February 3rd 2012
EdFest 3.
On February 6th booking opens for the third Sunday Times/Wellington College Festival of Education.
It'll be held on June 23 and 24 (at Wellington).
Much of the work that has been done over the last few months has been 'behind the scenes': building a new website (still ongoing), and finding out new ways to contact the people who really matter in schools and colleges around the UK.
We've also been busy putting together a programme which we feel is as representative of British education as it can be in a very compressed, busy, two-day event. We're conscious we can't cover everything, but we're going to do our best to create an event which really celebrates the wonderful things being achieved across the astonishingly complex educational landscape we work in at the moment.
Key themes this year will include e-learning, wellbeing and safeguarding, and assessment, and we're trying to be as inclusive as possible: this means that key sectors such as Further Education, are made much more central to the Festival. Schools and universities, of course, feature very strongly indeed again.
The programme continues to evolve and it wouldn't be fair on anyone yet to publish what we're planning as it could change a great deal between now and June, but we'll put it up on this website just as soon as we feel it is fixed enough.
I'm delighted with the calibre of the speakers who have so far agreed to speak, and I'm sure that there will be many more added. So far we have 130 speakers confirmed, and some which catch the eye are (in alphabetical order):
AC Grayling, Anastasia de Waal, Ben Goldacre, Bryan Appleyard, Carol Ann Duffy, Charles Hazlewood, Charlie Taylor, Claire Fox, David Aaronovitch, Danny Dorling, David Cannadine, David Crystal, David Goodhart, David Hargreaves, David Starkey (that's a lot of Davids), Douglas Murray, Guy Claxton, Ian Livingstone, John Kampfner, John Bangs, Keri Facer, Loyd Grossman, Maggie Alderin-Pocock, Martin Lewis (the moneysavings expert), Mary Bousted, Matthew Syed, Mick Waters, Natalie Haynes, Natasha Walter, Owen Jones, Rory Sutherland, Stanley Wells, Stephen Twigg, Steve Jones, Tim Brighouse, Toby Young, Wes Streeting…
Some recent additions include Alex Bellos, Rod Liddle, Tim Smit, Geoff Dyer, And Graham Stuart…which gives you a sense of the scope of the two days, as well as the depth of experience our speakers bring the festival.
I hope you will join us; I hope, too, that you feel you can contribute to: let me know the key themes we should be covering, or of the inspirational figure you saw speak somewhere recently. We really do want this to be your Festival, as inclusive and open (and affordable) as we can possibly make it.
Providing I can find time off from marking homework and coursework, and writing reports, I will do my best to write regular blogs here. More succinct thoughts will be posted on Twitter, or Facebook and even (goodness me) Google+.
David James
Director, Festival of Education
Sunday 19th June
At the latest count we've got 180 speakers confirmed for next weekend, with late additions including Peter Hyman, former advisor to Tony Blair, talking about the outdated educational system and, no doubt, his plans to start a free school. Check out the front page of The Sunday Times News Review today to read a fascinating interview with him about this project.
I was struck by how broad our list of speakers had become when watching Late Review on Friday, listening to Karen Krizanovich speaking, and looking forward to her talking about film with Beryl Richards, Iain Smith, Ken Hey and others...we hope that that discussion will bring in teachers to consider to what extent being literate in reading a screen is a vital life skill.
The next day I picked up a copy of The Times to see that Dr Helen Wright was atttacking the increasing pressure society was putting young girls under, and immediately below that piece was Dr Tanya Byron responding to these concerns; both will be on the same panel discussing 'Sex, drugs and education' in the Festival.
There are still tickets left, although I suspect that this week will see a frantic scramble for places: the opportunity to hear Bob Geldof, Niall Fergusson, David Starkey, and others discuss education will, we hope, prove attractive to all those people out there (like me) who tend to leave buying tickets until the last minute.
I should add that one ticket gets you into all events: there are no further charges (except for food and drink) once you're in, and you're free to go to any event should there be room (so get a seat for your favourites early).
Finally, one thing which has struck me from talking to so many teachers who are coming is how broad their interests are: we have English teachers coming who want to listen to Robert Winston, and Chemistry teachers coming who want to listen to Niall Fergusson, and why not? Perhaps it is a symptom of our educational system that we see ourselves as educators too often in relation to the disciplines we teach when of course all teachers are informed, consciously or unconsciously, by other subjects and influences.
