A Poor Show for Academies
I have become increasing disturbed about the Academies Show, which I attended this week. I went for three reasons:
- ONSchool, the free school proposal I am leading, would be an academy and I wanted to understand the broader context for the implementation of this policy.
- I wanted to learn more about the range of suppliers of services in this emerging space.
- I was using the event to meet a few people who were interested in employing my services - and were going to be there too!
From the moment I arrive, I found myself getting more and more concerned with some serious fault lines running through the event.
Firstly, it was very badly organised! There were thousands of people, not enough room in the seminars and talks, a poorly planned schedule, two toilets, not enough food, and – most worrying, no clear understanding of the themes and questions that attendees would want to know about.
There were a few speakers talking about issues of interest, but far too often these were overwhelmed by talks ‘selling’ the policy – or civil servants point a path through procedural systems (most of which could be found easily online). The vast majority of attendees were not there to find out what the EFA does (for eg), but to understand how the academy policy could improve the outcomes for their school community. As the DfE were a major sponsor of the event it was, perhaps, inevitable that the policy, (and the agencies involved in the delivery of this huge change in our education system) would be be ‘sold’ to us.
The cynics would say that there is no choice for schools. They would say that this event was just a way to explain to the Turkeys that Christmas was coming, and how to prepare to become a key part of the ‘feast’ – and to go willingly to the knife. There is no doubt that there were lots of ‘suppliers’ ready for that feast. The sight of Virgin and CocaCola made everyone uneasy. But, I am sure this argument will be well made by Fiona Miller and others.
I expected the DfE voices, the school leaders, school improvement ‘experts’ and industry speakers to be able to articulate a clear argument for becoming an Academy. After all, this was a great opportunity to do it, right? The audience were a self-selecting bunch open to the idea and there to find out.
But, there was either an enormous opportunity missed or we saw (as it were) the Emperor without his clothes. I know that it was not just me that felt this – but no one was able to make a clear statement of the benefit of becoming an Academy.
Rather there was a complete conflation between the ideas of a Good School and a Good Academy.
This policy gives academy schools new freedoms and the DfE talks a great deal about Innovation. There are many fantastic examples of amazing innovation in schools in England, and the Innovation Unit is a great source for evidence based practice!
There were plenty of school leaders there looking for ideas, help and guidance: for something different than what they are already doing. Not just better – because that is a well run route for school improvement.
Where are the examples of use of ‘power of freedoms’ for innovation and developing the education system. All we seemed to hear of examples of schools rushing to the traditional and deeply academic middle ground. Again, the cynics would say that this is what Mr Gove wants. But I am not so sure.
I think this was a failure of vision of the people at the DfE who are implementing this policy – not the policy itself. As Labour tried to show with academies, when money is well targetted, guidance and support made available, schools can find new ways to lead great change for the benefit of their kids and community.
So, thanks to this event, I am less optimistic than I was – which is not want the organisers would have wanted!
I still believe that free schools – where they open where there is a need and not at the expense of other schools – can and should take these freedoms and Innovate!
This is not about innovation for its own sake – but based on the desperate need to improve our education system – not just for our economic success – but for the fabric and fairness of our society.
Innovation is…
“Innovation is an iterative process of substantial positive improvement, for the many, by a few.”
I came up with this phrase today while thinking about what Innovation means to me.
I define Innovation as ‘Substantial Positive Change’.
What does it mean to you?
This post is part of the preparation support for a session I will be running at the end of May, called ‘Being Creative in a Digital World’. If you’d like to invite me to talk to your team about creativity, education, technology and innovation, please contact jenny.bourlet@capita.co.uk.
For those who I am going to be talking to, this post should give you a sense of what is coming, and what to do beforehand.
The workshop is designed as interactive and practical half-day workshop which will allow you to develop ways in which you can use the digital space to stimulate creativity, generate ideas, solve problems and learn. We will explore how to create a personal learning network through which you can remain current, stimulate new ideas and adapt rapidly.
