What are schools for?

As a new government tackles education reform and economic uncertainty

persists, the challenges for young people have never been greater. This

conference brings together leading figures from education, business, academia,

local government and the youth sector to explore how these groups can work together to provide young people with the education and experiences they need.

Central London Monday 6th December 2010

How should we prepare young people for the future?

Why now?

This year, a record number of young people obtained top grades at GCSEs and A-levels,

yet an increasing number are not getting into university. Some of those who do win a place drop out. They struggle to learn

independently because they have been spoon fed and taught to the test at school.

Many do not even succeed at GCSE. Almost

one million students are so switched off by the education system that they leave without any qualification or training and cannot find

work. The NEETS, as they are called, are one of the biggest challenges facing us.

Competition for jobs is fierce but employers tell us that there is a shortage of good

applicants. They speak not only about the need for better literacy and numeracy but also

for a wider range of skills and qualities, essential for the modern world.

Schools are working as hard as ever to meet the demands placed on them. They work,

rightly, to help all young people attain the best academic qualifications they can. Many go

beyond this despite a system that measures them by their students' success in exams. But their efforts to offer a broader education often

go unrewarded and unsupported.

Policymakers are promising more freedom for many schools and changes to the curriculum.

How will they reconcile their wish to free schools with their wish to alter what children are taught? Now is a good time to ask the

question, what are schools for?

Why attend?

The big questions we will explore:

What role can ALL schools

play in developing stronger

communities and in

contributing to a bigger, better

society?

What sort of skills, qualities

and knowledge will young

people need for today's

economy and society?

What opportunities and threats

do recent and potential future

policy changes present?

How can we enrich the

curriculum and learning

experience to help young

people develop these?

Who will be attending?

Policymakers

Primary and Secondary

leaders

Senior Practitioners

LA Managers

Education leaders

Employers

Academics

Learn more about over 20 innovative projects that

schools across the country are already involved with …

Agenda

Welcome and Introduction (Dr. John Dunford)

Why we need an end to factory schools (Dr. Anthony Seldon)

10.30am

10.45am

Panel Debate4.15pm

Close4.45pm

Dr. Seldon will explain why there is an urgent need for debate about the way education is

heading, with the pressure on schools to create exam factories making it very difficult for

school leaders and teachers to prepare young people for the 21st century

Dr. Dunford will introduce the current education context, highlighting both the threats and

opportunities for those concerned with education, and a call to arms to do something about it.

We will host a panel debate with key speakers addressing audience questions.

Registration, Coffee and Marketplace09.45am

Whose curriculum is it anyway?

Dr Kevin Stannard

What do we mean by employability skills and how can schools provide

them?

David Nicoll

Big Society? Closer working between schools and third sector

John Bateman

Applying findings from the Nuffield 14-19 Review

Prof. Richard Pring

Why our economy and society needs young people to be happy and resilient

tbc

Applying findings from the Cambridge Primary Review

Alison Peacock

Improving

engagement and outcomes for young people

David Price

Whole Education and implications for teaching

tbc

Big Society?Creating communities for learning

Edwina Grant

What skills, qualities and knowledge will young people need

in the future?

Anne Evans

Break

What’s the point of school? (Prof. Guy Claxton)

Lunch and Marketplace12.15pm

11.15am

2.50pm

1.15pm

2.30pm

What are employers looking for – and not finding? (Caroline Waters tbc)11.45am

Breakout Session 1

Breakout Session 2

Prof. Claxton will address the fundamental question – what’s the point of school? If it is to

prepare young people for the future, we need to rediscover the heart of education.

We will provide an employer’s view on the education system in terms of how it is preparing

young people for the world of work. From issues of basic literacy and numeracy, to the

development of wider ’21st century skills’, employers are becoming increasingly concerned.

Breakout sessions

Whose curriculum is it anyway?

Applying the findings from the Nuffield 14-19 Review

Big Society? Closer working between schools and third sector

Why we need happy, resilient young people

What do employers need that schools often struggle to provide?

Improving engagement and outcomes for young people

Applying findings from the Cambridge Primary Review

Big Society? Creating communities for learning

Whole Education and implications for teaching

What skills, qualities and knowledge do young people need?

Main Presenter: Kevin Stannard, CIE

Main Presenter: Prof Richard Pring, Nuffield Review

Main Presenter: John Bateman, UK Youth (tbc)

Main Presenter: Anne Evans, HTI (tbc)

Main Presenter: Young Foundation (tbc)

Main Presenter: David Price, Learning Futures

Main Presenter: Alison Peacock, Cambridge Primary

Main Presenter: Central Bedfordshire LA

Main Presenter: David Nicoll, Studio Schools

Main Presenter: tbc

We will explore the recent dominance of

qualifications over education and the need for

schools to reclaim the curriculum for

themselves, looking at other countries and

examples closer to home.

