The Right Education for a Self-Determined Life

An educational concept as a “map”

or how the right education lets you lead a self-determined life. Are you happy and completely satisfied in your job? Then I warmly congratulate you! If not, I have a few lines here for you that I wish I had read earlier myself. More precisely, it is about the true meaning of education and how to shape your self-education efficiently. Because our regular education system today trains children for a profession and for success. Everyone learns the same thing, and hardly any child is supported in their own personality or level of maturity.

How can it be different?

Imagine your education as a map: with every new piece of knowledge you create connections and discover further places on the map. The more education you take in, the more points connect. Over time you keep making new connections and, through self-education, create countless possibilities.

The greater your knowledge, the closer you are to a self-determined life. Schools, universities and also independent educational initiatives are merely tools. It is up to you how you use them, because alongside education, talents and abilities also play an immensely important role.

Another thing that really annoys me about school is the way mistakes are dealt with. Mistakes are bad. At least that is what classrooms convey. Who dares to say something that might be wrong, only to reap the laughter of their classmates afterwards?

And yet with every mistake you discover further potential for improvement. You find out what you still have to learn. In every personal development book you read how extremely important it is to make mistakes. You learn from them.

What makes our educational concept so special?

With our offerings, we at the TAPOJA association create interdisciplinary, project-based adventures with educational content for young people aged 6 and over, and we support self-determined, interest-led processes according to each person’s level of maturity.

🦋 The principle of “head, heart and hand” is based on Pestalozzi’s idea that education can only work holistically.

It does not build solely on academic knowledge but should take into account the personality, the emotional side and the practical abilities of the learners. By the principle of the “head”, Pestalozzi means conscious, rational thinking. We use our “head” when we plan, think, reflect or weigh up a decision. The “heart principle” stands for the moods and feelings that always accompany our thinking and experience. The “hand” stands for our actual actions, that is, what we do.

All three elements are ever-present in our lives, i.e. they are present whether or not we are always consciously aware of them. They are also interconnected and so always influence one another.

🦋 In addition, our educational concept follows the Sudbury principle of freely deciding WHEN, HOW, WHERE and WITH WHOM one wants to learn. We assume that young people bring everything they need with them into the world. Our task is to create opportunities for them to develop.

Profound education can take place through experiencing, feeling, reflecting, analysing and applying knowledge to real situations. Young people learn that asking, researching, discovering, investigating, experimenting, making, calculating and discussing are ways of arriving at knowledge, and that there are different ways of acquiring knowledge.

Meeting day on 1 June 2025

On this special day we invite you to immerse yourself in a world in which self-determined education breaks new ground.

Our holistic concept offers not only innovative approaches to learning but also the opportunity to take an active part in a dynamic educational process. Use this unique opportunity to lay the foundation for your own educational journey, or that of your children, in stimulating conversations and practical dialogues.

Get to know topics that set the course for modern education:

Future years: A format that looks ahead and helps you actively shape your personal future.

Impulse years: An inspiring highlight that paves the way to self-determined learning with creative impulses and new perspectives.

🌼 For the kids, the Erlebnishof Mandl (http://www.erlebnishof.at/) in Sarleinsbach offers a playground for adventurers as well as a large football and beach volleyball pitch, and our Julia is coming with her giant soap bubbles – please bring your own ball for this.

🍇 Grandma Johanna will provide you with delicious food such as potato goulash, pasta salad and much more, but please bring your own drinks and perhaps cake too!

🦋 Farm owner Sabine Mandl will be grateful for a voluntary donation for this wonderful meeting place, which in future will also be available as a venue for our Magic Moments learning-village weeks.

❤️🥳 The team is looking forward to seeing many familiar and new faces!

Event information and registration at www.tapoja.at (German)