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“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.”

I was recently talking to a friend who wants to become a primary school teacher. One lady came instantly to mind. “Have you heard of Maria Montessori?”, I asked. “She might prove to be a great inspiration to you,” I added. We then proceeded to send some beautiful quotes back and forth, like the one mentioned in the opening of this article.

As a young man, Cicero (106-43 BC) studied under the best minds in Rome. The youth of the aristocratic nobility in Rome were commonly taught by Greeks, and this was no exception for Cicero, who was a brilliant student. He rose swiftly and was renowned for the brilliance of his mind and his dazzling oratorial skills.  

I recently visited the British Library for their exhibition on Medieval Women. There were many fascinating women from all walks of life mentioned in the exhibition, but one lady stood out to me the most. Christine de Pizan was born in Venice, Italy, in 1364. She benefited from a wealthy upbringing that was full of learning. Pizan’s father was Italian but worked as an astrologer to Charles V at his French court. Christine was fluent in both French and Italian and knew some Latin.

I very much enjoyed art and creative subjects at school and thought it was a welcome break from the more academic subjects. I personally felt it helped with my self-expression and confidence. It also taught me about the power of perspective and visualisation as well as perseverance. Studying art taught me to believe in myself. Studies have shown that the arts subjects have positive effects on numerous aspects of a child’s cognitive development and social skills and improves wellbeing. To me, one aspect which is most important, is that these subjects, especially art and design or photography, encourage students to view the world around them differently and helps them to express themselves in a positive way.

We all have experienced periods of stress at school and have all got our own ways of dealing with it. It should never stop us from trying to achieve our goals and actually enjoy our school life. So, are schools really beginning to take note of this? I have recently come across some intriguing articles that have got me thinking.

The exam season is nearly upon us yet again and for all those of you who are feeling anxious about this tricky time of year, I have an important selection of revision tips. I’ll list these in order of priority.

In this blog article, I thought it may be interesting to take a look at the educational systems and ethos of primary and secondary schools in Japan and the Netherlands. It is important to note that both countries are listed in the world’s most educated nations. I hope this article will inspire and educate. I aim to give an insight into how other countries teach their younger generations and ultimately shape them into better people for the good of the future. Perhaps we can all learn from these nations and reflect and seek to improve ourselves. Some points mentioned in this article must be remembered in our everyday lives and may not be reserved just for the classroom.

As humans, we have evolved a complex brain that has the capacity to process sensory information from our surroundings. This has contributed to our survival against all odds over hundreds of thousands of years. Our unique brain has enabled us to out-compete other, more powerful animals with better and more specialised sensory organs than ourselves. Consequently, we have developed sophisticated agricultural societies from our early beginnings as hunter-gatherers.

Bertrand A. W. Russell (1872-1970), third Earl Russell, was a Welsh mathematician, logician, philosopher, pacifist and public intellectual. He made substantial contributions in mathematics, logic, set theory and various areas of analytic philosophy. Among his major works was a book he wrote with his former teacher, A. N. Whitehead, entitled Principia Mathematica. This book was a milestone in the development of classical logic and a major attempt to reduce the whole of mathematics to logic.

Cassini is one of the most important seventeenth century observational astronomers after Galileo and Kepler. He was born in Perinaldo, now a part of Italy, in 1625. Cassini’s fascination with astrology in his early years later developed into an interest in astronomy. He was employed by a wealthy marquis as an astronomer in Bologna. Here, he was able to use cutting-edge instruments to observe the skies. His work demonstrated his talents for precision and clarity which would later earn him positions in academia.

Spinoza was born Baruch Spinoza in Amsterdam in 1632. His parents were of Spanish-Jewish decent and fled to Amsterdam to flee the Spanish Inquisition and became part of the Jewish community there. His father Michael was a merchant and was well-liked within the community. Hanna, Spinoza’s mother, would die in 1638, a little while before Spinoza was to turn six. Spinoza was influenced by Greek philosophy, including Platonism, stoicism and by Renaissance and enlightenment thinkers, including Maimonides, Machiavelli, Descartes, and Hobbes.

