People’s Political Economy UK
URL = http://www.ppeuk.org/ [1]
Description
Francisco Mello Castro:
"The PPE propose is to Empower people from diferent communities to understand the political and economical fundaments of the economic crysis, democratising the discussion. By doing so, they allow people to better engage the problems Europe faces today, and look for new solutions. They started study groups in diferent communities who would not have acess to the informations they provide and acess to means of study. They want to provide info on the power structures and institutions that create the system that pins them, and promete discussions on solutions and means to solve their own issues.
Each group has a volunteer facilitator, who is not necessarily a professor. He helps the community define their learning goals and thematic, in an envyroment where all knowledge is co-produced and they all have the same status. Though they focus on the aspect of the European Crysis, giving the “students” info and data on its different aspects, each study group may tackle the question through a diferent approach. If the community decides to focus on education, they can discuss that matter, read books, and come up with sollutions in a contextualize envyroment. The program is focused on students and unemployed people, who would have more time to atend. It is set to be a “regular” class, with regular meetings and an ending period, (usually lasting around 9 weeks, the size of a term in Oxford) though the students are free to keep on with the group. Even though there is no certification, people engage themselves in the discussions, because it makes sense to them. They are there because they want, and have their reasons to study the theme more deeply.
The PPE is an exemple of a new age in education: Free, shared and self-managed." (http://educationatw.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/project-4-the-peoples-political-economy/)