Welcome to Unbound Education Blog

Hi! I'm Alexis, the founder of Unbound Education. Welcome to my blog. I'm aiming to provide thought provoking reading about the education sector for teenagers, parents of teenagers and professionals working in the education sector.

Introducing Alexis

I was born in Ankara, Turkey and moved countries roughly every three years as a result of my father's work as a journalist for Reuters. From an early age I was exposed to a wide variety of cultures and schools which provided both opportunities and challenges. My gap year was my first experience of being on the other side of the classroom, teaching English in a remote Nepalese village. I loved it: both living in a new, very different culture but also seeing how I could support children to grow, both intellectually and socio-emotionally.

After graduating in the UK in International Studies and Economics, I briefly flirted with the idea of going into a career in finance. Whilst I found the experience interesting, working in an office for a large corporate ultimately wasn't for me. I took a teaching assistant job and through that re-enforced my passion for helping people and being part of their growth. I trained to be a Maths teacher through Teach First and have since both worked in and set up a variety of education institutions from schools, education charities to start ups and businesses. My latest venture is Unbound Education which I hope will combine the experience I've gained through over 25 years of working in education but will also result in a whole new range of learning experiences and profound connections.

What's this blog about?

This blog will cover topics in two main areas: how best to support students enabling them to thrive and posts about best practice for organizations operating in the education space.

1. Student Growth

This section of the blog will look at the challenges students face and some potential strategies or tools that can be used to overcome them. The target audiences are parents, teenagers, teachers and anyone working with teenagers. Topics which will be covered may include:

• Developing happiness

• Building skills and learner attributes

• School systems, particularly within international schools

• Innovation in education

• University choices

• Research and inquiry skills

• Coaching, Mentoring and Tutoring

• Teenage common challenges

• Assessing schools for parents

• Inclusion and special needs

• Extra-curricular provision

• Parent sabbaticals and home ed

• Developing passions and talents

• The International Baccalaureate

• Moving homes and schools

As part of this, it will aim to showcase some of the approaches used within Unbound Education and the benefits a coach or mentor can offer.

2. Advice for Organisations in the Education Sector

This section of the blog will aim to support organizations working in the education sector: start ups, charities, social enterprises and businesses. It will aim to share common challenges faced in this sector as well identifying strategies for overcoming these problems in order to achieve your vision and mission. Topics which will be covered may be:

• Vision, mission and values

• Market research and marketing

• Start ups in the education space

• Priority assessment

• Growth management

• Making effective use of meetings

• Fund raising and financial planning

• The importance of timing

• Strategy and supporting tools

As a secondary objective, it will aim to demonstrate the value of having someone outside of the organisation to be involved when carrying out key decisions.

Of genuine value

Most importantly to me, I want this blog to be of genuine value to readers. I hope to bring a mix of my vast personal experience within a broad range of education settings combined with comprehensive research to provide something that goes beyond click bate and is thought provoking as well as being genuinely useful.

Do get involved by either sharing my posts, commenting on them or contributing posts yourself.