Outcome: To share ideas and tools to release creativity, where / when it seemed hard before.
Method: Pre-reading/watching/listening – followed by interactive presentation and discussion session using WebEx.
Before the session, please take in at least two of the media below, considering the following questions:
- What does ‘Creativity’ mean to you?
- Which sorts of obstacle to creativity do you experience at work?
- When do you find yourself being most creative’?
- Alone or in a crowd? What role do others have in your creative moments?
- Is creativity possible in ‘normal’ life and while doing mundane tasks?
Finally, for those who do not mind a little explicit language, here is a link to a clip from the Channel 4 comedy TV series – Nathan Barley – which I think was a cruel and funny satire on the ‘creative’ industries. Creative leaps come from strange places, and inspiration for new ideas and trends can emerge from taste makers who read the ‘Zeitgeist’ ,… But, this clip is a reminder of what happens to unleashed ‘creativity’ in the wrong hands.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/nathan-barley/video/series-1/episode-4/geek-pie
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
- Scott Adams (American cartoonist)
“The air is full of ideas. They are knocking you in the head all the time. You only have to know what you want, then forget it, and go about your business. Suddenly, the idea will come through. It was there all the time.”
- Henry Ford (American industrialist)
“Speed is absolutely key to creativity. The more time it takes to create something, the less likely you are to create something.”
- Patrick Stump (American musician)
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
- Charles Mingus (American jazz musician and Civil Rights activist)
“Creativity is contagious, pass it on”
- Albert Einstein (German theoretical physicist)
Recently, I have taken some huge risks with my life, our family finances, and pushed myself in ways many would think was, at best, brave- and, at worst, mad.
While commenting to a friend that I was afraid I had let pride and stupidity get the better of my reason – he pointed me to this this striking speech (on another blog)
I quote it in full below, with only the following observation: This wonderful speech encapsulates the drive that pushes me to hope/believe that if I work hard, follow my interests and passions, remain as honest with others as my self-awareness will allow and they can bear, and have the space to love my family and friends – then,… well, even though things are tough at the moment – then things will work out and I have the balance nearly right.
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Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent Nanyang Technological University convocation ceremony. This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
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I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.
My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.
On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.
Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.
And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.
Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.
The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.
You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” 
and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.
The good news is that they’re wrong.
The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.
Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.
So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.
Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.
I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.
After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.
Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.
That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.
What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.
Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.
What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.
Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.
The most important is this: do not work.
Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.
Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.
There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.
People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.
Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.
Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.
I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.
So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.
Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.
Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.
In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.
I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.
One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.
The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.
I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.
Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.
Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.
Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.
You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.
Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.
Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
Maven’s Map
I was blown away by this new visualisation tool on LinkedIn, called InMaps partly because it looks so good!
I love LinkedIn, and try to only link with people I have actually met, worked with, or shared an event with. This means that I can vouch for my network and it can vouch for me.
But this is hard to keep track of…and since I tipped over into over 500 connections, I have struggled to maintain a clear view of those that I know.
So, I was pleased to be able to play with this tool to see the patterns of connections as I was able to see my professional network in a whole new way.
Apart from the groups that I know from clients and previous employers, what became clear is that by far the biggest and densest part of my network are teachers, teachmeeters, and ‘edugeeks’ – that large group at the bottom right shown in blue.
It is a great way to see where my professional interest remains and how it is complemented by the wonderful people I know!
What’s in it for me? Part 3
What have I learned so far?
Following my first two posts explaining why (and, almost more importantly, why not) I am involved in leading ONSchool, the proposal for a free school in Oxford, I want to answer a key question that follows from one of my main motivations, to keep learning and challenge myself.
Other people are amazing
Firstly, I have found that I have some amazing friends, talented neighbours and a professional network who have proven essential to the progress we have made. There are so many people to thank, so many acts of kindnesses, big and small. Thank you.
