Educational philsophy
the gift
You are not alone. There is an awakening happening as we become aware of the need for an educational paradigm shift and living models to bring it forth. Something that will benefit not just ourselves, but humanity.
Imagine an education that doesn’t just fill your mind with facts but also nurtures your heart and soul.
Where inner and outer development meet
Developed by a global network of experts, the IDGs provide a research-based framework for cultivating the inner qualities—like empathy, resilience, and collaborative intelligence—that are essential for addressing complex global challenges.
At The Gift Academy, we’ve integrated the IDGs into our curriculum to ensure that personal development translates into global impact. By focusing on these critical inner skills, our students are empowered to become effective leaders and changemakers capable of contributing to a more sustainable, just, and compassionate world.
embrace the fullness of your gifts
The old model of education is about filling you with information - the new model is about drawing out your inner capacities. The 10 intelligences framework helps you understand your innate abilities and allow them to guide your path of purpose as you apply them in our program.
The 10 Intelligences
We help you realize your unique strengths and apply them effectively, while expanding your potential to include new abilities yet to be discovered
how we understand and apply our knowledge
how we process and integrate our thoughts and feelings and relate to ourselves and to one another
how we use a sense of individual and shared purpose, trust, and other virtues to effect change and act towards the common good
how we cultivate and maintain our personal health and well-being and that of those around us to be able to apply the energy required for both individual and systems transformation
how we recognize opportunity through the synthesis of the whole and creatively combine resources
how we adapt to changing environments; gather, examine, and disseminate intelligence of strategic value
how we understand a system in relation to its larger context, relationships, and connections, integrating the information from separate disciplines
how we grow and develop within the setting of the system of relationships that form our environment; the impact the environment factors have on us, and how we impact one another and our environment
how we analyze ideas in terms of their opposites with the objective of creating a more enlightened synthesis
how we differentiate between what is right and what is wrong, reach decisions and make choices based on this differentiation
Who Am I?
Inquiry one
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space…a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. ” -Albert Einstein
Exploring Identity and Values
Who Are We?
Inquiry two
Community can be a mirror. Insight becomes wisdom only when it is rooted in the stream of your being, and that comes across in the way you relate.
~Sarah Powers
Developing Relational & Collective Intelligence
What Are We Up Against?
Inquiry Three
"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology." - E.O Wilson
Understanding context and sense-making
How Do Me & We Proceed?
Inquiry four
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” -Margaret Mead
Creating purpose and strategy
It's not just what you do, but how you do it
By embracing these values, we challenge the story of separation, fostering a sense of unity and shared responsibility as we truly see how everything is interdependent
our Values
reciprocity | self-awareness | service
The Academy is guided by the values of reciprocity, self-awareness and service.
Through narrative work and strategic design processes, participants acquire the knowledge and capabilities ask big questions and explore big problems.
We co-create a supportive environment to discover that everything we need is right here, right now.
Service & Self-Discovery
It's all about relationships - between ourselves, the land and each other.
Develops the wisdom and interpersonal skills to allow community to be a mirror as we collectively address real-world problems in with keen sense-making and "village-mindedness".
Expanding Impact & Building Community
We provide a learning environment that stimulates the state of flow - the optimal human state.
Through novelty, unpredictability, connection, complexity, and awe, we foster flow. This enhances human curiosity, passion, and purpose.
Learning & Transformation
"The point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer"
~Rilke
Through inquiry-based learning, we foster a dynamic teaching-learning community. Here, students’ questions and interests shape the learning journey, while teachers adapt to what is most alive in the group.
This transformative process transcends traditional education, guiding students toward deeper understanding and purpose as we explore four broad inquiries throughout the program:
The Power of Inquiry
Creating a Teaching-learning community