Finally, finally...an appeal: to all those CPD budget holders in schools who are sitting on vast sums of unspent money at the end of the year: why not make yourselves even more popular than you already are and go in to the staff rooms tomorrow at break and say 'Yes, you can all go to the best professional development there is...the Sunday Times Wellington College Festival of Education'. You'll be carried out of the room on their shoulders. And you'll get a 10% group booking from us. What's not to like?
Any updates to the Festival programme we will putting on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EducationFest and the hashtag is #EducationFest2011
David James
Festival Director
Sunday 29th May
Much of the week has been spent finalising the programme, and we hope to publish it this week: we feel hugely excited that so many leading figures are going to be speaking at the Festival, and hope as many people involved in education (ranging from students, to parents, to teachers, lecturers, educationalists and others) will come to listen, and also to mingle and make new friends and connections.
All of the speakers we have been working with have been unfailingly accommodating and patient, as have our partners and sponsors. The Festival's partner, Microsoft, have been an absolute delight: coming up with new ideas and introducing us to new classroom practitioners, each in turn strengthening the programme. I hope that teachers will attend just to see what is being developed for the classroom of tomorrow (and to also get loads of free resources). Pearson, our principal sponsor, have also been a pleasure to deal with: the level of expertise they bring from different areas of the educational world is tremendously welcome. No doubt in the future schools will have to work not only with LEAs, but also, increasingly, leading organisations such as Microsoft and Pearson if they are going to be able to access cutting-edge technology and new developments in pedagogy. The schools we have been in direct contact with as we have planned the Festival have all been characterised by a willingness to look outwards, and to forge new partnerships with a diverse range of 'educational providers'. Sharing strengthens, it doesn't dilute.
Of course Microsoft and Pearson are large companies with the resources to make real changes in every school, but the Festival is also trying to bring in organisations who will provide quality CPD in different ways: the Royal Shakespeare Company and Sage Gatesehead will be hosting workshops for teachers in their own specialist area. I have attended (literally) hundreds of CPD sessions as a teacher, but one of the finest I have ever spent was provided by the RSC and the actors running it deconstructed how I spoke, how I used a space, even how I entered a room (useful for job interviews!). Not always comfortable, but hugely helpful. The Sage Gateshead will be running workshops for music teachers across all ranges and abilities. And the Sage's wonderful Katherine Zeserson will be asking what is the point of education in the 21st century, and how can schools harness and nurture children's innate creative capacities in order to enable them to grow up into confident, inventive and connected citizens. I can't think of anything in education as important as this, and nobody is more experienced to discuss it than Katherine.
Almost finished now...there are loads of exhibitors over the weekend, including Cambridge University Press launching a whole new series of resources, and, just added, Young Marmalade. The latter I didn't know anything about until I looked them up on their website (www.youngmarmalade.co.uk) and found that they have developed a number of schemes that take young people on a journey through education to help with learning to drive. The educational landscape continues to change, becoming ever more diverse and complex. We hope the Festival provides a roadmap to make whatever journey you take less stressful.
Lastly, we've refreshed our website to take on the full Festival 'look'; you might have noticed some adverts in this week's TES, New Statesman, TLS and Times...now the homepage coheres quite nicely we think. Now, half term beckons...I hope you all have a good break.
Dr David James, Festival Director
Sunday 8th May
The really great news last week was that Sir Bob Geldof has confirmed as a speaker. I saw him speak at an event in London not so long ago and he was electrifying: funny, honest, confrontational, passionate...all the qualities which has pushed him on to achieve such astonishing success in helping those in the developing world were condensed into one astonishing talk. I fully expect his event at the Festival to be equally memorable.
We're looking at amplifying the profile of the Festival, and I spent a while (with the help of Microsoft) looking at how to maximise our presence on Twitter (@EducationFest)...I use Twitter every day, but I didn't realise there were quite so many programmes out there which allow you to explore it in its ever-growing complexity. So now I have signed up to Seesmic, and I know about Klout scores, and I get Twilerts at 9pm every day, and am beginning to figure out Cotweet...oh, and the hashtag is #EducationFest2011. Brave new world.
