What if we mix business schools with playgrounds?

Play is the highest form of research –Albert Einstein.

Imagine business schools mixed with playgrounds. Not as separate areas but a combination of creativity, entrepreneurship & experimenting. Ever since my own experience in education, I’m always hungry to discover new initiatives where this mixture is clearly visible such as at Team Academy, THNK, Kaospilots.

Recently I came across Knowmads in my hometown Amsterdam. Here, students in teams play and experiment in real-life projects for companies. They create their programme themselves; no books, grades or even fixed goals involved. While working on projects students practice celebrating chaos time, envisioning the future, brainstorming in teams, divergent thinking and asking powerful questions. They are taught to teach themselves and each other, how cool is that?

Why do we need schools like that?

And why do we need schools like this? You must have all seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk by now. If I may capture his message, it’s that in a fast changing environment and economy, we need all the life long learning skills, talent and creativity we can get to face future challenges. And how about this amazing story of a 13 year old boy who’s putting it all into practice? ‘What if we made education about being happy & healthy’. Enjoy!