Nationally and internationally, we are being driven to reflect on how to respond to a changing world. Globally, the UN has presented its Sustainable Development Goals that include a commitment to the importance of learning (Goal 4). Considering what this means for the way we think about learning and how we see ourselves as learners, Learning Allowed builds a foundation for strengthening learner ‘connectivity’ whoever and wherever we are.

Through an analysis of the existing discourses that have framed our approaches to education, Learning Allowed highlights a system that has lost touch with the individual and a desire to maximise learner potential, with implications for any lifelong motivations and ambitions for learning. In response to the myriad of technological, social, environmental and health changes, Learning Allowed presents a case for investing explicitly in a learner’s sense of value, voice and vision in the context of a lifelong learning journey.

Drawing on thinking from Childhood Studies and looking at its broader application in light of research from education studies, Frankel and Whalley focus on learner voice and participation, raising awareness about what learning is and how this is connected with emotional wellbeing, and the processes of learning. Learning Allowed acts as a catalyst to schools, homes and spaces beyond to reconsider notions of learning and the learner and look to re-present them.

Sam Frankel is Associate Professor at King’s University College, Western University, Canada and Visiting Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is Founder and Managing Director of Learning Allowed (formerly EquippingKids.org).

Caroline Whalley CBE is Founder of The Elliot Foundation and The Elliot Foundation Academy Trust. She has held executive roles in both public and private sectors and worked on national projects, including 9-18 curriculum, early intervention and multi-generational approaches. She is Founder of Learning Allowed.