Curious Minds

What are Schools For?

Curious Minds made some really good connections at the 'What are schools for?' Whole Education conference on Monday 6 December 2010 (www.wholeeducation.org).  We face a future of uncertainty: the stark reality of economic crisis; the threat of environmental change; the challenges of jobs and technologies that haven't been invented yet.  We considered the White Paper as an opportunity to tackle these issues and debated how we are to sustain the holistic learning experiences that many schools now aim to provide.  Now more than ever, we need to develop people's resilience in the face of personal and professional challenge and prepare them to learn independently for work, life AND tests rather than just spoon-feeding them for the latter.

Well-being was referred to frequently throughout the day.  How do we manage the tension between our fast-paced, social networking, information-overloaded, downloading, gaming society, engaged in its virtual realities, and our mental health and wellbeing?  How do we address the issue of our highest-ever ‘NEETs’ statistics (Not in Education, Employment or Training)?  How do we develop the skills and qualities that employers demand over and above academic results, a capacity for creative collaboration and the ability to care for each other and our planet?

The people we met at the conference and the organizations they work for are, like Curious Minds, involved in the task of answering these questions.  You can find out more about some of them at:

Personal Development Point: www.personaldevelopmentpoint.com

ASDAN: www.asdan.org.uk

Building Learning Power: www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk

Channel 4: www.c4education.wordpress.com

Flow: www.floworganisation.org

School-Home Support: www.shs.org.uk

Speakers Trust: www.speakerstrust.org

Studio Schools: www.studioschoolstrust.org

The Young Foundation: www.youngfoundation.org

 

The Whole Education Network brings peer organisations together to drive forward a national movement for change that chimes with the work Curious Minds is already developing across the North West.