Making Innovation Flourish

If students were in charge of the curriculum...

In our next essay on equipping young people for a rapidly changing world, academic Bill Law refers to a recent piece of blue-skies work commissioned by QCA which recommends having slots when the timetable is put aside so that students and teachers can work together on topics of shared interest. In this ‘set aside’ time, academic and wellbeing specialists can work with motivated students on the ‘knowing how’ as well as the (more traditional) ‘knowing what’.

Allowing students to shape their own learning in this way has the potential to help them develop their capacity for decision-making, critical thinking, risk-taking and enquiry skills. It is also likely to make their learning much more relevant to their current lives and interests. As Bill says, we need to ensure that “learning reminds students of their lives and, conversely, that their lives remind them of learning”.

But if the students were in charge of the curriculum, what would they study? And would their choices help to prepare them for a rapidly changing world?

As always, I’m keen to hear your thoughts.

Making Connections

In the latest essay from our series on how to equip young people for a rapidly changing world, entrepreneur Ben Way argues that making connections is key. He notes “the challenge is to learn from the theory and make it work in reality. One way to do this is by ensuring children have more exposure to the real world at a younger age. They should spend time in businesses and the workplace to see what the world is really like.”

This view echoes current policy thinking and Government initiatives, such as the 14-19 reforms (including the introduction of the Diplomas, the review of the Framework for Career and Work-Related Learning 11-19, and Enterprise Education).

Ben’s essay raises a number of questions. In particular, what types of ‘real-life’ experiences encourage young people to develop the skills and attitudes necessary to succeed in the future? How do we ensure that the experiences provided are relevant, and encourage learning and reflection? In what ways can the system facilitate effective connections between young people and employers?

We are developing a strand of work that is exploring these questions. We believe that for young people to appreciate the challenges and opportunities that the future world of work will present, they need to become familiar with the ever-increasing variety of careers, ways of working and emerging sectors of the economy.

Working closely with the DCSF, we are developing projects that will test how to deliver work-related learning in a way that will provide this. To inform these pilots, we have commissioned some studies to examine how businesses in the creative industries, the third sector and rural economy can become more engaged in education in a way that will be mutually beneficial.

Another approach to making connections is through interdisciplinarity. The world of work is not compartmentalised into subjects, so why does the education system encourage young people to learn in this way? There are a number of projects attempting to address this. For instance, the Young Foundation’s Studio School programme aims to teach the National Curriculum through interdisciplinary, enterprise-themed projects with a strong focus on practical work and enterprise. NESTA’s Crucible programme offers early-stage researchers an opportunity to develop new collaborations across disciplines. Can such a programme be adapted for young people?

As always, I welcome your views on this and, in particular, on what is the most effective way of linking theory and practice to ensure that young people succeed in the future.

Preparing for the Future: preparing for the long-term by embracing the short-term

Young people do not seem to be under any illusions that the future working environment is going to be tough and that a job for life is no more.  This is borne out in research that we commissioned on young people’s perceptions of the future world of work and is also confirmed in our latest essay on how to equip young people for a rapidly changing world. 

In this article, 17-year-old Phil Croft argues that the future workplace is likely to be based on short-term contracts.  He puts forward some interesting suggestions for helping young people deal with this - from encouraging greater adaptability in students to facilitating more project-based work in schools.

For some students, more of an emphasis on applying their knowledge, rather than just acquiring it, is likely to improve their motivation for learning. Where the project-based learning is grounded in real challenges and dilemmas facing organisations, both learners and organisations can benefit.

We are working with Space Unlimited, a group that facilitates groups of young people to work on a particular problem posed by a company.  Space Unlimited has found that their programme provides skills development for the participating students and fresh insights for the companies.

Of course, I’m mindful that such schemes require time and resources to broker but surely the benefits outweigh this.  What do you think?

Preparing for the Future: A Generation of Mentees

Luke Skywalker knew how to be a good mentee and as a result, the whole universe was at his fingertips…..

In the second of our series on preparing young people for a rapidly changing world, entrepreneur Tom Hadfield highlights the importance of mentoring.

Tom argues that “the art of how to ask for advice from mentors, how to distil the key lessons and how to apply them to our own lives is one of the best kept secrets in education”.

This is a refreshingly novel idea. Effective mentoring benefits all parties involved. For the mentor, it provides a personal development opportunity. For young people, it encourages them to seek advice and guidance, and, as Richard Reeves argues in last week’s essay, to continually question. A successful mentoring relationship can provide young people with some of the skills likely to be needed to succeed in the future workplace, such as confidence, enquiry skills, reflection and flexibility.

Is the current education system the right environment for successful mentoring relationships to develop? Much support is given to training the mentor. But how do we support young people to ask the right questions in a environment which focuses on knowing the right answers? As always, I am keen to hear your views.

Preparing for the Future

It’s difficult to prepare for something that is uncertain, unclear and unpredictable.  But that is precisely what our education system is tasked with doing as it strives to equip young people with the skills and knowledge needed for a rapidly changing world. 

We have just posted on our website the first of a series of essays that provides different viewpoints on this theme.  It’s from Richard Reeves, the commentator on the future workplace. 

Richard argues that the debate on the merits of academic qualifications over vocational learning misses the point. Instead he asserts that what is important is that young people are supported in developing the characteristics and attitudes necessary to support lifelong learning. 

Research that we commissioned found that young people concur with this view believing that their own passion, motivation and personal attributes will be more important in helping them pursue the career of their choice than qualifications.

We will be posting one of these essays every week on our website and we welcome your ideas on this subject. 

A recurring theme in these articles is how different the workplace of the future will be and how the nature of work itself is altering.  This, together with globalisation, demographic shifts, and challenges such as environmental sustainability, means that the demands on today’s young people will be very high. 

I can’t help agreeing with the French philosopher Paul Valery when he declared “The future isn’t what it used to be.”

So how do you best prepare young people for this?  I’m keen to hear your views.