School is the place where you learn.

The meaning we give to words is important and has an impact on the way we think and act.

This relates to what we mean by “school”.

The definition in my dictionary (in line with several other dictionaries and perhaps with the generalised understanding), defines school as:

1. An educational establishment, public or private, where certain subjects are taught collectively…
2. Building where teaching takes place.
3. The group of pupils, teachers and other staff at an educational establishment.
4. Any establishment where a particular subject, activity, etc. is taught.

(Underlining is mine).

Saying that school is about teaching and delivering education is not wrong, but as I said at the beginning of this article, definitions are important and have an impact on the way we think and act. It’s much more powerful to think of school as a place where people LEARN, not a place where people TEACH.

Does this small detail have any relevance?

Absolutely, because it can have a huge impact on the way we view learning – teaching is useless if there is no learning, but we can learn a lot even when no one is teaching us.

• “Teaching” puts the focus on the teacher and somehow takes the responsibility from the learner – I don’t learn because nobody teaches me, I didn’t learn because I was taught poorly, etc.
• “Learning” puts the focus on the learner. The main agent is no longer the one who teaches, but the learner, who becomes responsible for learning and for approaching this process proactively and diligently.

Learning becomes an action we take and is no longer something that happens to us because someone taught us.

At Alphalink we take this very seriously.

In addition to being a special project management company, Alphalink is also a school – a place where you learn.

We cultivate all the conditions for learning – training sessions, discussions, content production, coaching, space to think, to read and much more. Around 10% of each Alphalink’s time is dedicated to learning (and only a fraction of that involves someone teaching).

The Alphalinks take their responsibility to learn very seriously, to learn a lot, to learn every day.

Let there be no doubt: school is the place where you learn!

Jaime Quintas

Illustration by Ana Salvado | All rights reserved.