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THE RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2022
An education conference with a difference
All the content from the online rethinkingED conference is now free to access!
Below, you will find 88 incredible videos by mainstream and alternative educators, parents/carers, young people, homeschoolers, unschoolers...
United by the belief that we need to change the way we educate young people - and by a shared desire to be a part of that change.
Welcome assembly: James Mannion *
Final assembly: 'Hot takes' *
* Assemblies and face-to-face keynotes filmed by Nick Corston (STEAM Co)
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
"There is hope! Honestly I have so many take-aways. Hearing Lox’s message was incredibly powerful for me. It was simply incredibly empowering to be surrounded by so many like minded people. I can’t wait to get stuck in to some of the videos."
(Gemma)
KN
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
ADAM BOXER
In defence of traditionalism
Adam considers himself a traditional teacher. There are a number of things that Adam believes which are perhaps out of step with most people attending or speaking at the Rethinking Education Conference. In this talk Adam will go over a number of points of contention and controversy around hot-button issues like behaviour, curriculum and student autonomy.
DEBRA KIDD
A curriculum of hope
What might a curriculum that was as rich in humanity as in knowledge look like in practice? In this keynote, Dr Debra Kidd will explore the five key pillars of a Curriculum of Hope, and how they can be utilised in the classroom to create agentive, connected learners who are rooted in and contributing to their communities.
GUY CLAXTON
The archaeology of education
The way schools work today reflects a mish-mash of precedents and assumptions – and it isn’t working: not for the ‘forgotten third’ destined to be educational failures, nor for the exam successes who can’t self-organise or think independently when they get to uni (because thinking and organising have always been done for them). The question is: how deep do we have to dig to find the root causes of school’s failure and the seeds of a better model? What are the real reasons why most schools are not conducive to deeper learning? In this conversation, Guy Claxton and James Mannion discuss the need to revive the radical critiques of the 1970s – Ivan Illich, John Holt, and many others – which are now more urgent and pertinent than ever.
KATH MURDOCH
The power of inquiry
The learning landscape of a classroom is rich in diversity. Each learner brings their unique story to the group, creating a ‘human library’ of sorts. Young learners tell us over and over again that they long to have opportunities to both discover, investigate and share the things they care deeply about. And they have the right to do so! In this video presentation Kath will share some of the insights, impacts and challenges arising from a decade of exploring personal inquiry with children and their teachers.
KULVARN ATWAL
A dynamic learning community
In my session, I will share the findings of my doctoral research and discuss the implementation of key strategies to enable the development of a dynamic and expansive professional learning community for all staff and students within a school.
MEENA KUMARI WOOD
Empowering students
Looking to the future, how do we ensure that students have the skills set to become independent reflective learners? This session will explore how we can change the paradigm and shift to a system where students lead their own learning. All students have the potential to make progress from their starting points and to lead their own learning. As educators, we can – and should – provide the curriculum and assessment to enable this to happen. This talk will explain how.
NAHEEDA MAHARASINGAM
Education and social justice
In this session I will share how the 3 Ms (metacognition, moral purpose, malleable intelligence) frame and drive our approach to disrupting, interrupting and transforming entrenched trajectories for marginalised groups of pupils.
NAOMI FISHER
The side-effects of school
As a clinical psychologist, each day brings me more requests from parents, asking for help for their children. Distress, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of learning and an ongoing sense that their voices don’t matter. These unwanted effects are located in the young people and their parents, and so rather than addressing the root cause, the government has introduced fines and punishments for those who don’t comply. We need to take side effects seriously. We can’t ignore them just because we’d prefer that they weren’t happening.
