About us | Alternative education and hybrid education

Cascais, July 2022.

I have witnessed throughout my life that people are all different. I myself struggle with dyslexia and, according to friends, various other issues. However, I have always seen my way of thinking as my super power and know that we all have our own unique super powers within us. The issue is that the traditional educational system has been set up to make us all the same while crushing our superpowers. It teaches us all in the same way, at the same pace, and mostly all the same subjects. I have never been comfortable accepting this “keep-you-in-the-box” educational model. I have seen how many students are made to feel inferior because they are not as academically inclined or don't find it fun to listen, remember and report it all back in exchange for grades.

I have always felt that a change was needed, and for a long time, I was confident that somehow it would happen without me. But unfortunately, it didn't, and I could no longer stand by watching the anxiety of students increasing, listening to parents' complaints, and just being part of an antiquated educational system that contributed to the suffering of so many great teachers. I also noticed that the model was virtually the same worldwide and wasn't working, except for a few small pockets of light here and there.

After traveling around the world with my family, I was blown away to see how much my children learned when they were interested and could experience things for themselves. This was when my wife Lidia and I decided we needed to turn our discussions of what education should be like for our children from a dream into a reality.

Brave Generation Academy was born with our own children, Alex, Titus, and Elena, as the Guinea pigs... We started by hiring our first learning coach Marcus who became a co-founder. Quickly we added to the BGA core team as the number of Brave learners grew steadily.

From the start, we decided that Brave Generation Academy (BGA) would be a simple system based on a pedagogical model of common sense and keeping the learner as the focus of BGA. The Academy would also not turn away learners who wanted to be at BGA, so it was designed with a giving spirit to democratize quality international education, which could offer learners from all social classes opportunities for life. All our BGA learners benefit from this value as they learn from each other and are not in societal bubbles. At BGA, we also decided that we would offer not only a quality academic international curriculum but also real life learning experiences as part of our core skills, preparing our learners for today's world from the time they join.

I am proud to say that BGA was born to resolve a critical need, it isn't perfect, but it's alive and is making a difference to hundreds of learners, BGA families, and all the communities around our BGA Hubs. Onwards and Upwards, one BGA Hub at a time.

Tim Vieira

It's been a year, and so much has been achieved at BGA.

I am very proud of my team and our Brave learners, and I am thankful to the parents who believed in us.

We have gotten better by the week, we have overcome challenges, and I am confident we will overcome future ones as we push forward with Mission Critical.

We have passion and purpose on our side as we further grow BGA to meet learners' needs wherever they are.

We started in Europe, then opened in Africa, and now we are expanding to the USA and Asia. You may be asking why? Because we must. It's vital that we keep strengthening our BGA Hub system by allowing more learning coaches to positively impact more learners. We are driven by the desire to offer learners the opportunity for them to Write Their Own Paths.

We use a hybrid system that allows us to offer our learners a personalized, flexible learning experience. As a result, we ensure that they never need to give up on their passions as they have the flexibility to come to our hubs and work at their own pace while becoming experts or professionals in their area of choice.

We strive to have a BGA Hub close enough to our learners that they can walk, cycle or take the bus to their Hub. We want our BGA hubs to be part of the community and our learners to contribute to their communities. We want our learners to encourage each other to try new experiences and to learn new things from each other. Our learning coaches are there to inspire and support our learners to become their best without even knowing it's happening. We are excited about our Brave and Beyond curriculum, which is all about enhancing today's skills. We have made minor but very relevant changes to the traditional educational model, contributing to significant improvements for our learners.

Where are we going?

We want to keep dreaming Big and building locally in all four corners of the world.

As one of our Learners told me: "All kids should be able to go to BGA."

Our first student, Luca, said, "I am the first of a million BGA students."

Because of our BGA learners, we will keep making sure we focus on giving more students the option of attending BGA.

Write your own path.

Be Brave

BGA