What the UK's Classical School Renewal Teaches Us with Jamie Burns
BaseCamp Live
What Is School For? Lessons from US Classical Schools
Jamie shares his US school tour asking students 'What is school for?' and hearing answers about Christ, identity, and community care.
Classical learning has deep roots in the United Kingdom. Yet many schools in England, Scotland, and Wales have drifted toward child-led, utilitarian models that leave students unformed and unmoored. At the same time, a quiet renewal is beginning to take shape.
In this episode, British educator Jamie Burns, founder of the Fellowship for Classical Learning, joins host Davies Owens to share how he rediscovered classical Christian education, why he believes it is the answer to the UK’s educational crisis, and how God is using a small group of families to start new schools in London and Cardiff.
Jamie traces his own story, from an average state education to rich conversations around his family’s dinner table, through years in mainstream schools, and finally to an “aha” moment listening to Andrew Kern that gave him language for what he had always felt. Along the way he offers a clear, inside look at the current state of education in England, Scotland, and Wales, and the surprising ways classical ideas are resurfacing in policy, practice, and school life.
🎧 Tune in to hear:
- How Jamie grew up with a relativistic school education yet tasted something very different at home
- Why a simple question, “What is school for?”, revealed a stark contrast between UK schools and US classical schools
- How recent reforms in England embraced phonics and knowledge-rich curricula, while Wales and Scotland doubled down on child-led learning
- Why the pace and pressure of modern schooling can feel inhumane, even when test scores improve
- How the Fellowship for Classical Learning is launching two new schools, Fountain Christian School in London and St Anselm’s in Cardiff
- Why historic Christian schools in Britain often exist in name only, and why teacher character now matters more than ever
- Encouragement for parents who are counting the cost of choosing a different path for their children
- Hope for educators and school starters who feel underqualified, yet called, to stand in the classical Christian tradition
Technology, politics, and culture may be shifting quickly, yet this conversation reminds us that God is at work in quiet and surprising ways. Listeners will come away with fresh vision for what schooling can be, a deeper sense of solidarity with believers in the UK, and renewed courage to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty in their own communities.
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