How can we help young people to improve

attainment as well as helping them to develop

as independent learners throughout their life?

We explore the importance of engagement.

Prof. Richard Pring will highlight the key

findings from the Nuffield 14-19 review and

point to developments that schools can get

involved with to help implement the findings.

Alison Peacock will reflect on the key findings

of the Cambridge Primary Review and

explore some practical ways the findings can

be implemented.

Big society in action? We explore how many

schools (‘free’ or otherwise) are working in

partnership with third sector organisations to

help provide young people with learning

opportunities to develop crucial qualities.

We explore examples where schools are

working to raise aspirations for learning

across the community and working with

community partners to make learning more

relevant and engaging for young people.

Studio Schools have been developed to help

young people acquire the range of skills and

qualifications they will need. We learn more

about these and other projects that help

address what employers need.

We will hear directly from employers about

what they are looking for in young people and

learn about some projects that help provide

those skills.

Following the Good Childhood report and an

increased focus on wellbeing, we look at the

importance of creating resilient, happy young

people as well as exploring ways to help

develop resilience.

Looking to provide young people with the

education they need for the modern world will

require not only a change in the quality of

teaching, but also a shift in its emphasis. We

explore these implications.

Explore in the breakouts how schools and projects are

addressing the key issues ….

How will this event help you?

PractitionersHear from leading thinkers about how we can best prepare young people for the future. Learn

more about over 20 innovative projects that are already helping young people across the

country develop the range of skills, qualities and knowledge they will need for the future.

Employers

Education Leaders

Engage directly with those responsible for young people’s education to ensure employers

views are heard and incorporated. Learn more about how your organisation can get involved

in helping young people to develop the capabilities they will need to work for you.

Take the opportunity to get involved in debates about many of the key issues highlighted in

the conference. Learn more about how you and your organisation can get involved with Whole

Education to help young people prepare for the future.

Who is Whole Education?

Policymakers

Local Authority Managers

Hear from leading thinkers, practitioners, employers and other education leaders on the range

of skills, qualities and knowledge young people need; examples of how this is currently being

delivered successfully and how this can inform the upcoming curriculum review.

Find out more about projects which support schools to engage the wider community in

learning, raise aspirations and support closer working between schools and local

organisations.

Whole Education is a collaboration between leading non-profit organisations in education that share a

common set of beliefs about education and actively support schools, colleges and youth organisations

in helping to provide young people with a “whole education”.

These beliefs about education include the need to value every educational pathway, whether it be

practical or academic; to encourage and celebrate active learning, to trust in the professionalism of

teachers, and to create pupils who are adaptable and creative, who learn throughout life, and who are

independent learners and good citizens.

Whole Education also aims to increase awareness and understanding of the need for this kind of

approach to education, increase the support from organisations and individuals, and to enable the

necessary changes in education policy.

Whole Education partner initiatives work with more than 5,000 schools and colleges, as well as youth

organisations and charities.

Whole Education Partner ProjectsYou will have the chance to learn more about partner projects in the breakout sessions

Opening Minds

Opening Minds provides young

people with the real-world skills

they will need to thrive, through

a competence-driven curriculum

framework.

Communities for Learning

Bringing staff, students and

community members together

as a learning community, to

support and develop both the

individuals and the school

community.

Education Futures

Exploring how to prepare for and

develop an ongoing and

sustainable response to the

challenges education faces as

society and technology rapidly

evolve.

Self and Social Learning

Using non-formal learning to

develop social and personal

skills, self-awareness and

responsibility in young people.

ViTaL Partnerships

Research validated tools like

ELLI (the Effective Lifelong

Learning Inventory) and

Authentic, Active Enquiry help to

re-engage learners and inspire

measurable change in them and

the learning community.

Incerts

Incerts is working to transform

assessment in schools using

innovative technology and an

analytical approach to help

school leaders get more than

they thought possible from

assessment.

Co-operative Trust Schools

Embedding the values of the

co-operative movement in the

ethos and governance of trust

schools to engage parents,

pupils, teachers and the local

community in education.

Food for Life Partnership

Reconnecting learners with

food, and using food

education as a vehicle for

school improvement and as a

tool to increase community

cohesion.

ASDAN

Offering a range of flexible,

activity-based curriculum

programmes and

qualifications for young

people to facilitate the

development and

accreditation of personal and

social skills within various

educational contexts.

