benefits that learning brings both to the individual learner and society as a whole. Our two main objectives are: To produce and apply models for measuring and analysing the contribution that learning makes to wide ranging social and private goals. To devise and apply improved methods for measuring the value of various forms of learning, such as community-based adult learning, where we do not necessarily find standard outcomes such as formal qualifications.
Ultralabhttp://ww2.ultralab.net/flash/default.html
To research, apply and disseminate the benefits of new technologies, seeking to develop an empowering, creative and delightful learning environment that knows no boundaries.
Notschoolhttp://www.notschool.net/ns/template.php Notschool.net is an on-line virtual learning community of teenagers who find themselves outside of traditional learning institutions in the long term. It offers them a community of learners, teachers, and experts who share some innovative learning tools.
Education Otherwisehttp://www.education-otherwise.org/index.htm
Education Otherwise is a UK-based membership organisation which provides support and information for families whose children are being educated outside school, and for those who wish to uphold the freedom of families to take proper responsibility for the education of their children.
International Democratic Education Networkhttp://www.idenetwork.org/
This site includes a data-base of people, schools and organisations dedicated to non-authoritarian education, and has up-to-date information about the annual International Democratic Education Conferences (IDECs).
TheCademyhttp://www.thecademy.net/ Linked to Notschool. The charity exists to advance learning opportunities for people that are excluded, or disengaged, from traditional education systems. In doing so we aim to make learning more accessible and engaging, but without upper limits.
Libertarian Educationhttp://www.libed.org.uk is small independent publishing collective, which for the past quarter of a century has been campaigning for the development of non-authoritarian initiatives in education. It also publishes occasional collections of articles on the web.
The AAPAE Australasian Association for Progressive and Alternative Educationhttp://www.aapae.edu.au/ is for all those interested and involved in progressive, alternative and democratic education. It is for learners and educators regardless of age. It is for all in the community who wish to share and extend their experience and knowledge of such education. AAPAE provides a forum for discussion, debate, and research, a network for sharing and support and an incorporated association of likeminded individuals, schools, learning centres and education institutions working together on common issues.
The Planned Environmental Therapy Trust Archivehttp://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/ Archive, research library and study centre with a specialist interest in progressive/alternative/democratic education
National Association of Alternative Community Schoolshttp://www.ncacs.org/ A US non-profit coalition of schools, groups, and individuals committed to participant control of education. Our mission is to unite and organize a grassroots movement of learners and learning communities dedicated to participant control, liberation from all forms of oppression, and the pursuit of freedom
Booroobin Schoolhttp://www.suncoast.com.au/Maleny/BooroobinSchool/start.html Australian democratic place of learning in which the following principles apply: equal status is given to students and staff: a curriculum which is determined by the interests of students and staff with equal status being given to all learning pursuits: individual responsibility; and that learning is best fostered by self-motivation, self-regulation and self-assessment. This is based on the successful Sudbury Valley School model of education
Efterskolehttp://www.efterskole.dk/Top%20menu/English.aspx The efterskole is a unique Danish independent residential school for students between 14 and 18 years old. Presently some 25.000 students attend one of the app. 250 schools throughout Denmark
Friskolerhttp://www.friskoler.dk/ Danish private schools. Generally they are small. Vary ideologically and in practice but the majority were established on the theories and principles of Grundtvig and Kold. Friskoleforening
Fédération Internationale des Mouvements d'Ecole Freinethttp://www.freinet.org/ Fédération Internationale des Mouvements d'Ecole Freinet
Education Otherwisehttp://www.education-otherwise.org/index.htm Education Otherwise is a UK-based membership organisation which provides support and information for families whose children are being educated outside school, and for those who wish to uphold the freedom of families to take proper responsibility for the education of their children.
University of the First Agehttp://www.ufa.org.ukThe UFA is a national educational charity, that works in partnership to develop the confidence, achievement and potential of young people through extended learning opportunities
HEFEShttp://www.hesfes.co.uk/index.html The Home Educators’ Seaside Festival is the World’s biggest gathering of home educating families. Children who are in flexi or full time school are also very welcome.