Advisory Services
At the Middle Way School in New York, the Living Sciences is the third sphere, which is reserved for cultural or content focus areas. This sphere could be occupied by a specific artistic discipline such as dance, or a cultural study mandated by the government. No specific academic approach is required by MWE, although we strongly recommend an education that is constructivist and progressive.
MWE is expanding its impact by partnering with schools and non-formal youth programs—such as camps and after school programs—with a particular focus on traditionally Buddhist countries. We are currently collaborating with school founders in Nepal and Thailand, as well as camp leaders in Brazil and the US. These institutions are active partners in expanding the MWE model through participatory action research. In the coming years we will expand our advisory services on a fee-for-service basis.
Innovative school leaders around the world are highly attuned to the changing landscape of their education institutions as well as the volatile world their graduates will be entering into and eventually leading. They are constantly adopting new methodologies, and strategies, backed up by the latest in scientific research and technology. We believe we can help school leaders by offering a meticulously researched and proven methodology that is both rigorously academic and deeply personal.
Through each partnership, the model will be improved and refined. It will never be a finished product, like a binder or document that can be dropped in a school leader’s lap. Scaling a model of education requires the involvement of an entire activity system, the community, the place, the culture, the belief systems. MWE’s Three Sphere approach is designed to accommodate different educational standards, pedagogy, and cultures. We investigate an array of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors (PESTEL) to determine the viability of a project. Each program will have a unique set of opportunities and risks. Each environment comes with specific assets and needs. Each culture will need to be respectfully and individually folded into the curriculum. Each teacher is a complex human being, each child is a Buddha.
Kamal Jyoti
One of our partners is Kamal Jyoti, which is in the planning stages for a dharma school in the Boudhanath area of Kathmandu. Our lead point person is Ravina Kaur, a remarkable woman who grew up in the slums of Boudha and is now graduating from Sweet Briar College in the US, with aims to attend Harvard’s Graduate School of Education so that she can bring her deep cultural understanding merged with a cutting edge educational background to the project.