Passages Founder Celebrated as Urban Hero 2022
Written by Gail Powell, Oct 21 2022
In the fall of 2020, when Kristina House decided to branch out and flex her homeschooling skills to support young people in her community, she opened the Passages Centre for Self-Directed Learning — with only one student.
Located in the George Chuvalo Neighbourhood Centre at Dundas W., south of Dupont, House began the centre for young people “who don’t necessarily fit the mainstream school programming and would benefit from more of a democratic approach to education.”
The team of volunteers and board members “see everyone in the centre as a teacher and everyone as a resource and the goal of the program is to ignite the students’ spark of passion and help them learn to share that passion with others,” she explained.
A portion of the learners carry a variety of mental health diagnoses, some are identified as neurodivergent or from the LGBTQ+ community; however, the common thread between the learners is that they “seek a safe space to unmask, be themselves and grow in a way that suits their own individual timeline — instead of having to conform to a mainstream system that could feel isolating and oppressive,” House disclosed.
“Typically, learning can look like a self-directed approach, however it doesn’t mean the youth from 11-18 years old don’t take any classes, workshops, do homework, or avoid apprenticeships — it just means that everything they learn at our centre is chosen by them, because it’s what interests them,” House explained.
There are no unrealistic timelines or pressure placed on the youth at Passages and learners are free to work ahead on post-secondary type courses or take time to investigate further schooling of interest to them.
House noted that “when adults learn to trust the process of allowing students to focus on this self-led learning style — the learners know exactly what type of learning they need to succeed instead of relying on top-down, teacher-led ideas.”
To date, close to 20 students have experienced this alternative schooling philosophy at the Passages Centre, and individuals have learned everything from designing flags for countries, training to become a tattoo artist or developing their skills as musicians or writers.
“Sometimes these amazing careers like glass blowing or horticulture get buried under the traditional vocations such as accountant, doctor, or teacher, titles,” House stated.
Along with assisting learners in finding their own brand of student success, House said that supporting the parents through this process “is like a whole other level of rebuilding positive connections to learning. When parents see their child blossoming in this alternative learning environment, the healing process from mainstream school trauma is evident.”
Parents have expressed their gratitude to House for helping their child uncover what motivates and interests them in life and what keeps their child/teen wanting to discover more.
House said she’s honoured to receive the Urban Hero award for education this year and is quick to mention it’s her team of volunteers and board of directors with whom she shares this award.