Welcome to Hesscairn Learning Design Studio
Hesscairn creates transformational and regenerative learning designs and provides advice for schools, communities, organisations, third sector and government.
Joy, elegance and simplicity
About
Stuart MacFarlane MacAlpine
Director of Hesscairn Learning Design Studio.
Hesscairn Learning Design Studio is a space to dream, to create and to celebrate learning designs built upon the values of joy, elegance and simplicity.
Stuart is a learning designer, author, researcher and educator who has worked across sectors on progressive educational projects. Stuart consults with governments and third sector organisation.
Stuart is a doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge PEDAL centre, where his research is on the conceptualisation of learning goals, and focused on Education Scotland’s Curriculum Improvement Cycle.
Previously he has worked as a Principal, Senior Director of the technical team at the LEGO Foundation, Founding Principal of the Green School New Zealand, Founding Director of Education at Amala (was Sky School) and Director of Teaching and Learning at the United World College of South East Asia, in Singapore.
Publications
Hesscairn Guide to Learning
The Hesscairn Guide to Learning delivers the essential manual we never had, challenging foundational ideas about education. This ultimate resource equips parents, teachers, leaders and policymakers with a clear framework to guide the crucial choices they make for young people.
Forged from decades of research and experience designing world leading educational institutions, this guide refines key insights into actionable principles that help you understand the choices you make and the impacts they have. Discover the why, what and how the educational landscape has shifted from an outdated industrial model to a regenerative future in The Hesscairn Guide to Learning.
More than just theory, it's a call to arms. Through a fresh taxonomy and innovative design principles, it empowers you to move from confusion to confidence. This is your map to not just understand education, but master it. Foster meaningful growth and become an active designer of a better system.