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Earth-centred education
This personalised and global educational content is helping to inspire the next generation of changemakers.
22 April 2021
This article first appeared in our Organic September 2025 issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
How do you measure creativity and curiosity?
This has been the most important question of my professional career; for 20 years it has fuelled my journey, driving me to seek answers in communities all over the world.
But before we get to the how, let’s talk about the why.
Our children are growing up in a different world – different from the world in which we grew up, and even from the world in which they themselves were born.
Every month new technologies, industries and global challenges emerge, shaping a future that is far more fluid, interconnected and unpredictable than anything we’ve been prepared for in the past.
If we want the next generation to thrive, we need a learning ecosystem that evolves with them, responds to change and equips them to navigate the unknown.
For over a century, education has been structured around industrial-age priorities: standardisation, efficiency and compliance.
Those values worked when jobs were predictable and career paths were clear, but they are out of step with the modern world.
Today adaptability, creativity and critical thinking are the true currencies of success.
We often hear that education is ‘broken’; in reality it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do, but for a world that no longer exists.
Consider this: while every industry has transformed over the past century, classrooms look remarkably similar to the one-room schoolhouses of the past.
Ironically, those early schools were ahead of us in many ways: interdisciplinary, mixed-age, with physical activity and practical skills woven into daily life.
Today, students are still expected to move through the same content at the same pace, regardless of interests, abilities or the realities outside the classroom.
Now think about how quickly AI is reshaping the job market, how climate change is altering industries or how global connectivity is redefining communities.
We can’t afford to keep teaching yesterday’s lessons for tomorrow’s world. And even if we wanted to, the reality of 30–40 students per classroom makes it nearly impossible to give each child the attention and relevance they deserve.
We need a system that flexes – that shifts alongside real-life opportunities and challenges to ensure children are always learning in context.
It must recognise that every child brings unique experiences, dreams and perspectives.
That’s what humanising education truly means.
Since the start of my career, this principle has been my north star – and it’s what drives our work at Belouga.
Instead of rigid, top-down curricula, Belouga is constantly building a fluid, adaptable learning ecosystem that mirrors the pace and unpredictability of the real world.
Our model is built on three pillars: relevance, personalisation and collaboration.
Starting with relevance, we focus on connecting learning to current global events, emerging industries and societal challenges.
The personalisation side is shaped by learning pathways, passions and curiosities, not just age or grade.
Finally, collaboration links students with peers, educators and industry experts to share knowledge and create impact.
In this model, kids aren’t passive recipients of information; they are active participants in a living network of learning that adapts as the world changes.
If we strip away the noise, what kids really need isn’t more test prep or memorisation. It’s a set of human skills that can be transferred across any career, culture or challenge.
These have often been called ‘soft skills’, but that’s a misnomer; they are essential skills that include curiosity, critical thinking, collaboration, empathy and resilience.
These skills are best developed in real-world contexts – through interaction and action, not just lectures and worksheets.
One of the biggest myths about education is that it happens in isolation, within the walls of a classroom and under the guidance of a single teacher.
In reality, the best learning has always been a collective effort.
At Belouga, we’ve built a global network where students, educators, parents and industry experts learn with and from each other. Educators provide guidance and structure.
Industry experts bring real-world perspectives. Peers collaborate and give feedback. Families and communities ground learning in lived experience.
This isn’t about replacing schools, but expanding them into vibrant, interconnected hubs of knowledge-sharing.
To mark the UN International Day of Peace (21 September), we will announce a new partnership, with OMMM, at a special event in New York’s Times Square.
OMMM is an organisation that uses events to elevate global consciousness through spiritual engagement and environmental stewardship.
Its network of ‘OMMMbassadors’ – leaders and creators who are living their purpose and helping others do the same – will contribute to the Belouga platform, sharing their wisdom through interactive learning experiences with young people all over the world.
OMMMbassadors include sacred sounds singer and songwriter Reachel Singh; yogic practitioners Yogini Jaima and Yogi Cameron; musician, producer and SDG leader AY Young; Sister Jenna of the Brahma Kumaris; hyperhumanist scholar Carl Hayden Smith and young climate campaigner and P.E.A. Award winner Joe Rajapaksha, to name a few.
I am proud to join the network of OMMMbassadors to share new approaches to education that are better placed to meet today’s (and tomorrow’s) challenges.
When I speak with educators, parents and young people around the world, one truth is clear: the challenges ahead won’t be solved by memorising content that can be Googled in seconds or handed to us by AI.
What our kids need goes far deeper than rote knowledge; they will need to think critically about complex problems with no single right answer, weighing multiple perspectives and navigating uncertainty with confidence.
They will need to collaborate across cultures, borders and backgrounds, recognising that solutions to global challenges are rarely found in isolation.
They will need to adapt when the rules change mid-game, building resilience in the face of rapid change and unexpected setbacks.
They will need to create with imagination and empathy, bringing forward ideas that not only innovate but also uplift the human experience.
Above all, our children will need the courage to act on issues that matter to their communities, to society and to the planet.
These are not optional skills or ‘extras’ to sprinkle on top of maths and reading; they are the foundation of a thriving future – and they can’t be nurtured in a system designed for industrial-age efficiency rather than human curiosity.
Belouga flips the traditional model on its head. Instead of asking, ‘How do we get every child to meet the same set of standards at the same pace?’, we ask, ‘How do we design learning that grows with them, wherever they are and wherever the world is going?’
This is why fluidity matters. In a time where industries can be born or vanish in a decade, a fixed curriculum isn’t just outdated, it’s a liability.
On Belouga, content can shift instantly to reflect emerging challenges and opportunities. We can introduce subjects like clean energy innovation, Indigenous leadership in climate resilience or AI ethics without waiting for a decade-long curriculum review.
And because students connect directly with peers and experts worldwide, they’re not just learning about the world, they’re learning with it.
Here’s something I believe deeply: learning shouldn’t be confined to a building with a bell telling kids when it starts and stops. It should be a living exchange of knowledge and creativity that happens everywhere – in classrooms, communities, homes and online.
Looking back on my own education, the moments that truly stuck weren’t the worksheets or tests, but the experiences that got us out of our seats and thinking differently.
That’s why collaboration is central to Belouga’s DNA. It’s why we built the Thinkering Collective, a community of educators, innovators and changemakers designing experiences that go beyond textbooks and exams.
When you connect people with shared curiosity and purpose, the learning is deeper, the impact greater and the possibilities endless.
This is also why we embrace the OMMMbassador philosophy: when education becomes a shared responsibility, we’re not just preparing children for the future, we’re shaping it with them.
So how do we help our children acquire these essential skills? By recognising that education is not the sole job of schools – it’s the work of an entire ecosystem.
Parents, businesses, artists, scientists, activists, elders, entrepreneurs – we all have knowledge and experiences that can fuel a young person’s growth.
We need systems that make it easy for these contributions to flow in and for students to flow out, applying and growing their skills in real contexts.
The old model of ‘sit down, listen and prepare for life later’ must become ‘stand up, explore and live your learning now.’
The challenges ahead will demand creativity, collaboration and compassion on a scale we’ve never seen.
These qualities cannot be left to chance; they must be intentionally cultivated from an early age.
No child’s potential should be limited by a slow-moving system, so we’re creating a learning community that is responsive, relevant and radically human, ensuring education is not just preparation for life, but life itself.
The future will not wait for us to catch up – and our kids shouldn’t have to, either.
If we want to measure creativity and curiosity, the answer is simple: we must measure it by how boldly our children shape the world around them – today, not just tomorrow.
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