“Practising being human in a digital world”
What is learning?
Learning is a journey of human formation, of becoming who we are.
None of us makes that journey alone.
We form as human beings through...
We share the journey with other people.
We make room for another person’s experience.
We make sense of what we experience.
We turn what we observe and learn into the way we live.
Today, we are also formed by...
Social media
Online communities
Machines and tools
People across cultures
The people who shape us are no longer only those we meet in person.
We walk alongside young people
Lifespan Education’s mission is to walk alongside young people as they grow into human beings that other young people want to walk alongside.
To walk alongside means participating in another person’s journey without trying to dictate where they go, nor blindly following and surrendering our own judgement.
We practise
Some things we learn through lessons and instruction. Others we learn through living and practice.
At Lifespan Education, we create and participate in experiences where these things can be practised in ordinary situations.
We might talk, make something, play, write, perform, or simply spend time together.
Through these experiences, what we learn can gradually become part of how we live.
Why we focus on young people?
Adolesence and young adulthood are remarkable periods when questions of identity, belonging, purpose, relationships and our place in the world come to the forefront of our lives.
In today’s world, friends, families and local communities share formative space with creators, algorithms, online communities, machines and tools, as well as people on the other side of the world.
We want young people to have people willing to walk alongside them through their world.
The adults around young people
Young people don’t grow separately from the people around them.
Parents, educators, creators, community leaders and other adults are part of the world in which they are forming.
Our work with adults is therefore part of our work with young people. Adults practise how to listen, stay present, disagree, repair, create and live alongside one another, because the way adults themselves are formed becomes part of the world in which young people grow.
Across cultures and places
Our communities and collaborators span countries, cultures and generations.
There is no single way to become a human being, and no one culture or generation has all the answers.
We create opportunities for people to encounter one another across those differences, to become better able to live alongside one another.