Hello everybody! I am Sofie from Belgium, a-35-year-young, sensitive, adventurous autodidact, who´became´ a teacher of philosophy, ethics and religion only some years ago. I love gardening, telling stories, living in the now, freeing myself from prejudices, being outdoors in nature, listening to silence and dancing.
Like many others I ended school completely confused and unmotivated but luckily I could slowly recover my innate curiosity through studies in philosophy and life experiences. After university, I needed to learn to go with the flow again, open my mind, discover outdoors lifestyles, develop all my senses to investigate the meaning of ‘quality of life´. Shouldn´t education start with this research? So I went living and working in other countries, teaching myself some languages, telling stories to strangers as a guide, travel agent and tour manager, meeting extraordinary people… I finally discovered learning in a natural way and I loved it!
Teaching in traditional schools with a rigid structure, with many rules and ´shoulds´, to bored and unmotivated pupils, I suddenly saw many ME´S in front of me. Sitting on a chair for too many hours can’t be healthy, can it? Obtaining (physical and mental) obedience through fear, is that democratic and respectful? Learning what you don´t want to learn (and will most likely never need in life), seems a big loss of precious quality time to me. It makes you indifferent to life. We don´t want to raise children to passively accept whatever their superiors tell them (to think and do), do we?
That explains why I am passionate about alternative schools and methods like practical philosophy, creative learning through the arts, holistic and spiritual education (Krishnamurti), critical pedagogy (Paulo Freire), democratic schools such as the Sudbury schools and last but not least emotional education.
Joining Edu On Tour in Brazil gives me the opportunity to be a part of an education activist network. I am not alone! It is ok to be rebellious! It gives me the chance to discuss methods, to learn different approaches and to write about it. My dream is to create a kind of learning community and perhaps my own pedagogy? P.S I can´t wait to feel the joy of Brazilian dance!