SARAH-JAYNE BLAKEMORE
GCSEs vs neuroscience
Adolescence is a unique stage of development when our bodies, hormones, and social environment are rapidly changing, the brain is developing and cognitive capacities become more sophisticated. This is the period of life during which young people are given more autonomy and responsibility to explore their environments, forge peer relationships and develop their self-identity. At the same time, young people in the UK are expected to sit multiple high stakes exams in the form of GCSEs or equivalent. There is mounting evidence of reduced well-being and increased anxiety and depression among those in their mid-teens, with exam stress and fear of failure being commonly cited anxieties. Given this evidence, Sarah-Jayne argues that now is the time to reconsider the utility of GCSEs at age 16.
SIR TIM BRIGHOUSE
Resetting the system
Sir Tim Brighouse argues that there have been two distinctly different ages affecting the English Schooling system – one of ‘optimism and trust’ and the second (which we are still in) of ‘markets, centralisation and managerialism’. He will argue that there are clear signs that we are moving into a new age of ‘ambition, hope and collaborative partnerships’. That will only be achieved however if certain key reforms are implemented to remove ‘failure-inducing practices’ from the system. In conversation with James Mannion.
YUMNA HUSSEN
Empowering young people
My session is about young people playing a major role within the education system, and having ownership over what they learn, how they learn and when they learn it. In this interactive presentation, we will consider how the system is configured currently, my lived experience as a young person within the education system, and some solutions that I feel are needed to give young people more voice and more choice within the education system.
SPEAKERS A-Z
A-Z
ADRIAN BETHUNE
Happiness is the meaning of school
This talk by teacher and award-winning author, Adrian Bethune, will argue that the purpose of education should be to improve the happiness and wellbeing of pupils now and in the future. Adrian will share insights from the science of wellbeing and show how schools can be at the epicentre of societal change, creating a healthier, happier, more caring and sustainable society.
ADRIAN LYONS
Getting Ready For Work
Adrian Lyons, an HMI for over 16 years, was Ofsted’s national lead for business and enterprise and led a major survey around enterprise education in secondary school, evaluating how well schools prepare young people for the world of work. In this session, Adrian will argue that preparation for work should not be the only goal of an education system, but it should certainly be part of it.
ALEX BLACK
The power of cognitive conflict
The concept of Epistemic Inquiry was inspired by and is a fusion of the lesson methodology of Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) and the ideas of Derek Hodson (2014).
ANDREW SPEIGHT
A culture of well-being
The presentation will serve as a rallying call to action for a significant cultural shift within schools towards a culture of wellbeing; one wherein students are encouraged to always put their mental health first and are taught to hold rest in equal regard to work. We need to give young people & teachers the dignity of a healthy work-life balance, so that no one in education is under the ridiculous amounts of pressure they are now.
ANGELA QUINONES-TERAN
Coaching one teacher at a time
Coaching has been around for decades. It has been proven as an effective tool to improve people’s lives, confidence, skills and ways to move forward. But what happens when coaching is adopted in schools not as a method or tool, but as a culture? I will talk about the relevance and positive impact of introducing a coaching culture in schools – not only for students, but also for teachers and headteachers.
ANGELICA CELINSKA
The importance of early years
Where does learning begin? Join me in exploring what the foundations of all learning and development are, how we can ensure children have the best grounding in their education and what the implications are of not prioritising the early years. If we want to encourage the younger generations to be forward thinking, innovative, open-minded, critical and curious, we need to start to build up these values, skills and attributes from the very beginning.
BARB & SARAH (KOROWAL SCHOOL)
The power of open dialogue
What happens when you bring the social network around a student together to talk without an agenda and ask ‘What is important for us to talk about today?’ We will present an overview of ‘Open Dialogue’, explaining what led us to adopt this approach and how we have adapted it in a school setting. We will hear from students, families, teachers and health practitioners who have participated within these network meetings, and share the findings of recent research undertaken at our school – warts and all.
BEA STEVENSON
Parent-child relationships
We know that a parent’s support for their child’s education matters (Sylva et al 2010) but what does this look like in practice, whether at home or in partnership with school? In this exploratory workshop we will think about what we mean by the ‘home learning environment’ and the ways in which the relationships in our family can provide the foundation for good emotional and mental health.
