Rethinking Educational Futures

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Openhive Leadership Forum Benedict Arora 11th June 2010

What is NESTA? : 

What is NESTA? National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts Vision – of a creative and enterprising UK competing globally and responding to social challenges Endowed finance – independent, risk capital for experimentation Approach – think and do tank A long term view but with short term gains Mainstreaming what works

Types of activity : 

Types of activity Innovation Index Future growth sectors Public sector innovation The LAB - healthcare early years education Creative economy ICT, engineering and clean tech Life sciences and health care

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Age Things that keep us awake at night: Part I

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Things that keep us awake at night: Part II

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GDP $US Billion at 2003 $US value Things that keep us awake at night: Part III

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Technology Growth in the number of Internet devices millions

Implications for the future skills needs : 

Implications for the future skills needs Rapidly changing world places a premium on certain types of skills, aptitudes and knowledge Creativity, energy, attitude to risk, self efficacy and leadership STEM, creative/digital and enterprise CBI members surveys consistently show mismatch supply and demand for skills Bigger deficit in “wider” skills than literacy and numeracy Deficit anticipated to grow Some sectors will grow faster than others Health and social care Hi-tech, bio-tech Creative and cultural economy

There are weaknesses in the education system… : 

There are weaknesses in the education system… Schools main incentives focus on success within the narrow limits prescribed by the assessment regime Inspection does pick up on preparing young people for world of work – but are these standards sufficiently rigorous and weighted? Interesting experimentation taking place in some schools around wider skills development, but evidence from employers suggests this is not sufficiently widespread or systematic Curriculum delivery making some advances in uses of new techniques and technologies, but for systemic reasons remains behind the curve and is falling further behind

…but also scope for hope : 

…but also scope for hope Increasing demand from schools for new approaches to raising attainment Growth in numbers of schools involving students in school management and curriculum delivery Moves to loosen regulation in education will allow more scope for experimentation and innovation

NESTA’s education work : 

NESTA’s education work Exploring student leadership Room 13 Lowestoft Energy Challenge, EcoDesign Challenge Partnership with SSAT on Student Voice Exploring new approaches to the curriculum Leonardo Effect Teach First collaboration on STEM Exploring the impact of choice on student aspiration and achievement iDiscover

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Child of Today A child born in 2009 will: live on average 15 years longer than a person born 50 years ago But also – work till the age 68 (or the year 2077) working on average 10-14 different jobs by the age of 38 of which the most popular jobs are yet to even exist using technologies that people have yet to even imagine in a world where China is the world’s number 1 economy, with India 2nd, the U.S 3rd, and the UK ???

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benedict.arora@nesta.org.uk