When you have nearly 150 speakers confirmed it's easy to focus on headliners such as Geldof, Fergusson, Starkey and others...but below those figures there are events which will be absolutely fascinating. For example, 'the most important man in British education' is not, apparently, Michael Gove, but Andreas Schleicher (and by the way that title was given to him by the Secretary of State for Education). Andreas is Head of the Indicators and Analysis Division (Directorate for Education). It is Andreas who directs the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the OECD Indicators of Education Systems programme (INES). The work that he does is fundamental to how governments see their achievements in education.
The programme continues to change every day, bringing in more people and organisations. Indeed, we're going to 're-fresh' our front page again soon so that not only are world-renowned individuals foregrounded, but also world-class organisations. The Royal Shakespeare Company, for example, will be doing workshops for teachers, as will the Royal Institution; and Sage Gateshead will be here filling the campus with music for two days. And if you're more interested in technology than culture (not that they're mutually exclusive of course) then come along to the many Microsoft events which will show you (amongst other things) how to get hold of lots of free stuff which might help you in your teaching and learning. Oh, and Wired magazine - the coolest magazine in the world - is also hosting a special event on technology's impact on society.
Now, I've been away from Twitter for a while and I'm beginning to get twitchy...
Dr David James, Festival Director
It's now nearly the end of March and the Festival has developed rapidly since the last blog entry.
We are proud to have Microsoft as our partners; they will bring a wealth of experience and insights to the weekend, and we're looking forward to working with their team over the coming months. The impact that technology is having on learning is developing as a very strong theme this year, and understandably so. We are also delighted to be working with McKinsey and the Sir John Cass Foundation. All of our partners and sponsors bring unique levels of expertise to the Festival.
The number of speakers has risen too with over 100 now confirmed. David Starkey, Niall Fergusson, Jane Asher, A C Grayling, among many others, will make for a really stimulating event; the panel discussions we're putting together are going to have world leaders in their fields debating profoundly important areas. Full details will be posted as and when they become available.
We're also hugely pleased that the Royal Shakespeare Company will be heavily involved again this year; and musical expertise will be provided by the Sage Gateshead. Other organisations represented include Teach First, Film Education, The School of Life, and Editorial Intelligence. In fact our last debate of the weekend is 'curated' by Editorial Intelligence and we will see Niall Fergusson, Sarah Churchwell and Harvey Goldsmith debate 'What do we need to teach the Facebook generation?' The final participant will be confirmed very soon. It will be chaired by Dr Anthony Seldon.
Tickets for the Festival will be going on sale in April. The two days will be fantastic value for money (and pretty good CPD for teachers). Do email us if you have any queries about the Festival.
Dr David James, Festival Director.
Friday 26th February
We now have over 70 speakers confirmed for the Festival, and some of the 'bigger' names now include the journalist Douglas Murray, the CEO of Tesco Sir Terry Leahy, the historians David Starkey, Bettany Hughes and Niall Fergusson, the leading physicist Martin Rees, the renowned academic and philosopher A C Grayling, the founder of TeachFirst Brett Wigdortz, the free school campaigner Rachel Wolf...and many more are being added every day. Keep checking back to our website to see who else has been added.
We're getting deep into the examination season here (indeed one of our IB students finished all his exams on Friday, much to the envy of some of his friends). Reports are due, study leave pending for our GCSE students, MYP assessments gearing up...and amongst all this we have the Festival to organise. But the fact that this Festival is organised by teachers is, I think, one of its many strengths, as is the fact that it is taking place in a working school in term time (rather than a conference centre on the outskirsts of the M25). Leading figures from education and industry will be using our classrooms to exchange ideas with teachers, and it will be great to see such a rich mix of people from a wide range of schools meeting to talk and learn about new developments in education).
Last week we were delighted to confirme that Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, will be speaking at the Festival on Saturday. With him and Andy Burnham confirmed for that day it promises to be a lively opening to the weekend. Do come along to be directly involved in the issues that are affecting every school and university (and parent) in the country.
By the way, there is a very good article on the Festival in today's Sunday Times News Review (page 10)...because it's a subscription site I can't give you a link, but it's worth reading because it gives a further insight into what we're planning to do here in June, and also asks some of the speakers, such as Colin Blakemore, David Starkey and Ben Hammersley, why they are taking part.
Before I finish, could I ask you to email any feedback or suggestions to us on the email given in this site...all suggestions considered, and if you'd like any more information about the two days please let us know. The programme is nearing completion, and we'll post full details very soon.
Now, back to those reports and marking...
Dr David James, Festival Director.