Apollonius of Perga was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer (c.240 BC- 190 BC) known for his work on solid geometry and mathematical theorems. Perga was a Hellenized city in Pamphylia, Anatolia (modern Turkey), whose ruins still stand, and was a centre of Hellenistic culture. Apollonius derived the four conic sections that modern mathematicians use: the circle, ellipse, parabola and hyperbola. He achieved this using the section obtained from a plane cutting through two inverted cones. Apollonius defined the definitions of the terms of ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola that we still use today, and he derived a number of other mathematical theorems on plane and solid geometry.

Catherine the Great is one of the most interesting female figures in history. She led an eventful but fruitful life, and she was a strong advocate for Enlightenment thinking. In this blog article, we take a look at her studious character and her influence on the educational reforms of Russia. During her unhappy marriage to Peter III, Catherine passed the time reading. She was particularly interested in works on political philosophy, literature, and history. She devoured the works of thinkers such as Plato and Voltaire, which Is how she became introduced to the French Enlightenment.

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens during the classical period around 428 BC to 348 BC. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, a school of philosophy and research. His teachings and ideas would later become known as Platonism. Plato was a pen name, derived from a nickname given to him by his wrestling coach when he was a young man, which referred to his broad shoulders (as platon means flat in Greek). His actual name was Aristocles.

Euclid was a Greek Mathematician, born around 300 BC, who taught at Alexandria in the time of Ptolemy I Soter, the Greek king who reigned over Egypt from 323 to 285 BC, after Alexander the Great founded the city named after him. Euclid was Ptolemy’s mathematics tutor, and after Ptolemy asked Euclid whether there was a shorter, easier method of learning geometry, Euclid was quoted as saying ‘oh king, there is no royal road to geometry’; meaning, if you truly wish to learn any subject well, you should study the whole principles of the subject!

Founded in 387 BC by Greek philosopher Plato, the Academy was situated just outside the city of Athens, outside of the city walls. Before the actual building was built, intellectual gatherings were held in a garden area surrounded by sculptures, olive trees and lined with temples. This area was often used for recreation and group meetings and activities. When Plato bought the land, he began to hold casual meetings with other thinkers long before the Academy building itself was ever built. Considered the first ever university in the world, it was not exactly like a school or university today as it was not as structured, but its attendees could discuss many subjects including philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, politics, and physics.

Pappus of Alexandria (c290-c350 AD) was one of the last great Greek mathematicians of antiquity. Pappus was the most important mathematical author writing in Greek during the later Roman Empire and is well known for his compendium of mathematics in eight volumes, the bulk of which survives. It covers a wide range of topics, including geometry, recreational mathematics, doubling the cube, areas and volumes of solids, projective geometry and polyhedra. This great voluminous collection is known as the synagogue (“collection” in Greek). 

Ever wondered why we picked an owl to be our mascot? Well, in the ancient Greek world, owls were a symbol of wisdom. The owl became the favoured animal of Athena, goddess of wisdom and became her symbol. Athena’s ‘little owl’ symbol was often used to protect finance and is often represented on coinage.

Aristarchus of Samos (310BC-230BC) was a Greek astronomer who maintained that the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. Aristarchus’s work on the motion of the Earth has not survived but his ideas are known from references by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, the Greek biographer Plutarch, and the Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus. Archimedes said in his Sand-Reckoner that Aristarchus had proposed a new theory which, if true, would make the universe vastly larger than was believed (this is because a moving Earth should produce a parallex, or annual shift, in the apparent positions of the fixed stars, unless the stars are very far away indeed).

In this blog, we take a look at the life and works of another queen, this time from across the pond in France. Marguerite de Navarre was born on 11th April 1492 to learned parents, who were known to keep large libraries. Although from a privileged background, Marguerite did much for the poor and underprivileged as well as being a religious mediator and later, a respected Renaissance writer and philosopher. Her work, Heptameron, a collection of short stories written in 1558, being the most memorable of her works.