About Us
The Phoenix Education Trust has over 20 years’ experience as a leading voice in democratic education providing training, advice, and research on the matter.
We work with both mainstream schools and progressive alternative settings and innovators to challenge and expand norms of what school and education can and should be.
The Phoenix Education Trust is a pioneering charity providing creative and practical support that enhances student participation and engagement in schools and removes common barriers to learning.
Our mission is to transform students’ experience of their education, helping them to take ownership of their time in school and to become actively engaged citizens.
We respect equality, autonomy, collaboration, agency, and authenticity.
Our steadfast commitment to amplifying student voice and embedding collaborative, democratic, human-centred, and rights-respecting systems, practises, and structures in schools and alternative settings remains and we are revitalising this mission and bringing it firmly into the 21st century.
History
The Phoenix Education Trust emerged from discussions concerning how the gulf between pioneering Democratic Schools such as Dartington Hall, Park School, and Sands School and mainstream schools in the State sector was unjust.
Young people and adults affiliated with these schools, and proponents of implementing a positive experience in education conducive to educating young people democratically, sought to bridge this gap and so The Phoenix Education Trust was formally incorporated on 23rd October 2000.
Among our Founding Members include Lord Michael Young, educated at Dartington Hall, and the Gribble and Astor families.
Experience
23 years later, The Phoenix Education Trust has helped to establish national and international spin-offs, networks, and membership organisations including Freedom to Learn, StudentVoice, and the European Democratic Community.
We have a strong track record having facilitated student-led campaigns with over 15,000 students in secondary schools across the United Kingdom. We have provided training programmes to more than 300 students and reached almost 4,000 people through student-led campaigns and consultations.
We won the AGCAS award for Employer Engagement, a fantastic achievement for the Trust and the collaborative partnership with Queen Mary University.
Let's Build Something Together
The Phoenix Education Trust, The Warehouse, 54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham, B5 5TH.
+44(0)7584323298