Secret Gems - not Misfits!

Gab McIntosh

True tales of school refusers and the case for alternative schools

Quirky learning and unexpected happiness for school refusers at alternative schools- really? Who would have thought that school refusers  turn out to be secret gems rather than sad misfits?

The reader learns how the principal began her alternative  schools with no money, no teaching resources, no premises, and few guidelines. One trained teacher; she was it. The only truly dependable resource was unhappy school kids, more than anyone expected. The results are both surprising and delightful.

The booklet put forwards the case for alternative schools and why they are so desperately needed all  over the county. In an age where teachers are leaving their profession in droves , where kids academic results  seem to stagnate, or plummet, alternative schools provide a refreshing insight into how we can do schooling differently and make education enjoyable again  for teachers, parents and all kids, but particularly those kids called to the beat of different a drum.

 

About the Author

Gab McIntosh is a retired school Principal, an actor and storyteller who bases her  terrific  story telling events  on the true tales of  the “school refusers" she has worked with in alternative schools for over 20 years. She is also a playwright and her play Alien Chooks in Lithgow was performed at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. She has the Order of Australia for her work in education. Gab believes there is a desperate  need to start doing education, differently. The very lives of our young people depends  on alternative schools and alternative, less pressured approaches, to education. She is angry about the current conservative  push by state  governments, to  reduce alternatives and reduce the diversity of approaches to education. Contact Gab at indigenousyoutheducation@gmail.com

 

Look Inside