BECKY CARLZON
Building an online community
In this workshop you will learn 5 essential elements of building a successful online learning community so you can connect and learn with educators across the globe to collectively learn and deepen your practice in your educational special area of interest.
CARMEL KENT
Excluding parents
In this talk, I will raise the suggestion that our schooling system is designed to exclude parents and carers from their children’s education. I will encourage us to reflect on whether this design choice was made in support of our children’s education or for other economic or political ends.
CATRINEL IONITA
Practising compassion explicitly
This workshop invites participants to tap into the resourcefulness of their mindsight, practising non-violent communication that fosters understanding and change at individual and relational level, turning education environments into safe spaces for learning.
CHUN ZHANG & DANICA GOYENS-WARD
Nurturing mental health
This presentation will share an innovative approach for preventing school failure and promoting students’ academic success and social and emotional well-being for students, teachers, and families. This approach engages all key stakeholders and provides comprehensive support using a preventive and supportive approach. The presentation will highlight this innovative model in NYC, its success and lessons learned.
CLAIRE BADGER
Developing learning dispositions
It is increasingly recognised that the learning dispositions required for young people to thrive in their future careers are not effectively developed through a narrow focus on academic qualifications. In this session, I will outline how our ‘in-house internships’ programme has been designed to develop broader skills and attributes.
DARREN ABRAHAMS
Co-regulated learning
An introduction to Human Hive Education, an exciting and adaptive approach to teaching and learning; it’s human-centred, collaborative, and self-directed, putting psychosocial wellbeing at the heart of every educational experience.
DAVID DIXON
Leadership for sustainability
Based on my recent book, this session will explore why we need leaders for sustainability in schools and how this relates to real ‘School Improvement’. It necessitates new perspectives on the role of education so that schools cease to be part of the Business As Usual agenda.
ELIZA FRICKER
"I don't want to go to school"
A presentation about a mother’s journey navigating the education system and everyday life with a child who can’t go to school. Using Eliza Fricker’s wry and detailed illustrations, this talk provides insight to both parents and professionals wanting to hear the story and experiences from the author of Missing The Mark.
ELLA REYNOLDS
Interdisciplinary learning
This webinar explores the importance of interdisciplinary (ID) learning within our education system. In a world faced by ever more complex problems, it's never been more important to find new ways of thinking and doing. This session will explore three reasons why we think we need ID learning at a school level and the work we have been doing at the London Interdisciplinary School (LIS) to better prepare our undergraduates for the world of work.
EMILY DOE
Movement in educational spaces
This inspiring talk considers the benefits of being able to move naturally within a learning environment. We will explore how to create environments for students and teachers which give permission for more natural physical movement within schools and other educational settings. We will discuss the importance of movement for wellbeing and the implications for learning, informed consent and healthy development.
EVA HARTELL
Comparative judgement
Comparative judgement has risen as an alternative assessment method for assessing competences and performances. This process results in a collective professional consensus with high reliability and can be facilitated by digital tools providing promising results on how to facilitate increased affordances for teachers’ assessment practices to improve learning. This session provides an overview of comparative judgement and how it can be applied to providing peer assessment for students and teachers alike.
GEOFF, FAITH & TRE
Bringing literacy to the community
GEOFF VAUGHAN, FAITH BORKOWSKY & TRE HADRICK* - In 2021, a small group of committed community pioneers in Pennsylvania gathered to study a ground-breaking work about early literacy awareness. Based on these conversations, we embarked on opening the very first decodable bookshop based in a barbershop in the US. The GPS Pathways to Learning team (Faith Borkowsky, Tre Hadrick and Geoff Vaughan) will talk about the work we have initiated and how this can be replicated in any community around the world.
HEIDI STEEL
Mapping personal learning journeys
Using practical tools to guide parents and educators through mapping children’s learning. This technique is ideal for those who direct their own learning and is suitable for any age and stage as a way of recording interests, and pathways when reflecting on a child’s education.
