Social Constructivism

Bold Park Community School’s innovative educational philosophy seeks to consider the whole child in the context of a community of learners. We strive to provide a learning environment that promotes mutual respect, shared learning, creativity, imagination, problem solving and participation in the life of the community.

At its roots, BPCS continues to embrace the educational theory of social constructivism, inspired by the educational practice of educators in Reggio Emilia. Social constructivism proposes that knowledge is actively constructed by learners in response to interactions with their environment and that meaning and understanding grow out of social encounters. The child is active in this process and the image of the child as strong and capable supports us in our social constructivist practice.

At BPCS we consider children, as unique individuals who are powerful contributors to their own learning, not empty vessels ready to be filled with knowledge. For this reason purposeful learning experiences where students share, brainstorm, debate, reflect upon, critique and create together, and that touch their interest, curiosity or motivation to learn are pursued as the curriculum outcomes are woven throughout projects and learning experiences.

Social Constructivist practise can be seen first hand in our whole class meetings, a small group word study lesson, a brainstorm session to design a frog pond in the school grounds or when a group of students is reflecting upon and writing about the success of their school drama and dance production.

Our approach to learning with a collaborative, project-based mind-set is well summarised in this brief video on Authentic Project-Based Learning.