Matriellez is an education writer. Having worked as a teacher for the first part of his life in the UK, he then began working as an International schoolteacher in Africa, the Middle East and China. He has retired to Thailand.

Recognising the truth in a situation is important. Change needs to happen in education but will it? Experience should be given back, but will those in power listen? The control I discuss in hijack pervades the whole of education and career prevails. Sad but true.

But what I say is out there, and if it helps one person it is worth it!


History of Ecosophy Schools

Firstly there is no such thing.

Matriellez started by developing a Computer-Integrated-Curriculum. If we have machines to do the work, let's determine what we need to know, and then focus our curricula on what is missing.

How many times do people say "Our schools should do this, if we want to be aware of this or that bring it into the schools". discusses why that is not likely to happen.

One of the consequences of the hijack is that our education system has moved away from the Natural Path - by this I mean a notion of "according to Nature at all human levels", physical, mental, spiritual etc. Throughout I am implicitly saying that if our actions were in tune with Nature, on all human levels, then there would be harmony within ourselves and within society. Matriellez developed a series of papers looking at how a school could follow that natural principle, considered aspects of such a curriculum, and how such a school could be developed. Initially Matriellez called these schools, Natural Path Schools.

Back in the 70s with friends he discussed a notion of Nature, ecology and Wisdom in daily life - and this was lumped together as ecosophy. Thinking that Natural Path Schools would be open to all kinds of arguments about the use of the words Natural Path which is a non-educational brand name amongst others, the schools were renamed Ecosophy Schools. It's such a nice word it was foolish and arrogant to think the word had been coined. Wikipedia says that a philosopher in Norway, Arne Naess, developed ecosophy, and gave it a definition. Apologies but Naess' defintion was not used, and at the time of starting the use of the nomencalture, Ecosophy Schools, I hadn't read his works. From his definition there appears to be nothing inconsistent, I hope so; nothing adverse is intended.

Based on the earlier ideas Matriellez developed an approach to education that is beyond the Ecosophy Schools. Firstly we need to understand what we are educating for, and if we examine our existing schools and their curricula we can see that there is no educational purpose. We do not have a model of an educated person, our system has just lurched from one intiative to another. In an attenmpt to provide a basis for what an educated person is there is a book "Educating for Nature - On Love, Home and Education: A Personal Journey through Schooling" - check it out!



Matriellez can be contacted at Mail to Matriellez

Matriellez is a Public Domain Education Writer.