HELEN WITTY
Neurodivergent super teachers
This session will break down what it means to be neurodivergent and how neurodivergent people make wonderful teachers, through the innate skills and emotional intelligence we possess as well as many other traits and characteristics. It will focus on how we are able to give holistic support to children and young people, empathising and acting as role models. We will discuss what inclusive schools need to do to support neurodivergent students AND staff, and what happened to me when I removed my ‘mask’.
HUMAN RESTORATION PROJECT
Human centered education
This session will make the evidence-based case for a grassroots progressive revolution in education, rooted in empowering individual educators through teacher action research and creative noncompliance while developing a toolkit for understanding and organising sustained, systemic change.
IAN CUNNINGHAM
LEARNING. To save our planet.
If we are to tackle issues such as climate change, social problems (eg the loneliness epidemic), physical health issues (eg obesity) etc, etc. people (individually and collectively) need to learn better. And education, as currently institutionalised, is part of the problem not part of the solution.
JAMES MANNION
A shared vision of the future?
To rethink education, we need two things: a critique and a vision. The critique part is easy enough. But coming up with a shared vision of the future – a vision that goes beyond simply fixing the problems we currently face – is no mean feat. Over the last year, members of the Rethinking Education Mighty Network – an online community of over 700 people from all over the world – has been meeting monthly to take on this task. In this practical workshop, James will share what we’ve come up with so far – and invite you to join us in the task of establishing a positive vision of the future that we can all get behind. Let’s get together and think it through!
JOEL NEELAMKAVIL & HAMZA SHAHBAZ
Fixing OFSTED
A presentation by a group of youth researchers, about how the current OFSTED inspection framework is insufficient. Our presentation includes finding from our own research, and our proposal for an alternative inspection framework. The final draft, and a documentary film, can be found at https://www.statesofmind.org/breaking-the-silence.
JON THORNE
Overcoming unconscious bias
What happens when a dyslexic ADHD dad spends 13 years home educating his two sons – one with ADHD and other with dyslexia? They find the unconscious bias that stops us reimagining education. If we want to reimagine education we will need to confront this unconscious bias.
JYOTI IMIX
Agile learning centres
What happens when consent is the foundation of learning experiences for children? This talk will introduce the key concepts of Agile Learning Centres and tools that can be adopted in any setting with kids to enable their participation. In this talk, we will dive into ways that we can support children’s autonomy and why we really need to. Following the session, participants will gain insight into methods which enable children’s participation that can be adapted to suit any setting.
KATE ANSTEY
Pupils' perspectives on poverty
Based on action-research carried out with pupils, parents and school staff through Child Poverty Action Group and Children North East’s UK Cost of the School Day project, this session will explore how schools can change policies and practices to be more inclusive for those experiencing poverty.
KATE CAIRNS
Reducing barriers to learning
Every child, and every family, is located in a human ecological system: Family and friends, community services, organisations and networks, wider society. The session looks at the neuroscience of stress and trauma and focuses on the power of connection to counterbalance adversity.
KATE McALLISTER
Human-centred education
Sharing our experiences working in Lewisham schools exploring inclusion, diversity and equality. The aim has been for young people to make sense of their individual and collective past and present through understanding their identity, how they relate to others and others relate to them, through dialogue.
KATH LANE
The Sustainability Compass
In this workshop we will discuss sustainability and how the Sustainability Compass, a simple systems thinking tool, can support us to embrace complexity and have conversations across the whole community about shaping a better world. The Compass is a powerful and versatile thinking tool which emphasises interconnectivity and supports us to think critically and deeply about any topic.
KATIE JONES
Parent Power
Parent Power is a programme that trains and supports parents to campaign on issues of educational inequality impacting their local community. In this session we will be hearing directly from participating parents, as well as looking to the evidence to understand the wider impact on parents, children and local communities.