Right time, right place, right idea
I realised, as these people just kept on giving and sharing, that in some ways, the nature of the ONSchool proposal – for a school that is so innovative – has allowed people to give something new of themselves. And boy did they give! I learned that even under pressure of a project far beyond my previous experience, and on a deadline I would never normally subject a team to, it is possible to hold on to core values and an evidence based approach.
I can still surprise myself
I have worked in education, in practice, publishing, and policy. Modesty prevents me from blowing my own trumpet – but there are some things I do well. What I did not know was how the skills, experience and knowledge I have would apply in a role I had never tried before – or been selected for. I put myself into this role, and could have run away at any point. I discovered that my core strengths – to Synthesize good ideas, harnessing the expertise of cleverer people than me, and to be in touch with the key trends in education – are transferable and much stronger than I thought they would be.
Be good, Be Honest. It works.
Admit when your wrong, admit what you don’t know. Never forget to say thank you. So far, the ethical approach has worked. I intend to stick with it.
What’s in it for me? Part 2
In the second of the posts on this thread, I will continue to answer:
Why give up a great job to take on a project that has little hope of success, for no pay; risking reputation and friendships?
As I proved in the last post, my reasons for leading the proposal for ONSchool are simple and, I hope, ethical.
Unlike those who are, perhaps, older, with pensions and savings to draw on; or the very well paid; or those with jobs that pay and a very understanding boss…. I work in the education sector, so never expected to be rich or to have an easy ride.
I have signed up to start supply teaching next week, and have had kind offers from friendly local primary schools to take cover work when it comes.
A well meaning tweep DM’d me to comment that he was worried that I was “back to square one”. Although that made me smile, it reflects a general concern that teaching is something you fall back on in hard times- only as a last resort! This is not how I feel about teaching. I never have. I have always loved teaching. I have just found other ways to support the learning experiences of children.
I have also had some very interesting offers and expressions of interest for other roles that might be closer to my more recent positions – but, we will see.
In the meantime, I have some answers to a few questions I posed:
Is it right to profit in any way from being involved in ONSchool?
As long as there is no conflict of interest – surely it would be ok. So, what are the options?
- Write a book about the struggle to open a school: Toby Young and Katherine Birbalsingh have more in common than being darlings of the Tory right. They both seem to thrive on controversy and have new books (and a backlist) to promote. So, for them, it is totally possible to profit from their involvement in opening a free school without there being a conflict of interest! But, for those of us who are not interested in writing a book, and do not want to progress through upsetting and alienating people- what else can we do?
- Keep the details of what we have proposed as ‘Intellectual Property’: Either try to ‘sell’ the fruits of the hard work – and licence to someone who wants to copy it, or sell the ‘rights’. Although this is attractive, I am not sure about the idea that something as locally based as a free school proposal can ‘translate’. Surely all the value is in the expertise creating and implementing a local project of engagement?
- Sell consultancy and expertise gained: Until a few weeks ago, I could not have imagined how anyone would have objected to this – but I have read lots of criticism of people doing this – almost definitely without enough knowledge of the details to be casting aspersions. Still, it is proof that those of us involved in running free school projects must, somehow, be restricted to a very few roles (see above) and cannot do what they used to when working for LAs!
Is there a moral difference between being paid by a Local Authority and a private company if the work is the same?
How is it that there are smart people out there, who are totally entitled to think that Free Schools are evil – who cannot see the logical inconsistency of criticising people for doing what what 1000s of ex-LA authority consultants have been forced to do? Loads of these amazing people have been forced to sell their services back to the schools they used to support with LA badges on. Of course, this is madness – but it is happening. They are not evil people. There are people who value their expertise – gained while working at the tax payers expense, in state sponsored schools. And there are schools / organisation / companies that will pay for this.
Can’t I do that?
How can I learn from others who have opened free schools?
I wish I could! Unfortunately, there is very little sharing going on between proposer groups. The one great space that evolved (thanks to Tom Legge of Place Group), on Linkedin, has now become full of service providers broadcasting their wares to people like me! I have set one up for proposers alone – and hope that others will join!
