Attainable Futures

(working title for an experimental workshop series or part-time evening class)

A learner-centred overview

(see our manifesto | our vision | an article | wisdom re-defined | some keywords)

• What is it? - an experimental part-time foundation course
• Who is it for? - normally 16-to-29 year olds living around London
• What's its point? - using your creative potential for opportunity-finding
• What would I learn? - to understand who you are and who you want to be
• How would I learn this? - you will work in mutually supportive learning teams
• Who designs the syllabus? - study themes will not be fixed by a rigid syllabus
• Where would it be located? - we will work in different locations across London?
• How much would it cost me? - you deposit £250 (100% repayable on completion)
• When will the course take place? - most weeks (e.g. Saturdays) throughout 2026-7
• What about my specialist knowledge? - we aim to think outside the specialist disciplines

Free & Radical

• We would encourage you - to think more creatively
• We would encourage you - to manage your curiosity
• We would encourage you - to help you to learn better
• We would encourage you - to manage career ambitions
• We would encourage you - to redefine wisdom in your own way
• We would encourage you - to think beyond disciplinary boundaries.
• We would encourage you - to contribute to the survival of our species
• We would encourage you - to value learning via the Head (e.g. critical thinking)
• We would encourage you - to value learning via the Hand (e.g. manual skills / dance)
• We would encourage you - to value learning via the Heart (e.g. emotional understanding)
• We would encourage youto value learning with Humour (e.g. ability to play / make mistakes)
• We would encourage you - to re-shape your professional identity in a joined-up/self-aware way

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Less 'learning that' - more Co-creating how

Rigid syllabuses|Learner-centred support
Grade motivation|Curiosity and passion motivation
Head-based learning|Heart/Hand/Humour Learning
Rigorous scholasticism|self-coordinated equilibrium
Monolithic institutions|Local, networked agencies
Unfair tuition fees|A new economic order within academia
Factory-like corporations|Schools as living systems
Researching as 'publication'|Playful finding
Disciplinary specialism|Transdisciplinary wisdom
De-contextualised grading|Learner-led evaluation||

1. You to learn within co-creative, self-assembled teams.

Methods and Deliverables

1. Weekly workshops will operate as a series of ‘Co-creative Workouts’ with the following deliverables:
   • 1) Feedback elicited from external experts in fields or practices that are appropriate to the individual learner.
   • 2) A bespoke portfolio suitable for applying to an apprenticeship / college / university / employment etc.
   • 3) An public exhibition of work achieved on the course.
2. Initially it will be free of charge to learners. (voluntary repayment in any form may be welcomed in the future).
3. Although we are not against AI in general we will discourage the use of 'smart' support technologies based on the probabilistic management of LLM data.
4. Instead of using traditional ('expert-led) assessment of submitted work we will encourage the use of our learner-led four-fold framework of learning and evaluation (SELF).
5. Students will learn to self-assemble their own creative (learning-action) teams that are inclusive and non-hierarchical
6. Our initiative is motivated more by altruism and care than by remuneration.
7. ‘Guardians’ will supervise learning teams to monitor safety and wellbeing as well as facilitating rich learning experiences.

The Framework

1. Principles of co-creativity will be addressed with reference to concepts from other cultures (e.g. Ubuntu).
2. We will highlight issues of shifting identities by guiding transitions from ’I’ to ‘we’ at different places and times.
3. The self-managed teams will normally comprise 4 or 5 individuals who support one another's interests.
4. When managed correctly these teams will operate as what we call creative quartets.
5. Since its invention in 2004 our SELF system has helped many students to plan their professional futures in a creative, autodidactic and entrepreneurial way.
6. In order to encourage more holistic learning we will work with least 4 levels of learning:
   • Head
   • Hand
   • Heart
   • Humour.

Reclaiming 'wisdom'

1. We will invite learners to pursue, co-define and re-map their own concepts of collective wisdom.
2. This is likely to mean heightening their metacognitive sense of who they are, what know, don't know and cannot know.
3. It will reconcile emotional sensibilities (e.g. curiosity and compassion) with self-interest at the career level.
4. It may entail drawing upon lived experiences (e.g. tacit skills of knowing, doing and making) to refine one's judgment.
5. It will mean reflecting upon moral issues in an empathetic and altruistic way.
6. It will embrace playfulness and humour as a way to welcome failure and to reveal unforeseen opportunities.
7. Immersive experiments in ecological awareness or philosophical quests for 'unthinkable possibles'.

tempered by 'curiosity management'.