Who it is

About the organisation The academy’s origin, beliefs and purpose.
Why this work exists The conditions the work is built to change.
How the work is funded The sources that pay for the work, and what the model aims to become.
What it runs

The DreamSpace Lifecycle How a changemaker goes from a local problem to an impact venture, and the support along the way.
Venture pathway The Lifecycle for changemakers who take the venture route.
Labs & research Capabilities and communities of practice that run in many places.
Ventures & incubation How a tested solution becomes a venture.
How it checks

Theory of change How the work is meant to produce the result.
Impact & the global goals The Sustainable Development Goals the work carries.
Measurement How the model finds out whether it works.
Start here Theory of change How the work is expected to lead to change, where the evidence is strongest, and a grade on every claim. Read more

Who DreamSpace Academy is, why the work exists and how it is meant to change things.
Site overview
What it teaches

Programmes and domains What the academy teaches, then the domains of the STEAM programmes and the levels of a course.
Innovation & enterprise The enterprise strand inside the STEAM programmes, from the first stage.
How the STEAM programmes work

Learning by making How the STEAM programmes connect knowledge, making, reflection and action.
Facilitation How teaching is sequenced, and what a trainer and facilitator do.
The Changemaker Journey How a learner in the STEAM programmes moves from exploring to changing their community.
Assessment Completed work, explanation and reflection, judged against one standard.
Start here More than the STEAM programmes The STEAM programmes are one part of what the academy teaches. It also runs business and entrepreneurship, digital security and teacher training. Read more

The STEAM programmes are one part of what DreamSpace Academy teaches. Most pages here describe the STEAM programmes.
Site overview
The product

The model A community makerspace built to be replicated.
Replication How one working makerspace becomes many.
In short Who provides what The local partner provides the space and pays for the unit. DreamSpace Academy provides the design, the standard and a licence to run its programmes. Read more

A replicable makerspace that local partners set up as a social franchise, with a licence to run the academy’s programmes.
Site overview
Read

Articles Short explanations, and reviews of the terms the work is built on.
Questions Answers for parents, learners, schools, donors and partners.
Look up

Site overview Every page of this reference, with what each one covers.
Glossary Every term used in a specific sense, and what it excludes.
References The published works and statistics behind the system.
Records

Activities Every recorded activity, dated, one page each.
The record Activities since 2018 Every activity DreamSpace Academy has recorded, dated, with one page each. Read more

Questions, activity records, articles, terms and the sources behind them.
Site overview

Visit, 2025

UNICEF Chief of Education visits

Erin Tanner, Chief of Education at UNICEF Sri Lanka, spent a day at the academy.

When: 21 March 2025
Where: Batticaloa
Format: Partner visit
With: UNICEF Sri Lanka

Erin Tanner, Chief of Education at UNICEF Sri Lanka, visited on 21 March 2025. She toured the workshop floor, met the team, and looked at how the academy runs challenge-based learning and grassroots innovation.

UNICEF’s own pillars for technology used with children (safety first, a demonstrated effect on learning, designed for children, accessible and equitable) are one of the two external standards the academy’s measurement framework is built against.

No agreement followed from the visit, and none is claimed.

Images

UNICEF Chief of Education visits, Batticaloa, 2025-03-21.

All activities