Progressive Education is a social enterprise which raises awareness of alternatives to conventional schooling and campaigns for change within mainstream education.

Our vision is a world where everyone is able to live a purposeful, fulfilling life, from birth, childhood, to adolescence and throughout adulthood.

We therefore envisage an education system which puts mental health and wellbeing, human rights, social justice and 21st century life skills at the core – alongside academics – for a fairer and sustainable planet. We work towards our vision in the following ways:

• We provide information on alternatives to conventional schooling and campaigns for change via the ProgressiveEducation.org website, social media, events, and an online course. Examples of such alternatives include:
  • Home Education
  • Flexischooling
  • Online Schooling
  • Forest School
  • Montessori
  • Reggio Emilia
  • Democratic Education
  • Self-Directed Education
  • Consent-Based Education
  • Waldorf Steiner
  • Small Schools/Microschools
• We have a growing global directory of progressive schools/learning communities, jobs, events and changemaker initiatives.
• We Support the growth and sustainability of alternatives to mainstream schooling through our membership for start-up schools and learning communities (in collaboration with Limitless).
• We facilitate networking opportunities and resource-sharing through our Progressive Education Group on Facebook (over 11k members).
• We are also now offering 1:1 mentoring for those looking for extra support exploring alternatives to conventional schooling.

Founder, Jo Symes, contributed to the book, ‘Square Pegs: Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in – a guide for schools’.

Within days of launching, it was a number 1 best seller in multiple education categories and ranked in the top 100 of all books on Amazon. This important book has been recommended by the National Children’s Bureau to the Department for Education as core reading!

View our video.