Teaching our children to play it safe and conform will not help equip them with the skills they will need to succeed as adults
“We are all born with tremendous natural capabilities and we lose touch with many of them as we go through traditional schooling and are forced to conform and focus on standardised testing and grades above all else.”
Damilola Okonkwo | Founder, KEY academy
Ever since I can remember “doing well” for me meant going with the status quo when it came to education and career choices. I was actually a professional conformer — I didn’t know how to do anything else but conform. However, I wasn’t fulfilled, I never discovered what I was truly passionate about and I never explored my true talent. For me, learning and education served one purpose — it took me to the “next level” of the trajectory that I was on. Until well into my adult years, I still struggled with reading for pleasure and learning just felt like hard work.
I moved to Lagos 8 years ago (having grown up in London) and after a 10+ year career in Finance in both cities, I decided to start a family and take a career break — this forced me to reflect on my own childhood and life choices, and it became clear to me that I wanted something different for my own children. As Ken Robinson posited in his bestselling book The Element — How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, I strongly believe that we are all born with tremendous natural capabilities and we lose touch with many of them as we go through traditional schooling and are forced to conform and focus on standardised testing and grades above all else.
After years of searching, I was unable to find any schools in Nigeria that offered transformative forms of education beyond the early years and following a huge amount of deliberation with myself, family and friends I finally launched KEY (Keep Educating Yourself) academy in September 2019, after a 12-week pilot term in April 2019. We are forward looking and offer a new model for education — one that puts the child at the centre of the learning experience. Instead of focusing on rote learning and standardised testing, we focus on giving children the freedom to be children, to grow, to explore their interests, learn with their whole bodies, develop a life-long love for learning and most importantly we cherish childhood. What’s the rush? :-)
Our learning is play based in the early years which naturally transitions into project based learning, with a focus on both traditional skills (numeracy and literacy) and higher order skills (problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork). We currently enrol children between the ages of 3–6, and will be adding a year-group each year (ages 3–7 in September 2022, ages 3–8 in September 2023 and so on) as we evolve to offer full primary and ultimately secondary education up to the age of 18.
I understand that many of you reading this may be new to the concept of transformative education and it may sound too radical and “out there” but I would love to talk to you about my journey to get comfortable with transformative education (it took several years!) and share some of the resources and books which helped me to evaluate my options and make this very personal decision. Look forward to speaking with you — just send us an email (hello@KEYacademyNG.org) or give us a call (+234 906 977 1679) and let’s start a conversation. I genuinely think this is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.
Written by Damilola Okonkwo(Founder of KEY academy) - September 28th, 2021
*Update: In September 2022, KEY academy expanded to include a nursery and now enrols children from the age of 1.5 years
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