Future Schools

The Innovation Challenge

Despite significant increases in overall school standards over the last decade, our economy and society are changing. Pupils now require an education that will prepare them for a future that is very different to today, driven by changing technology, environmental and demographic factors. Not only do pupils need knowledge, they also need a love of learning and the ability to continue learning throughout their lives.

Britain's school system is now progressing more slowly than many other OECD countries, with the gap between us and the top performers (e.g. Finland) rapidly widening. To address these problems Britain needs to assess what and how our children are taught. We need to ensure that educational practices and systems are adaptable and compatible with the changing local and national contexts.

Our Approach

The RSA decided to build on their Opening Minds competency-based curriculum to broaden their focus and aim for whole school transformation. They aim to establish a network of schools to examine what a school should look like, what and how it should teach, and how it should be changed. This network will be known as the Future Schools Network.

The Innovation Unit worked with RSA to develop the notion of what a Future School might look like and how RSA might develop a Future Schools Network to support the development and spread of practices. Importantly this had to be accessible to schools who may be particularly advanced around transformation, as well as those who have less experience of large scale change.

We worked with RSA to develop a creative event with over 40 practitioners, experts and provocateurs to explore and challenge the possibilities of what a Future School might be. A model of the key features a Future School might have was built and workshop participants then engaged in developing these. Separate workshops were also run to look into what features of a Future School Network should be.

Outcomes

RSA moved significantly closer to realising the framework for the school of the future - a school without boundaries - with a number of practical examples of what this would mean in practice.

The development of the Future Schools Network has now been aligned and integrated with the development of the Open Source Alliance for 21st Century Schools.

Project contacts

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