green school bali

Green School Bali: A Different Vision for Education

Imagine a school with a natural, holistic, student-centred learning environment that empowers and inspires young people to be creative, innovative, green leaders.

There are many schools that aspire to a vision such as this, but very few achieve it. In all my years as a teacher, I know of only one school that has gained the genuine attention of educators and parents from around the world in quite this way.

This unique school is located in a forest on the island of Bali in Indonesia, and it is constructed largely from bamboo. You can learn more through the official Green School Bali website.

Green School Bali is an innovative school that is different in just about every aspect from regular Australian schools. It is different in its construction, the way it is run, its philosophy on raising and teaching children, and the way its curriculum is brought to life.

A Presentation That Challenged Our Thinking

Cathy, myself and our kids had the opportunity to attend an excellent presentation in Perth on Green School Bali. The principal, Mr Alan Wagstaff, showcased his school and shared their philosophy on education. He spoke with passion and with tremendous pride.

Rightly so. Green School Bali was turning many heads.

The founders of the school think way outside the box and have created a harmonious learning environment that children can excel in. They, and a growing group of others, believe this school offers a glimpse of what education could become in the future.

Perhaps the policy makers, politicians and leaders of our outdated education system should take a serious look at Green School Bali.

Why Green School Bali Matters for Entrepreneurial Kids

In previous articles, we have challenged the pedagogical practices of our current schooling system here in Australia. We have the view that it provides a good literacy education. However, the design of the system often conditions young people to be obedient, hard-working and compliant.

Now, that does not sound entirely bad. The world does need workers who can fill jobs and contribute well. However, what happens if a child wants to become an entrepreneur, innovator, creator or change-maker?

Many schools do not strongly foster true leadership, innovation or enterprise. Many schools also do not provide a strong financial education for kids, nor do they intentionally teach children to develop the habits and thinking of an entrepreneur.

This is why we care so deeply about raising entrepreneurial kids. Children need opportunities to think, question, create, solve problems and connect their learning to real life.

Alan Wagstaff was also very direct about his views on the archaic education system currently running in Australia and other western societies. He pointed out many issues that should not be dismissed, and he backed his views with facts, figures and research conducted by qualified experts in education.

He cited the work of respected thinkers and authors such as Alfie Kohn and Stephen Covey.

What Makes Green School Bali So Special?

This quote by Michael Franti begins to paint a picture:

“For anybody that’s considering sending your kid to school here, it’s different than other schools where your kid’s going to be assigned a number and a desk and you show up and you do exactly what you’re told. Here if you have an idea to do something that’s outside of the box, that idea is going to be fostered and nurtured rather than pushed down.”

– Michael Franti, poet, musician and activist

That is the kind of educational philosophy that speaks strongly to families who want children to grow as confident, creative and capable young people.

Student Engagement and Real-World Learning

Alan Wagstaff shared an interesting statistic about students in regular schools. He explained that many students over 11 years old are not fully engaged in their learning and do not really like school.

Many of these students feel they are learning irrelevant things that will not be useful when they leave school. We have heard similar comments from our own teenage children at times. I can also think back to much of the mundane content I had to master and be tested on as a high school student and then again at Teachers College. Much of it was of little use to me in what I do today.

Alan said we need to change the structure of timetabling. We need to move from purely subject-based teaching to student-centred learning.

In many schools, the timetable revolves heavily around literacy and numeracy, with subjects such as the arts being pushed into the afternoon gaps. We push students in literacy and numeracy to uphold the education brand and satisfy national testing. The curriculum can become prescribed, inflexible and overly focused on measurement.

With all that emphasis on literacy and numeracy, why do we still have so many children not meeting the grade?

What Creates Life Success?

What is it about schooling that creates life success? The short answer is simple: have children turn up at school fully engaged, and you will get there.

Therefore, we need children to be satisfied and engaged. Schools need to link students into life. Their learning needs to be realistic and relevant to each of them individually.

Every day, we should be academically upskilling children, but not simply comparing them with other children.

Parents should ask not only how their child compares with others, but what their child is actually learning.

How Green School Bali Teaches Children

Alan explained how they educate children at Green School Bali.

The programs are structured around themes. These are collaboratively planned by the teacher team leaders. Teachers then run proficiency lessons within these short-term themes.

