Our Vision for Education

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free" - Frederick Douglas

Language fails to describe the enormity of our dream. Allow us to dream, or as John Lennon’s said, to imagine, a world where every human being has from birth the conditions to make effective the right to basic literacy as an instrument and precondition for achieving other rights, including the right to play.

Imagine all the knowledge that would spark from children having access and enjoying the basic ability of reading, writing and thinking in mathematical terms? Frederick Douglas said it beautifully: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”  

There are some dangers that come with romanticizing literacy as a solution for all problems, while ignoring the intricacies of society that limit the conditions of many. However, in todays world, basic literacy can no longer be the source of social and economic exclusion. Despite that, 798 million adults in the world can’t read and understand a sentence. 123 million youth are illiterate and 150 million children do not attend school. Of the children who attend school, nearly 3/4 lack basic reading and writing skills even after completing 4 years of education, thus making them unable to continue their education and limiting their prospects in life.    

So we envision a world without children “failing” basic literacy and numeracy classes, or unable to achieve these fundamental skills. We imagine a school where the role of the teacher is that of a partner in playful discovery. We imagine a whole new paradigm of classroom, beyond walls and calendars, where every park, every tree shade, every home table, any floor carpet or mat is a school beyond the school, a classroom beyond a classroom and a lesson beyond a lesson. We imagine a world where math is no longer a punishment but a joy, and where children go to school to teach as well as to learn from their classmates and adults, and vice versa.

Yes, we like to imagine but to go beyond the dream and take every day actions. We work every day to make sure that one day, in the very near future,  every child, everywhere, has access to developing effectively, enjoyable and in a timely manner the most basic tools required to read the world and write its future.

“You may say I am a dreamer but I am not the only one. I hope one day you’ll join us” to make illiteracy for young and adults obsolete.

Is the world is ready to Re-imagine Learning? We think so and this is why

A few recent and very inspiring trends are taking place in front of our eyes: 1) Organizations like the International Play Association with support from others, are advocating for the adoption of a general comment on article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, bringing centrality to children’s right to play, 2) There is growing understanding that learning and play are not incompatible, and 3) Technology has made possible to learn anything, anytime, anywhere; forcing education to change from a system that encourages discipline, individuality and repetition (important during the industrial revolution), to a system that aims at developing the necessary skills to access and process information, think critically, question, analyze, synthesize, make connections, develop autonomous conclusions, collaborate, be comfortable with the uncertainty and complexity of the world we live in, live peacefully and protect the environment (important in the 21st century).
30 years later, we are excited to see that a paradigm change has finally taken place, making it possible to rethink schooling, education, play and learning. This is a great moment for us, one that inspires us to continue to work with more conviction and energy than ever, fueled by the support, encouragement and drive of our fellow pacesetters and strengthened by the commitment of international organizations and foundation with global reach, to rethink and transform learning.

Evidence that the world is ready for a change comes from two additional observations. One, the fact that 617 entries were submitted to the Re-imagine learning competition, with over 300 pacesetters already working to change the way the world learns. Second, when we first started talking about play and learning, play and literacy, play in schools, bringing learning outside of the schools, we found much resistance as teachers and parents alike thought that these were antagonistic processes. Parents in particular, insisted that children will not learn anything if they were playing. Later, they were able to discover that children using our learning games learned to read and write quicker than their counterparts and were more enthusiastic about learning and going to school than others.

LEMA -Laboratorio de Lectura Escritura y Matemáticas

LEMA -Laboratorio de Lectura, Escritura y Matemática (Literacy Education and Math Lab), is a program for children 1st to 4th grade where every day for an hour children get together in a designated space to play, share, develop and create knowledge in 5 important areas: reading, writing, math, reflection and relationships. The LEMAs are not calendar based and can take place in or out of the school. However, partnerships with schools and educational departments allow for better continuity, greater reach, stronger support for children and overall better results.

Why children 1st to 4th grade?  Because there is ample evidence that suggests that students who do not make good initial progress in learning to read, find it increasingly difficult to master the process. These children will tend to fall into a downward spiral, in which initial lack of success in reading can develop into broader cognitive deficits, making school dropout more likely to occur and becoming a barrier for personal, social and economic prosperity. In the case of girls, their vulnerability increases two-fold due to the gender disparities that continue to permeate our society.

LEMAs are coordinated by “Learning Coaches” (LCs) who can be teachers, mothers, grandparents, community leaders. Fully literate children and youth can also be LCs. The LCs are hired, either in a paid or a volunteer capacity, to perform a very important job: motivate and inspire the learning process, and create a safe space for children to learn at their own pace.  

During each session, the LC divides the class into groups of four, and each group receives a set of games. During the “group work” children experiment, question, develop and test hypotheses, while playing and learning. Later, they record their findings individually in their workbooks.

The Learning Coaches are selected based on a list of qualities that include proven record of community engagement and commitment to education. LCs are trained by us on how to effectively use the games and on the pedagogical principles that give body to our work. The LCs are supported and coached by a local ally we partner with. The day to day services are also provided by our ally, who is usually a local organization already providing services in the community and possessing understanding of the political and cultural context and social networks to navigate the environment.  

Over the years, we have established a network of allies in seven (7) countries including schools, missionary centers, private businesses, local NGOs, and government agencies, among others. All of them possess local acceptance and recognition, which overall gives legitimacy to our programs. We work with these organizations hand in hand to structure the LEMAs, recruit and train the necessary human resources, establish evaluation, support and coaching protocols, while remaining available to provide technical assistance to the overall program.

The LEMAs use the learning games we have carefully designed, structured and tested across three decades of work, in a variety of social contexts and with diverse populations. The author of these games, Javier González Quintero has achieved international recognition for his work and innovation as an Ashoka Fellow and a Schwab Social Entrepreneur.