KAVIN WADHAR
Little things parents can do
Children spend only 20% of their time at school. The role of parents at home is massively influential in raising confident, thoughtful and well-rounded children. This workshop will show how Little conversations at home can make a Big difference to life outcomes. Bring your speaking voices to practice in small groups!
KEVIN HEWITSON
Preparing learning heroes
The session will start by making the case for the Learning Hero. The concept of a learning hero is one I have adapted for learning from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Like Campbell’s hero, our Learning Hero sets off on a challenge using what they already know to take on a quest from which they will return with new knowledge and understanding.
LAURA KERBEY
Education Other Than At School
What is EOTAS?
Who benefits from EOTAS programmes?
What would an EOTAS programme look like?
Why is EOTAS so beneficial for neurodivergent children?
What are some of the challenges of EOTAS?
This session would be beneficial for parents and educational professionals alike.
LAUREN, MADDI, SARAH & SARAH
Learning during Covid-19
AUREN BAGGLEY, MADDI POPOOLA, SARAH SIVERS & SARAH WENDLAND* - In this session, we will share the findings of a research project exploring the experiences of children and young people during the Covid-19 pandemic. As well as sharing the themes which emerged from the research, we will outline how we used psychological theories to understand what the children and young people shared with us. We will also share the questions we generated about how to guide positive change and innovation in education.
LEAH BODEN
Charlotte Mason / Homeschooling
Charlotte Mason was a revolutionary British educationalist in the late 19th century, who stood on the shoulders of giants and pioneered a new way for children to learn. The early 1980s saw a resurgence of her work within the American homeschooling movement, and this has since spread all around the world. In this session, we will explore what makes Mason’s philosophy a stand-out movement that is still relevant today, as well as offering tools to implement her methods in the classroom or at home.
LEAH CRAWFORD & MICHAEL WALSH
Let’s Think in English
Let’s Think in English (LTE) is a teaching programme for ages 5-16 which helps young people develop the reasoning skills needed for success in English and more widely in education and life. LTE is based on 30 years’ research at King’s College London which shows that structured development of pupils’ cognitive skills raises their attainment, agency and self efficacy. Leah Crawford and Michael Walsh will introduce the theory behind LTE and will share the impact of the programme on teachers’ and students’ enjoyment, confidence and skills.
LEWIS WEDLOCK
Young people's perspectives
The education space is a microcosm of wider culture. It is the arena in which cultural ideas and ideals become internalised within a young person’s framing of the world. This presentation explores observations from working in secondary and higher education, and how these observations can be utilised to inform a richer, more representative learning experience for all young people.
LOUISE AUKLAND
Early brain development
Science shows us that the first years of life have a lasting impact on long-term learning, health, and wellbeing. So why don’t we teach the knowledge and skills that could help promote healthy brain development in the early years? This session will describe the SEEN programme, designed to support schools in making this change.
LOX PRATT
Walking on the Moon
With an extraordinary soundscape of beats, Lox (10) and Kath will explore how self directed projects explode from small sparks of inspiration – and we have lots of sparks in this workshop! Taking the example of moonwalking, Lox will challenge your brain and body to deeply connect and ignite your inner dancer.
LUCY STEPHENS & TOM OBERST
Setting up a democratic school
Setting up a brand new non-fee-paying democratic school… Without statutory funding… With a collaborative decision-making structure and a team who had never met each other… In the middle of a pandemic… With one year to get through OFSTED… is possibly the definition of madness. Nearly two years down the line we’ll give you a little insight into our journey; the highs, lows and grey hairs. The bits we got right, the bits we didn’t, and the endless questions that we’re still figuring out.
MADELEINE HOLT
The parent knack
Parents are traditionally eyed with suspicion by the English teaching profession – but it’s missing a trick. When you get it right, parents can build your school roll and massively improve the wellbeing and learning of all students. The session will look at groundbreaking ways in which parents can help schools, with reference to the pioneering Meet the Parents project founded by the speaker.
