The way we educate the youth and leaders of tomorrow must also change, we must seize the moment to liberate and mobilize minds to face these challenges with strength and purpose.

(Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General)

Supporting transition across the lifespan

WYSE aims to find and support people who are inspired to work towards a peaceful world. We do this by providing input at the points of life transition that we all experience. We believe that it is in times of change that people need greatest support and encouragement to identify their values and focus on their potential for what their lives might be and how they can contribute to their societies.

You will see from our services that we work with young people as they experience transitions through their education (e.g., Primary and Secondary transition programmes) to an awareness of international and global citizenship (e.g., International programmes); through ongoing support via our workshops (e.g., European Workshop series, national events) and training programmes for enterprise (e.g., Social Enterprise Leadership programmes); and even into the transition to eldership (e.g., Elders programme).

The following themes are characteristic of our approach:

• An experiential approach
• A creative approach
• An empowering approach
• A values based approach
• Inner leadership
• Global citizenship

An experiential approach

WYSE values an experiential approach to education - meaning we create opportunities for people to learn through experiences. We believe in nurturing the potential in each person that we work with and aim to help him or her to identify the unique contribution that they can make in the world. Therefore we provide opportunities for people to express themselves through a diversity of modalities. For example, our programmes contain elements of team-building, physical activity, discussion, drama, writing, art and music, as well as more traditional techniques of education.

We aim to create a learning community where each participant is both teacher and learner; and we design new and interesting ways of education that encourage a shared learning experience. Our trainers do not believe in telling people what they should think or feel. WYSE offers tools for discovery rather than the prescription of answers. We believe that each individual needs to find something that works for them, and that each person has the potential to find their own answers. We aim to inspire an understanding of lifelong learning, the need to learn how to be flexible, to change and adapt as one moves through life.

A creative approach

We strongly believe that as a species we need to learn to think and act differently to address the seemingly intractable problems in our world. Our programmes focus on inspiring participants to explore new ways of thinking in order to create new models of possibility for themselves and for the world we share. We believe that understanding the creative process can assist people to develop a sense of choice and create innovative solutions for local and global challenges.

We believe in the inherent creativity of everyone and set up learning processes that encourage people to access deeper levels of experience. We draw upon the holistic experience of the person, accessing input from the mind, body and spirit. Our aim is to help participants in our courses to create a more complete picture of their potential and their ability to make a positive difference in the world.

An empowering approach

Our educational philosophy is based on the importance of nurturing the potential in each young person that we work with. Our aim is to help them identify and express the unique contribution that they can make in the world. WYSE encourages people to understand and believe in their own potential, to see the potential in others, and to work with others in ways that help everyone express their best qualities.

values based approach

WYSE uses a values based approach, which means we focus on helping people to identify the guiding principles that they use to make positive life choices.

WYSE is committed to being an inclusive organisation. Our programmes involve working with people from many cultural, religious and social backgrounds. Through working with values we find a way to establish a common understanding that is based on goodwill and respect for differences. Values are universal in nature and transcend the boundaries of nationality, culture and religion. WYSE believes that these shared values need to be reawakened, nurtured and sustained for the advancement of the world.

Over the years we have found that young people all over the world share common concerns about issues such as destruction of the planet, human rights, poverty, racism, conflict, violence, terrorism and war. WYSE offers opportunities for people dialogue about such issues and encourages a holistic world view that is underpinned by the need for shared values and an awareness of our ultimate interconnection.

inner leadership

WYSE programmes are based on challenging participants to understand and work with leadership. Unfortunately leadership is often understood as an authoritarian and hierarchical concept. Our research suggests that many young people do not trust the traditional approaches to leadership that they see in the world today, and they believe that the current leaders are responsible for many of the problems that they will inherit. Many of the problems of humanity are due to a lack of understanding of what it means to be a leader.

WYSE believes that every person has the potential for leadership. Leadership is an expression of our willingness to engage in the issues and challenges we see around us. It is about finding creative solutions to global and local problems. It is no longer appropriate or sufficient that a leader simply has knowledge and understanding of their own field, discipline, position or country. To address the challenges that are inherent in our global society, tomorrow's leaders must learn to understand and listen to the needs of others. WYSE works with leadership as a role and an attitude - not simply as a position of influence.

WYSE is interested in people learning to be in contact with their "inner leader" - the part of them that knows and understands the meaning and purpose in their lives. We encourage people to take up the leadership for themselves, to live responsibly and with greater awareness of both their own needs and the needs of others. Participants learn that to effectively lead others, they must first know themselves. WYSE promotes values based and inspirational leadership.

Global citizenship

WYSE encourages people to grapple with a global perspective and gain a sense of their own value in contributing to a peaceful and equitable world. Our programmes provide an opportunity for people to step outside their usual assumptions in order to gain insight into the underlying causes of our global challenges, and inspire them to take up the challenge of addressing these issues through active global citizenship.

WYSE strives towards a vision for humanity that is based on our interconnection and an understanding of the need for shared values. We aim to help people to discover and realise that what they do in their own communities affects people in other parts of the world. We believe that all people are connected in tangible and realistic ways, and are part of the one human family. WYSE aims to educate young people to understand that unity through diversity is, in fact, a practical reality of the current experience of life on this planet.

WYSE believes that it is essential to educate people differently if we are to create new solutions to global problems. We promote an understanding of our connection to the planet and to one another. We believe that the in order to survive we need to develop a more holistic view of what is happening on this planet and understand that all life is mutually interdependent.