LEARN (Learn Enthusiastically, Actively, Realistically, and Naturally) is an alternative education program that provides diverse children with unique opportunities for learning. Unlike the education that is typically offered in current school education in Japan, our education program is free from “Preset goals and standards,” “Textbooks,” “Fixed schedules,” and “Compelled groupwork.” By loosening these constraints, we uncover children’s positive features that are not usually observed in typical school education.

As you see from the name of this program (LEARN) which consists of five independent concepts, our program involves diverse activities whose core characteristics are different. Due to such diversity of the activities, we believe that our program promotes interaction among various children and facilitates creation of multiple new directions of learning.

The activities of LEARN are held across many regions in Japan. In these activities, children enjoy themselves what they love, with peers they meet for the first time, without criticizing each other. Through these activities, we want the children to feel comfortable with just being as they are, and to find the fact that learning is fun and flexible. Such experiences will also let the parents accept and enjoy the unique development of each different child.

Through the creation of our program, we also aim to produce “an alternative educational space” that compliment current public education. In some areas in Japan, we have already started to collaborate with the educational sectors in the local governments, and as a result, they allow the children to participate in our program as a part of their school education. In future, we would like our national government to regard our program as a part of formal education. Once various activities in our programs are held in collaboration with local schools across various areas in Japan, we believe many children will truly enjoy learning and begin to create a new future, ultimately.

Background

Due to the widespread prevalence of Internet, our world has been rapidly globalizing and becoming more and more efficient. The radical changes demanded schools to change their education, starting new curriculums, including English education at early ages, programming education, and STEAM education. The change is too fast for educators to discuss thoroughly about what kinds of learning opportunities should be provided at schools.

Meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of children who do not go to school. This means current school education in Japan is somewhat limited.

Children are all different. Some of them have atypical cognitive characteristics. Some of them have both exceptional strengths and challenges. Some of them only can learn at their own pace. Some of them need personal space to learn. Despite the diversity, current society compels such children to mask their characteristics and follow “the standards.” Especially in Japan, some children are told to stop devoting their time to anything other than taking exams. These children must feel stressed out because they keep being denied.

Children who have difficulty adjusting to current school system may just not like specific subjects, or just not fit well with their peer groups. Nevertheless, these children are regarded as maladaptive to our society and requested to change themselves. But which truly dose have a problem, these children, or our school system and society?