Buckminster College is reimagining international education for ages 10-18. The general idea is that cognitive development in adolescence must be supported (and indeed boldly inspired!) along accelerating, asynchronous, and divergent learning trajectories. The aim is good attunement to complexity: the complexity of the world — and the complexity of the mind. The underlying theoretical and philosophical approaches are sourced from interdisciplinary research in the domain of pedagogy of individuation and thriving in the complex, uncertain, open-ended universe. Behind the project is an international group of academics affiliated with the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) of the Free University in Brussels (VUB) and instructors and alumni of the Postgraduate School of Thinking VUB.

Our activities started in November 2021, with an adventure and enrichment programme, The Ravens’ Bead Theorem (now completed). For 2023-24 we are offering a Springbok Trajectory: an interdisciplinary part-time secondment to be combined with a regular school (ages 11-15). Our major initiative, an independent, international full-time school for ages 10-18, operating within the International Baccalaureate framework, will start a year later. All our programmes combine remote education at Buckminster’s Flying Castle with recurrent 3-day or 4-day residential get-away sessions in the magical city of Bruges (Belgium).