Learning Futures

A ‘tried-and-tested’ method of

developing relevant learning,

co-constructed curriculum,

learning experiences in and

out of school, varying the

dynamics of the teacher-pupil

relationship.

Learning to Learn

Learning to Learn helps

young people to understand

how they learn and gives

them the motivation and self-

confidence they need to

develop a lifelong love of

learning.

Human Scale Education

Creating human scale

learning environments where

children and young people

are known and valued as

individuals.

Whole Education Partner Projects

Discovering Language

Discovering Language

introduces languages into

primary schools through a multi-

lingual language awareness

programme, providing a good

grounding in language, a greater

cultural awareness, and

enhanced communication skills.

School-Home-Support

SHS practitioners are

independent and based in

school to work with children,

young people and families to

help them identify and resolve

issues before they become

bigger problems.

Studio Schools

Studio Schools are a new type

of 14-19 school designed to

engage young people who might

not otherwise reach their full

potential in traditional school

environments. They teach the

national curriculum but with a

much stronger emphasis on

practical work and enterprise.

Open Futures

Open Futures is a skills and

enquiry-based curriculum

development programme,

linking learning and life. It was

developed to help children

discover and develop practical

skills, personal interests and

values.

World Challenge

World Challenge programmes

excite and engage, stretch and

challenge, provide new skills

and open doors for the future. It

is not just an amazing trip to

another country but a whole

developmental journey that

starts long before students step

on a plane.

Flow

Promoting the education of

Essential Qualities - widely

believed to be the very source of

personal and social wellbeing.

Go4It

Go4it is a nationally recognised

awards process for schools in

the UK demonstrating creativity,

innovation and an adventure for

learning with a positive attitude

towards risk. It helps schools

inspire and challenge students

in order to further improve their

life chances.

Learning to Lead

Learning to Lead takes the real

life experience of ‘school’ as a

community and offers tools,

programme sharing courses and

structures to support young

peoples’ involvement in all

aspects of their life and learning,

working towards positive

change.

Speakers Bank

Speakers Bank run youth based

programmes which work in

partnership with schools and

youth focussed organisations to

promote the benefit of public

speaking as a life skill and take

an informed approach as to how

to meet the needs of the young

people as individuals.

Sixth Form Baccalaureate

(SFBac)

The SFBac is a new national

award recognising all-round

sixth form learning and

achievement, and emphasising

that developing skills and values

is just as important as subject

knowledge.

Speaker Biographies

Dr Anthony Seldon

Dr Anthony Seldon is a political historian and

commentator on British political leadership as well

as on education and contemporary Britain. He is

also Master (headmaster) of Wellington College, one

of the country's most famous and historic independent schools and is also author or editor of

some 25 books.

His views on education have regularly been sought

by the government and political parties, and for ten

years he has organised conferences which have

helped set the education agenda. He is a passionate

exponent of co-education, the International Baccalaureate, independent education, the teaching

of happiness/well-being and the development of the

all-round child.

Professor Guy Claxton

Guy Claxton is the one of UK’s leading expert on

the development of young people’s learning and

creative capacities. He is the author of a dozen

well-respected books on the mind, including Hare

Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less (1997), Wise Up: The

Challenge of Lifelong Learning (1999), and The

Wayward Mind (2005).

Since September 2008, Guy has been Co-Director

of the Centre for Real-World Learning and

Professor of the Learning Sciences at the

University of Winchester. His practical ‘Building Learning Power’ programme, based on his

research, is widely used throughout schools in the

UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Speaker Biographies (cont.)

Dr John Dunford

John Dunford was a member of the leadership team of three comprehensive schools in the north east of England from 1974 to 1998, including 16 years as head of Durham Johnston Comprehensive School.

He was general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders between 1998 and 2010 and is now chair of Whole Education as well as being a member of the Boards of Trustees of Teach First, the National Employer Education Task Force, Education for All and Worldwide Volunteering, and the Advisory Board of Future Leaders. He is also a governor of his local primary school in Leicestershire.

Central London Monday 6th December 2010

Booking and Information

Call 0207 451 6837 or email info@wholeeducation.org to book

your tickets

Event Costs

£145 plus VAT

£75 plus VAT for practitioners

and charity sector

If you would like more information about Whole Education or would like to speak to a member of the Whole Education team contact Charlotte at charlotte@wholeeducation.org or on 0207 451 6837

Venue

Grand Connaught Rooms

61 - 65 Great Queen StreetLondonWC2B 5DA

Nearest underground stations:

Holborn or Covent Garden

Nearest train stations:

Kings Cross St Pancras or Charing Cross