Format

When

Classes are run on school grounds, immediately after school by an IRL ed. teacher who prioritises building a relationship with the students throughout the 7-week course. We usually use a common room or if the weather’s nice, outside under a tree.

They run for 90 minutes and we are careful to keep class sizes to around 15 students to ensure each has enough time with the teacher to have a personalised learning experience.

 

How

Classes have been designed to be fun, engaging and informative. We believe students learn best when they're actively involved in doing, not just passively listening. We've built in a combination of group activities, class discussion, and individual thinking that vary the pace of the lesson, gets students to experience what is being taught, and engage with each other to build upon their ideas.

 

Student workbook

We've designed a 60 page student workbook that includes lots of in-class activities, writing space, great ideas, and content students can refer back to in the future. There's over 50 great resources, including podcasts, books, documentaries, videos, websites, audiobooks and apps which have been carefully curated to be interesting, relevant and useful for students.

Our student workbook also includes;

  • Lateral thinking exercises and techniques for improving memory
  • A practical systems for building good habits and routines
  • A framework for making career decisions
  • An outline of the Design Thinking innovation process
  • Tools for improving charisma, understanding body language, and some small talk prompters
  • Savings principles and money management advice

 

before class

IRL ed. utilises the concept of the ‘flipped classroom’ to improve learning outcomes and deepen student understanding. This means students will be given pre-work prior to coming to class (except the first lesson) which varies in its content but which builds a foundational grasp of the ideas we’re discussing, before then being refined and developed within the classroom. Pre-work is optional, and is usually something engaging like listening to a podcast or watching a short video.