The End of a Chapter: Spain, Pathways, and What Comes Next

What happens when the destination changes, but the mission stays the same

As I write this, our house is slowly filling with boxes.

The car is sold. Flights are booked. Plans are being finalized. In a few short weeks, our family will leave Spain and begin a new adventure in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

It feels like the right moment to pause and reflect.

Two years ago, we arrived in southern Spain with a dream. Part of that dream was personal: a chance to live in Europe, to raise our children in a different culture, and to become part of a progressive school community. Part of it was professional: the opportunity to explore whether The Pathways School, an idea that had been quietly forming for years, could become a reality.

Looking back now, I can honestly say the experience exceeded my expectations, even if it didn’t unfold exactly as I imagined.

Why Spain?

Spain had been calling to us for years.

I first visited while leading student trips from Hong Kong through Córdoba, Granada, Madrid, and Barcelona. Christina had her own connection to Spain through her travels and time studying flamenco in Granada. Over the years we returned several times, always feeling drawn back by the people, culture, climate, and pace of life.

After two years in Boston, the opportunity to join the Alma community felt like the right next step for our family.

At the same time, I saw a possible opening for something else.

For years I had carried around a vision of what a different kind of high school could look like. Not a rejection of traditional education, but an evolution of it. A school built around projects, real-world experiences, outdoor learning, metacognition, service, and purpose.

Spain felt like the place where that vision might finally take shape.

What We Found

What I remember most from these two years won’t be business plans or website designs.

It will be people.

From the moment we arrived, we were welcomed into a community that was remarkably open, generous, and supportive. Families invited us into their homes. We shared meals, camping trips, beach days, coffee mornings, long conversations, and countless moments of connection.

Moving to a new country can be lonely.

Spain never felt lonely.

Those relationships have been one of the greatest gifts of this chapter.

At the same time, Pathways began to evolve.

There were meetings and workshops. Discovery calls with families. Land searches. Sketches of learning spaces. Endless conversations about education, adolescence, and what young people need from schools today.

Some ideas became stronger.

Others changed entirely.

That process turned out to be one of the most valuable parts of the journey.

What I Learned

One of the biggest surprises was how receptive people were to the ideas behind Pathways.

Again and again, parents expressed a desire for something more connected, more meaningful, and more relevant to the world their children are growing up in. Not less academic, but differently academic. Learning that feels purposeful rather than performative.

Working directly with students at Alma reinforced many of the things I already believed.

Projects work.

Students rise when given responsibility.

Relationships matter.

And metacognition—the simple act of helping students understand how they learn, think, struggle, adapt, and grow—may be one of the most important skills we can teach.

I watched students reflect on their own thinking, tackle unfamiliar challenges, collaborate with others, and develop confidence in ways that traditional assessment often struggles to capture.

Those experiences strengthened my belief that education must be about more than content knowledge.

The future will belong to people who can learn, adapt, solve problems, work with others, and navigate uncertainty.

Those skills deserve a more central place in education.

I also learned something about myself.

For years I have been planning, designing, refining, and imagining.

What Spain taught me is that eventually you have to stop planning and start building.

Ideas become clearer through action.

The next chapter will involve a lot more doing.

The Evolution of Pathways

When I arrived in Spain, I thought Pathways was a school.

Today, I think it is something larger than that.

It is a set of questions.

How do we help young people become capable, curious, and grounded?

How do we prepare them for a future that none of us can fully predict?

How do we create learning experiences that are rigorous, meaningful, and connected to the real world?

A school may still be one answer.

But it is no longer the only answer.

Pathways could take the form of a learning hub, a field school, a service-learning programme, a project-based learning community, or something entirely new that has not yet revealed itself.

What matters is not the structure.

What matters is the mission.

If I’m honest, there was a period when I thought this story would end with the opening of a high school in southern Spain.

It hasn’t.

For a while, that felt like the goal. Looking back now, I realize it was only one possible expression of the deeper mission behind Pathways.

What emerged instead was something perhaps even more valuable: clarity.

A clearer understanding of what matters.

A clearer understanding of what young people need.

And a clearer understanding of the work I feel called to do.

The destination changed, but the mission stayed the same.

Looking Ahead to Chiang Mai

The move to Thailand feels less like starting over and more like continuing the journey.

Asia has always held a special place in our hearts. I spent fifteen years living and working in Hong Kong and two years in Indonesia. Christina’s family is in Hong Kong. Many of our closest friends remain scattered across the region.

In many ways, it feels like coming home.

Chiang Mai is particularly exciting because it sits at the crossroads of many of the ideas that have shaped Pathways over the past two years. It has a thriving international community, a strong worldschooling movement, opportunities for environmental and service learning, and access to cultures, communities, and projects that can become powerful learning experiences.

For the next year, our family will be living a version of field school life.

We will travel. Explore. Volunteer. Learn. Build projects. Meet people. Spend time outdoors. Ask questions.

And, as always, remain curious.

I suspect Pathways will continue to evolve there, just as it evolved here.

Gratitude

Before closing this chapter, I want to thank everyone who has followed along.

Thank you to those who subscribed to the blog, joined conversations, attended coffee mornings, shared posts, offered encouragement, challenged assumptions, and helped refine the vision.

Thank you to the families who trusted me with their ideas, hopes, concerns, and dreams for their children.

Thank you to the friends who reminded me that meaningful work takes time.

And thank you to everyone who quietly followed along from the sidelines.

Your support mattered more than you know.

Pathways began as a school.

Today I think of it more as a question:

How do we help young people live meaningful, capable, curious lives in a rapidly changing world?

That is a question I will continue exploring wherever we happen to be.

Spain has been a remarkable chapter.

Now it’s time to begin the next one.

See you in Chiang Mai.

Warmly,

Rob

#thepathwaysschool

About Rob & Pathways

Rob Wilson is an educator, writer, and father of two with more than 25 years of experience in international, progressive, and experiential education. Originally from rural Maine, his journey has taken him through Hong Kong, Indonesia, Boston, Spain, and now Southeast Asia, always guided by a simple question:

How do we help young people learn in ways that are meaningful, purposeful, and prepare them for an uncertain future?

Pathways is an ongoing exploration of that question.

What began as a vision for a progressive high school has evolved into a broader journey focused on project-based learning, metacognition, service, outdoor education, and helping young people develop the skills, mindsets, and habits needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Through this blog, Rob shares reflections on education, parenting, learning, travel, and the continuing evolution of Pathways as his family begins its next chapter in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

If these ideas resonate with you, follow along. The journey is just beginning.