Journey to Self-Discovery: Celebrating a Decade of Exploration with Walden’s Path
We are delighted you are considering Walden’s Path for your child. Following twenty years of dedicated research into diverse alternative educational strategies, including many experimental projects, Walden’s Path was established ten years ago. Serving as both an education research centre and a school
Our world is changing at a breakneck pace. From medical breakthroughs to revolutions in communication and from evolving entertainment to changing food habits – all corners of life have been transformed. Yet, classroom teaching has missed this wave of change.
There’s plenty of new research out there. Discoveries in psychology, neuroscience, and brain sciences have unveiled new insights into how we think, learn, and teach. But much of this is yet to make its way into our classrooms, which still often rely on traditional lesson plans and textbooks. These old structures often hamper efforts to blend creativity and innovation into teaching.
At Walden’s Path, we’re not against traditional methods, nor do we claim to have a silver bullet for education. We’re driven by our dissatisfaction with the current state and an eager wish to spark change instead of just complaining about it.
Like any school, we use lesson plans, textbooks, desks, chairs, computers, and blackboards. But the change we’re advocating isn’t about these material things – it’s about transforming the learning process, merging insights from neurosciences, cognitive sciences, psychology, and age-old wisdom.
This new chapter in our journey is already showing promising results. We’re excited to share our experiences and best practices with anyone interested, whether they’re part of traditional schools, alternative learning setups, public institutions, weekend schools, or homeschools. Over the next year, we plan to document our work and make it freely accessible online for everyone.
Changing established ways of thinking and adopting new methods can be challenging. Over time, we’ve seen that even when people know better teaching practices, they can be held back by deep-seated fears and insecurities. That’s why we design our learning materials in a familiar format, with plenty of room for further exploration by both teachers and students.
This approach lets everyone stay within their comfort zone while also encouraging experimentation. In this way, we hope everyone can discover, embrace, or even evolve a unique way that works best for their learning journey.
Thank you for considering joining us on this discovery, innovation, and positive change journey.
Team
Founders of Walden’s Path are individuals who have found learning through research, spirituality, self-awareness and by creating unique opportunities for learning beyond the structural, curricular, conceptual, and physical confines of conventional schooling.
Some of the questions that lead to the founding of Walden’s Path School include:
- What constitutes an effective and powerful learning experience in the 21st century?
- How do we best prepare young people for a future that is hard to imagine?
- How do we teach for the kind of deep understanding that requires learners to solve complex problems?
- How do we ensure that the work we do is ethical, excellent and engaging?
- How can the contemporary classroom become a catalyst for learners to become the leaders of tomorrow?
- How do we encourage students to fall in love with learning?
As we examine the shifting terrain of education, it is essential to be responsive to complex social developments and to create learning experiences that are engaging and exciting for all learners.
We looked at various frameworks and tools that enable us to look at teaching analytically, developed new approaches to teaching. We explored ways to deepen student engagement; encourage learners to think critically and creatively; and make learning and thinking visible.
Our Inspiration
J. Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He did not expound any philosophy or religion but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday lives, of the problems of living in modern society with its violence and corruption, of the individual’s search for security and happiness, and the need for mankind to free itself from inner burdens of fear, anger, hurt, and sorrow. He explained with great precision the subtle workings of the human mind and pointed to the need for bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and spiritual quality.
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) did not expound any philosophy or religion but rather talked of the things that concerned people’s everyday lives, of the problems of living in modern society with its violence and corruption, of the individual’s search for security and happiness, and the need for mankind to free itself from inner burdens of fear, anger, hurt and sorrow. He explained his thoughts on the subtle workings of the human mind and pointed to the need for use in daily life.
Krishnamurti had a passion for inquiry and the pursuit of truth. His numerous books explore the nature of human consciousness and the possibility of its transformation through inquiry and insight. Krishnamurti engaged in dialogue with many modern thinkers, commentators, politicians and scientists.
Education was always one of Krishnamurti’s chief concerns. He felt that if only the young and the old could be awakened to their conditioning – of nationality, religion, prejudices, fears, and desires – they might bring to their lives a totally different quality with a much deeper understanding of the forces that give rise to conflict.