MANDALA BARAB
Rethinking feedback
In classrooms around the world, students continue to sit in rows and work independently, but that’s certainly not what work looks like today. How can we possibly prepare students for tomorrow, using pedagogies from the past? What if instead, using digital technology, schools could harness new methods that maximise engagement, metacognition, collaboration and feedback, to accelerate student learning and bypass the flaws of the old system?
MARIA GORSKA-SAJ
Unravelling the fear reflex
Alexander Technique introductory workshop. A practical session with body mapping, games and discussions about how we perceive thinking and how it relates to our bodies. The Alexander Technique is a technique about ‘how to do what we do’, so essentially it is about movement, perception and learning.
MARK GOODWIN
Don’t judge a book by its cover
In this session, Mark will share five approaches to teaching and learning and behaviour management that any teacher can use to engage disconnected young people, known as the 5 B’s: Be There; Be You; Be Better; Bend It; Badge Less. He will draw on individual case studies, including the voices of young people, and a wide experience of school behaviour policy and current research and recommendations to deliver an engaging and practical training session.
NEIL MERCER
Oracy across the curriculum
A conversation with the National Association of Primary Education about how to implement oracy across the curriculum
NICOLA LEYLAND
Homeschooling and empowerment
In 2013, my son (then 8 years old) had an accident resulting in a brain injury. After a stilted return to school, he had a psychological breakdown. My pleas for help during this incredibly difficult time went unheard. Devastated, angry and overwhelmed, I removed my son in September 2014 and home educated him for the next 7 years. This was a painful but ultimately positive and successful endeavour. I will discuss how it is important to trust the child, to lower stress and demands to a level the child can cope with, to tune into your own intuition, and to be careful who you listen to.
NIKKI LEVITAN & MAX GIRARDEAU
Voices from the ecosystem
In this session, Max and Nikki from The Visionaries will host a talking circle of diverse voices from within the educational ecosystem. We’ll learn from one another and collectively explore what is at the heart of the future of education. Like nature, we can grow through embracing and intentionally leaning into our diversity…
ORTAL GREEN
Design Thinking
Our current education system is not providing students with the learning environment they need. But we can adopt a new approach to learning and teaching, which provides our children with what they need to become well-rounded, resilient, successful, and innovative people. Join this session to learn about Design Thinking – a transformational pedagogy for developing confident, successful, well-rounded people.
PAUL HOPKINS
Facing the future
This session will be a chance to consider a future world where online and face-to-face education are more hybrid and blended – where technology allows more personalised and bespoke access to “learning pathways”. It would look at solutions that are rooted in pedagogic not technological solutions. Technology is not going away and the young people we are engaging in learning are technologically aware and expectant – these are things to be embraced and shaped not ignored.
PAUL TURNER
How to embed sustainability
This session will explore the ‘Ministry of Eco Education’ curriculum which brings together the best resources from more than 160 charities and organisations into one free and cohesive curriculum. The curriculum provides every child with the climate and nature education young people need.
PENNY HAY
Spaces of Possibility
House of Imagination offers an alternative, creative approach to learning and researching experimental sites for pedagogical innovation. We engage artists, researchers and educators in creative and reflective practice that places creativity, compassion and wellbeing at the heart of a future pedagogy – prioritising freedom, agency, creativity and imagination. This session will explore a re-imagined educational alternative for more hopeful and creative futures.
PENNY RABIGER
Governance by enquiry
School governance is complex and ever-changing. Governors often find themselves struggling to understand how they can be strategic, have an impact on the school and steer clear of operational mission-creep. Here is a way to organise your governance that will maintain interest and impact, and will ensure that governance is dynamic during meetings. Attendees will learn about the concept of governance by enquiry, will consider the structures and routines of their own governing board, and will explore how they might initiate their board’s first governance enquiry.
RACHEL RATCLIFFE
Let’s talk about oracy
This session will explore the benefits of a high-quality oracy education and discuss research, real life experiences and practical strategies from classrooms up and down the country and practitioners that are embracing the benefits of teaching oracy explicitly to their students.
