Here are rough notes from this RSA lecture and discussion. In due course an audio recording of the full event will appear here, so you can check how inaccurate and superficial I have been.
Kim Catcheside, BBC (Chair)
Famous New Labour quote about the 'end of the "bog standard" comprehensive'
Geoff Mulgan, Young Foundation, founder of Demos
personalised, holistic (Ross School in East Hampton)
project-based
In the '80s there was a trend towards centralisation; in last 10 years a move towards pluralism.
In government there's a belief in economies of scale that defies evidence to the contrary.
Life skills (non cognitive) are critical, but don't get attention from policy makers, who mostly did very well in academic field.
"Seed skills": social intelligence, enterprising behaviour, disciplines etc
Diversity of schools: "studio schools", v small, not comprehensive, but meet needs of a minority
Diversity in existing schools: people from other walks of life going into teaching
Diversity out of schools: Tower Hamlets Summer University, school of everything -- everyone has something to teach -- Ivan Illich would have approved
What the govt is doing for diversity here is modest compared with Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden.
The reason we're having this debate is that the lower end of provision is so poor.
Anders Hultin, co-founder of private secondary schools in Sweden
UK school system is a mess
Voucher system in Sweden, which led to creation of many new schools.
Parents have legal right to choose between different types of school.
Define personal goals for every student.
Don't have the same testing regime in Sweden.
No correlation at all between money and results, so it's not a case of just pumping more money in.
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