Given that the free school policy is changing the landscape in education – is it ok to stake a claim in the new territory - or should I wait till others have proven the ground?
Should we wait until all the ethics are clear and there are boundaries and guidelines and companies that dominate the space… Nah!
I do not want to wait for the academy chains to dominate education, I want free schools to be opened and led by passionate people who care about their local education system – and the quality of their kid’s education. Don’t you?
How many more risks can I afford to take?
Not sure I have an answer to this. I am treating this as a ‘start up’. I am investing time, money and reputation on this project.I feel like this will have been worth it – even if we fail – because I am learning. And that is what it is all about. Right?
What’s in it for me? Part 1
Why give up a great job to take on a project that has little hope of success, for no pay; risking reputation and friendships?
In this blog post, and the next few, I hope to inform those who wonder what drives someone to get involved in something as nebulous as a ‘Big Society’ project. The big surprise for many is that, for me, it is not money! I have been leading a proposal for a secondary free school in Oxford – ONSchool www.onschool.org.uk since June 2011.
From day one of announcing this idea, people asked me, “Why are you doing this?”. Apart from all the reasons to do with education, there had to be more to it, right?
Anyone who knows me, and my views on social justice, knew that I could not be doing this because of the politics.
- I am not ideologically driven to support the Coalition Government policies.
So, most assumed I wanted to be the Head, or Principal Designate.
- I didn’t / don’t want to be Head – and want a full, open recruitment process for all roles.
Although only my closest friends could ask, there is also the question of ‘Ego’ and ‘Legacy’. Perhaps I was doing this to become famous – or something! I cannot honestly answer this – except to say that, given that 90% of the applications last year failed, I could not be doing this for this reason alone .
- It is likely my ego will take a bashing and I will lose ‘perceived’ respect of those in my professional networks, as a ‘failed’ applicant.
The next assumption was that I’d teamed up with an Academy Chain, or profit driven businesses who were paying me to do this – or would do if we were successful.
There is no such arrangement with any company driven by profit. I receive no ‘retainer’ or have any promise of one.
Finally, those who care about me and our family asked if I had a hidden pile of cash to draw on. Any money we had saved had just mostly gone on an extension and improvements to our house, that finished in May 2011.
- We are not rich, or even ‘comfortably off’ (whatever what means!).
When friends heard this, they asked how we were going to survive, and if I was mad!
I had been very successfully leading a fantastic business providing educational resources for schools, and (if I am honest) being paid more than I had been expecting to be – working with great people, with a great boss. I was not pushed – I left by choice.
It is true that leading the ONSchool proposal, with a vision built around Innovation - threaded through with transformative use of digital technology – was ‘in tune’ with my professional interests – in that I have been working in educational organisations to bring change and improvements through use of ‘ICT’ for 20 years. However, there was no obvious way for me to make a living from this. One of my ex-clients said to me recently:
“What you are doing is amazing, but we don’t know how your new skills and knowledge could help us, as you have moved out of the ‘box’ we knew you were an expert in.”
I have been doing this without pay or any employment (or expectation of any resulting from this project) and have been working close to 100% on this since the Summer. So, you might ask again, ‘Why?”
- Firstly, I believe in an ethical education and an ethical society. If we don’t run this campaign ‘right’ what message would it give our kids?
- Secondly, having seen the ‘issues’ around some of the other free school proposal groups, and the ways that the education of children was often left behind in the discourse, I felt that we could learn and improve on this.
- Lastly, I wanted a great school for my kids and their peers to learn in. I knew it was needed, and believe we can provide it.
But, there is still a big question… How can I help to pay the mortgage (again)?
In my next blog post, I want to talk about the income options available to me – and some of the ethical issues I am finding myself dealing with, such as:
Is it right to profit in any way from being involved in ONSchool?
Is there a moral difference between being paid by a Local Authority and a private company if the work is the same?
How can I learn from others who have opened free schools?
Given that the free school policy is changing the landscape in education – is it ok to stake a claim in the new territory - or should I wait till others have proven the ground?