RAFAEL ALLEYNE
Equity, diversity and inclusion
The session will describe the phases that the London Screen Academy went through during an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) reboot. EDI is a part of the School Development Plan and it is entwined in the school’s ambitious mission and vision. The key for the group who lead this area, The Ethnicity Inclusion Committee (EIC), is to ensure that they don’t move too fast for purpose, or indulge in tokenistic activities for the wider school community. The EIC works with students, staff and industry to influence curriculum, policy and community life.
REBECCA BAWLER
Rethinking education in Wales
An overview of the overhaul of the national curriculum in Wales which will begin in September 2022 and has stemmed from years of planning and preparation. Can the promise of a school-based, bespoke curriculum focusing on Knowledge, Skills and Experiences come to fruition and really impact the way we teach our young people in mainstream education? Or will the reality fall short?
REBECCA RUSSON & AMAAN SAQLAIN
The importance of vocational subjects
REBECCA RUSSON, AMAAN SAQLAIN & FAYIZA ISLAM - Many young people nowadays who are less academic are getting forced to sit exams and end up failing. The harsh truth is that it’s the government’s fault for building an education system that only caters for people who are ‘smart’ in school, and is rooted in classism and discrimination. In this session, we will share our own research and personal lived experience to discuss the importance of vocational subjects as a way to enable all young people to succeed.
REBECCA THOMAS & STEVE SAVILLE
Engage your learning voices
Join Steve Saville and Rebecca Thomas from New Zealand, as they lead you into a world of possibility that can enable you to respond to your community’s needs using the power of narrative pedagogy, humour and fun.
ROSA LEGENO-BELL & WENDY LEGENO-BELL
A diverse academic curriculum
We are driven by the belief that a diverse education for all children can help to challenge damaging prejudices and stereotypes, benefiting our pupils and our whole society both academically and pastorally. Providing every student with a diverse and academically rigorous education is possible if schools have the right guidance. In this practical workshop, we will support participants in beginning the process of creating and teaching an academic and diverse curriculum. This will include strategies for differentiating complex academic texts for pupils of all abilities and needs.
ROSINA DORELLI
Da Vinci Life-Skills
Together, Rosina Dorelli, Zach Reznichek and Farhaan Mir, have built the Da Vinci Life-Skills curriculum and assessment model, supported by young people, teachers and academics. It is a vision for the future of education, a new model in which a polymath like Leonardo Da Vinci could flourish. Da Vincian Learners are insatiably curious, take risks and learn through all their senses and from their mistakes. They appreciate the interconnectedness of all things and nurture their intuition, creativity, relationships and practical abilities as well as their academic critical thinking skills.
SAMMY WRIGHT
What’s the point of school?
We hear so much about school from the perspective of adults – teachers, parents, politicians. But what do children think about school? And what role will it really play for them – not just on paper, but in the fabric of their lives? This will be a report from the half-way point of a project (to be published by Penguin /Bodley Head in 2024) that has involved me visiting schools around the country and talking to kids, parents and experts about the real function of school in British society.
SARAH DAVIES
Making every voice heard
The session will seek to draw attention to the need for all stakeholders in education to be able to understand and appreciate the significance of oracy (speaking and listening) skills in preparing our young people for life outside of the classroom.
SARAH SELEZNYOV & ANDI SILVAIN
A different curriculum vision
School 360 is a brand new primary school in Stratford, London, under the Big Education umbrella. This session explores our curriculum journey so far, its successes and challenges, and reflections on our future direction.
SELENA WHITEHEAD
Diverse role models
This session will explore why diverse role models are so important in shaping the people we are, what we achieve and how this can in turn positively impact our mental wellbeing and the communities we are part of. Discover how we can harness the power of storytelling about amazing people, past and present, to support character development at home and in school.
