EDUCATION MODEL
Loving yourself and
the world isn’t luck.
It’s by design.
An NGA education is no happy accident. On this page we show you the whole model — designed backward from a single question, “why do children grow?” — built on developmental science, thinking frameworks, and the hard-won practice of 1,000+ children at NIJIN Academy.
A school built not on instinct,
but on science and practice.
Developmental science — Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Deci & Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory. A thinking framework — Isao Hosoya’s “concrete and abstract.” And layered on top, the multi-layered psychological safety and social co-creation that Tatsuro Hoshino built from the practice of 1,000+ children at NIJIN Academy. Together, they form NGA’s own education model.
The NGA education model at a glance
On a foundation of safety, the engines of growth turn, and learning travels back and forth.
All of it in service of “be yourself, make someone happy.”
Experience it (projects, international exchange) ⇄ reflect through dialogue ⇄ turn it into concept (classes) ⇄ use it in the world once more
You can’t reach it alone. But with the “scaffolding” of friends and teachers, you can — and in that zone, learning is maximized.
Autonomy, competence, relatedness. When all three are met, “made to” turns into “want to.”
One-on-one, eight, about a hundred, the whole school, society — each child chooses the “group size” and “way of relating” that feels safe.
① The child chooses
the group size and the way of relating.
“When it feels safe, you find yourself just doing it.” Challenge can only grow from a secure base. So NGA doesn’t entrust safety to a single classroom. We build five layers of different character, so each child can choose the group size and the way of relating that fits them that day. Stumble in one place, and another layer is always there to catch you.
| Group size | The setting | Ways to take part (examples) |
|---|---|---|
| One-on-one | Bilingual mentor / dedicated support A secure base where feelings that resist words can be heard in your mother tongue. |
Speak in your first language. On days when words won’t come, chat alone is fine. |
| Eight | Mixed-age class / class meeting A daily home where every voice reaches. |
Speak, listen, or share your view by chat — you choose how you join. |
| ~100 | Campus homeroom Designed to Dunbar’s number — the limit at which faces and names connect. |
Some days you help plan; some days just watching is enough. |
| Whole school | All-school homeroom A stage where challenges are shared and recognized. |
Tell it aloud, show it through your work, or present with slides — you choose how. |
| Society & world | Co-creation partners / international exchange The exit where learning connects to someone’s happiness. |
Coding, design, art — connect to the world through what you’ve made. |
Camera off, muted — taking part is still taking part. Start from whatever feels safe, and grow from there.
Chat, coding, design, art. Expression beyond words is proud “communication” too.
Children with selective mutism or tics aren’t left behind. Together, we find and pursue the way of communicating that’s truly yours.
Dunbar’s number — the upper limit of stable relationships a person can hold. NGA’s campus (an online school community) is designed around this size.
On days a class doesn’t fit, the one-on-one, the campus, and the whole school catch you. With several secure bases, you can take on challenges with confidence.
Bilingual mentor (for everyone) / dedicated 1-on-1 support (paid option, weekly) / homeroom teacher — the partner in each child’s “promise to be the agent of their own learning.”
② Keep the child standing
where “with support, I can.”
Vygotsky showed that learning is maximized in the zone between “what you can do alone” and “what you can’t do yet” — the zone you can reach with support (the ZPD). Every part of NGA’s design exists to keep children standing in that zone.
alone
Can’t do yetCan do with support (ZPD)← where learning happens most →
Choose a “just-right challenge” together with your homeroom teacher.
Every voice reaches. A friend’s question becomes your scaffold.
A friend a few steps ahead becomes the picture of “the next me.”
As you grow able, the scaffolding is removed, little by little.
③ Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
lights the fire of “I want to.”
According to Deci & Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, people move — not from rewards or punishments, but from an inner “I want to!” (intrinsic motivation) — when three needs are met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. NGA’s daily life is designed to meet all three, every day.
A timetable isn’t handed down; you design it yourself, in conversation with your homeroom teacher. Class matters are decided in class meetings. A pile of “choosing” experiences becomes the power to choose your own life.
Growth is visible through CEFR. Challenges are recognized in all-school homeroom presentations. Instead of ranking against others, you compare with yesterday’s self. “I did it!” becomes fuel for the next challenge.