Each student is shown the continuum of what they need to learn in different areas of the curriculum. From there, they work towards learning what they need at their own level. Over time, this helps children take responsibility for their own learning.

Within the broader themes, students follow their own individual interests. They develop ideas, and those ideas are fostered and expanded. They identify what they need to learn and then conduct investigations and study groups to understand and practise skills.

Every day, the children are engaged in practical lessons that challenge the Big Four: physical, emotional, intellectual and interpersonal learning.

For example, if the general theme was “Waves”, the Big Four might look like this:

• Physical: Go and experience waves by surfing.
• Emotional: Paint a wave or sing a wave melody.
• Intellectual: Study wave formations.
• Interpersonal: Sit by the waves and meditate.

At Green School Bali, there are no rigid timetables in the traditional sense. This allows themes to develop through what Alan described as dynamic chaos. Specialist teachers decide what will be done, teachers research the theme and subject areas, and students engage in proficiency lessons.

Authentic Learning Beyond the Classroom

Alan said that in order for students to learn something deeply, they must “hit it three times in three different ways during the week”. Mini themes develop within the bigger themes, and teachers help children self-manage their way through learning.

This leads to engagement and lifelong learning.

Opportunities are seized as they arise to provide practical real-life lessons in areas such as:

• connecting to the real world
• environmental education
• health and wellbeing
• performing arts
• enterprise education
• visual arts

These lessons are timed, sustainable, flexible and authentic. They happen by venturing beyond the school and accessing adults and resources in the enterprising world.

This connects strongly with the kind of family adventure and real-world learning that we value at Enterprise for Kids.

A School Designed for Engagement

Green School Bali’s aim is for children to want to go to school and to be fully engaged. The emphasis is on relevance to learning and valuing students, not on testing and comparing students as we often do in our current schooling system.

That comparison can put unnecessary pressure on children. A more meaningful goal is to help children discover what they are capable of and how their learning connects to life.

Green School Bali’s Bamboo Campus

Green School Bali is an architectural masterpiece. It is a masterwork built of bamboo and mud brick. There are no traditional classroom walls and very little impact on the environment.

The school is designed to be sustainable, with power sourced from solar panels and hydro power from the river. Students also assist with growing food in the large permaculture garden where animals are kept.

Surrounding the school are bamboo homes built by local and international families who choose to live in Bali so their children can attend the school.

At the time of this original article, there were also studios under construction to be leased cheaply to entrepreneurs, with the idea that students could be involved with these businesses. This would allow students to develop enterprise skills and ultimately learn how entrepreneurship works in the real world.

Green School Bali as an Example for the Future

Green School Bali is a real-life example of an exemplary school. Students attending the school were reported to be achieving outstanding results in many aspects of their development, including academics.

Although the school had only been running for a relatively short time when this original post was written, its first graduates were already graduating, and those choosing to do so were being accepted into universities around the world.

Alan Wagstaff and the founders of the school had a vision to create change in how schools educate. They knew they would be challenged if they targeted the top of the education hierarchy in Australia, so they were working to make change from the bottom up.

One way they were doing this was by being an exemplary school and by being noticed. At the same time, Green School Bali was also training teachers on mainland Australia with Green School ideologies, with the hope that those teachers would make gradual changes in their own schools.

Green SuperCamp and Our Family’s Experience

Another way to have your children experience the Green School Bali philosophy is through Green SuperCamp.

Kaitlin, Jai and Flynn attended Green SuperCamp, and they came back transformed. At the time of this original post, we were working towards them attending again, along with our eleven-year-old daughter Amber.

You may like to read our earlier post about Green SuperCamp and our kids’ experiences there.

Flynn’s Green SuperCamp Reflection

Check out what Flynn had to say about Green SuperCamp:

John Hardy, Founder of Green School Bali

John Hardy, founder of Green School Bali, also spoke about the school at TED:

Where to Next?

If you enjoyed this article about Green School Bali and real-world learning, you may also like:

• Raise Entrepreneurial Kids — ideas for building initiative, confidence and real-world skills.
• Family Adventure & Real-World Learning — stories about learning through travel, experience and real life.
• Kids Business Ideas: Amber’s Kids Biz Program — a real family story about turning a $20 challenge into a kerb painting business.
• Justin Herald: Entrepreneur Story to Inspire Kids — an inspiring story about attitude, action and business success.
• Financial Education for Kids — a practical lesson about money, assets and liabilities.