SOPHIE CHRISTOPHY
Consent-based education
Schools historically and today depend on a culture of coercion and control in order to function, but is that the only culture, or even an ethical culture for young people to live and learn in? In this session, Sophie Christophy will share about the transformative theory and practice of consent-based education.Find out what consent-based education is, how it makes the world of difference to the experience of learning and education, and what you can do to help make your setting and practice more consent-based.
STAN PINSENT & MAY LING THOMAS
Acting with integrity
We all want to treat the children in our lives with respect, humanity and love, yet we often find ourselves falling short. In a society that expects us to suppress young people’s thoughts and feelings for the greater good, how can we preserve our integrity and follow our own compass? Working in small groups, participants will share their experiences and attempt to answer the question: how can we model integrity to the young people in our lives?
STEPHEN COOK
Critical thinking: Hard to teach
Starting with a discussion of key issues and beliefs in the critical thinking education debate and highlighting the relevance of critical thinking to life after school, Stephen will share real life examples of how teachers in primary and secondary schools have tried to encourage students to think more critically in their classrooms.
STUART MCLAUGHLIN
Life at the sharp end
My session will focus on three main areas: academisation; high stakes accountability and league tables; and the impact of Ofsted and the constantly changing inspection framework. I will draw on my personal experiences of these policies and how they have affected school leaders and school communities. I will share my thoughts on alternative ways we could develop education policy for our children and young people.
SUE ROFFEY
Creating a world we want to live in
This brief presentation explores the links between the Times Education Commission Report (June2022) and the chapter on Education in Creating the World We Want to Live In (Routledge 2021). Both say the current system is not fit for purpose in the 21st Century - neither for young people and their futures nor the health of the planet. To enable every child, young person and community to flourish we need creativity, agency, diversity, wellbeing as core school business and joy in learning. The presentation ends with a brief video about why we wrote the book. All children matter.
THERESE ANDREWS & EMMA OLIVER
Debate: TLAC vs Inquiry
Therese and Emma lead the academics at a new Senior School that is trying to think beyond the national education system. They have taken very different routes in their teaching careers, which has led to very different experiences of classroom approaches. This debate, chaired by Jenny Hampton, will consider the value of those approaches plus the development of a middle ground to benefit all learners.
THOMAS GODFREY-FAUSSETT
Pupil perceptions of success
Educational success is an essentially contested concept, in that it will never be possible to arrive at a universal definition. This session reports on a participatory research project with secondary school pupils in England. The project used photo-voice projects and interviews to explore what success meant to these pupils as well as the factors that influence their perceptions of success in education.
TINA FARR
Our evolving Curriculum of Hope
In 2019, we began a curriculum design journey with Dr Debra Kidd. Driven by our school values – curiosity, courage and connection – along with a resolute determination to confound the polarised views of education that reflect the world at large, our curriculum is knowledge-rich but keeps humanity at its heart. During this session we will share the evolution of our planning process, examples of projects and our successes and failures along the way. Co-facilitated with Debra Kidd.
TOBY MARSHALL
Who’s afraid they are indoctrinating?
The content of the curriculum is becoming more politicised, and this is generating considerable anxiety amongst teachers. This session will explore the debate over indoctrination within English education. We will examine some different ways of thinking about indoctrination, as well as two controversial case studies: Critical Race Theory and British Values.
TOBY PAYNE-COOK
Dreaming of an Edutopia
In this session, I will explore the advantages and disadvantages of both our current knowledge rich, instructive paradigm and its contrasting, more skills orientated and project based alternatives. I will unpick our obsession with measuring and raising academic standards, but be equally scornful of the nebulous concept of ’21st century skills.’ I will propose an innovative structure of the school day, school week and curriculum from 7-14, and re-imagine a range of pathways from 14-19.
XP SCHOOL
Beautiful work in our community
This contribution comprises a 5-minute film – ‘Beautiful Work in Our Community’ – followed by the first episode of the XP School podcast, The Culture Burger.
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