Classes of 8, home PE three times a week, after-school clubs, international exchange. “Who you’re with matters more than what you do.” Knowing you have friends around the world gives both safety and aspiration.
In a psychologically safe, warm place, “made to” becomes “want to.”
Take a child who loves trains, or one who loves living things. How they memorize what they love, how they organize it, how they make it recallable, how they use it in daily life and work, and how they share it with friends — that “craft” is a transferable competency for life. Because it’s built from an inner “I want to!”, it doesn’t vanish when the test ends. Memorization, too, is one skill — acquired in a form that lives in the real world.
④ Travel between experience and concept,
and turn knowledge into a living skill.
Rather than soaking up knowledge and then using it, you turn it into concept as you use it. When highly abstract academic learning (classes) and highly concrete challenges in society (projects) complement each other, learning grows deeper, more transferable, and becomes a “power to live” that holds up in any era (Isao Hosoya, “concrete and abstract”).
Social co-creation projects (real challenges with companies and governments), international exchange, fieldwork.
Reflection journals, class meetings, 1-on-1s with a mentor — put the experience into words.
Elective classes, CEFR, and IGCSE learning crystallize experience into usable knowledge.
Presentations, all-school homeroom, and the next project take it back out into the world.
Memorize dates alone, and it’s “knowledge for the test.” But take on local and global challenges in a co-creation project, and you realize “history is a tool for reading the present.” Once you see its value, you want to learn more deeply.
Multiplication or factoring can feel like “what’s the point?” inside a classroom. The moment you handle sales or data in a project, it becomes “a language for explaining the world.” Learning turns into a usable skill.
This back-and-forth grows a transferable “power to live” that serves in any era.
⑤ Change the “soil,”
and the child becomes a hero.
Social co-creation isn’t education that changes the child. It’s education that changes the “soil and structure” in which the child is recognized (Tatsuro Hoshino, from NIJIN’s practice).
At NIJIN Academy, we’ve run entrepreneurship education co-created with companies like Panasonic and SoftBank. Children who at their old schools were told they belonged in “special-needs classes” drew on their coding skills and the rich imagination that comes with ASD to pitch new businesses in front of employees and build real apps with engineers.
Real challenges with companies and governments. A child’s strength becomes real value.
That child becomes the class superhero. The measuring stick changes.
“I can do it.” The felt sense of being recognized becomes the base for the next challenge.
A child who feels fulfilled can recognize others. Problem behavior naturally fades away.
That is social co-creation.
On top of the model stands the curriculum.
The education model is the “why.” The curriculum is the “what.” The timetable is the “when.” Every week at NGA is designed backward from this model.
| Theory | In practice at NGA |
|---|---|
| Multi-layered psychological safety Tatsuro Hoshino (practice) |
Class meetings / campus homeroom / all-school homeroom / bilingual mentors / dedicated 1-on-1 support (paid option) |
| ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) Vygotsky |
Classes of 8 / elective classes by CEFR level × content / a timetable decided with your homeroom teacher / mixed-age, multinational peers |
| SDT (Self-Determination Theory) Deci & Ryan |
Autonomy = elective classes & class meetings / competence = CEFR measurement & all-school presentations / relatedness = home PE (3×/week), international exchange, lunch cooking |
| Concrete–abstract movement Isao Hosoya |
Social co-creation projects (2×/week) ⇄ elective classes & reflection journals ⇄ presentations & all-school homeroom ⇄ school trips & fieldwork |
| Social co-creation Tatsuro Hoshino (practice) |
Real challenges “created together” with companies, governments, and NPOs (PBL 2×/week) / international exchange (monthly) / culture & sports festivals (in-person × metaverse) |
References: Vygotsky, L. S., “Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)” / Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M., “Self-Determination Theory (SDT)” / Isao Hosoya, Concrete and Abstract / “multi-layered psychological safety” and “social co-creation” = Tatsuro Hoshino (practice with 1,000+ children at NIJIN Academy). This page presents the thinking behind NGA’s educational design.
This model, put into practice,
is the “curriculum.”
Four layers of learning, and a timetable you design yourself. See how the model becomes everyday life.
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