How many more risks can I afford to take?
Ian Livingstone is wrong
Image taken from Microsoft Partners in Learning page.
Of the 12 recommendations, I don’t disagree with most, but I did object to the thrust and tone of Ian Livingstone’s talk at MSPILF2011. He made it clear that it was his view that the country should invest in the games and hi-tech media industry to train children and young people to work within it, to maintain our standing as a creative country. Games development, computer science and high end media production skills should be on the curriculum at schools, he said.
So, why did I object to this? I have been an advocate and co-creator of the use of technology in education for 20 years and now advise organisations how to use new media to make a positive change in the way we engage children in learning. So, why disagree so much with what Ian Livingstone said?
Firstly, I do not think it is the role of schools to train any specific part of the workforce (ie teach specific industry related skills). Ian Livingstone made a terrible case for why training for games development would lead to a creative and commercially successful sector – using high achievers in the industry to complain that if only they had had coding taught them at school, then they would have been more successful!
The evidence that was before us, in reality and contradiction to Ian Livingstone’s point – was that the breadth of their learning had given them the foundations to specialise and succeed later in life. We cannot train for the jobs of the future as those jobs are not there yet and if we train for the jobs that are there now, then we will damage our chances of economic competitive.
I believe that there are a range of computing basics that schools should be teaching and that includes some coding – BUT I do not agree with a coding curriculum from the industry – as Livingstone demands. I am not expert enough to say what should be taught and experienced – but I do not believe that the current crop of games company executives are in a position to either.
Furthermore, I am sick of the games industry telling us how successful they are and how much money they bring into the economy – and then come to education events bleating that they are struggling for great graduates while investing so little in schools.
In terms of the wider economy (to be a little political) these companies and those that lead them are in no position to complain about the status of education in the UK when they are taking their profits offshore to avoid tax here.
Also, it is an industry with very a poor record in looking after the people who work in it – claiming that their ways of treating workers is just being competitive with the ‘east’… ie treating them like fodder.
I love games. I have been a gamer for 36 years. I was doing Games Based Learning in the mid 90s (using Sonic on the SegaMega Drive for story starters). I know senior people in the industry. I love what they create. I have spent a small fortune on games and the devices to run them.
I think that Intellect UK, the trade body for the IT industry, is taking great new steps to think about how to answer the social responsibility it has to the communities that buy into their products and services.
That said, I feel that creating a part of the curriculum for game design, and accepting any parts of the NextGen Report should come with a price for the studios themselves.
There are some recommendations we should do anyway, but any that benefit the games industry should come with a pro rata contribution in hard cash direct into the schools sector. There should be a tax on the games industry in return for the sort of specific ”help’ they are asking for. It could be said that they are asking the state to fund the sort of training that in other industries either the worker or company has to pay for. Surely this is not reasonable – however much we love what the games industry do.
Finally, Ian Livingstone is living proof, through his life story and his journey to his place as a creative giant helping to build a new media, of why his report – and the logic underpinning it – is flawed and self serving.
I would like to see this great man and the great people in the games industry return the love from young people all over the world – and give something tangible back – to education and the wider society.
Eylan Ezekiel
@eylanezekiel
Eylan-Shaped Job
Offered
- 1x Education Engagement Specialist
- Competitive Salary
- 3 days a week +travel both nationally and internationally
- Oxford/South East
The offering is a leading provider of educational engagement services. This role will define and drive digital strategy for people, products, platforms and integration across an organisation working with learning, in and out of schools.
Experience of exemplary delivery in both B2B and B2C in an education related environment is essential to the offering.
A trusted and respected voice in the education sector, Eylan will bring considerable social capital to your organisation – as well as a powerful network, to inform the organisational goals.
Working across a wide range of technologies (LMS, Social Media, Digital Asset Management, Content Management Systems, XML, mobile content, portals etc) Eylan will own the digital roadmap for the organisation to ensure your team provide fit for purpose solutions.
This will be an exciting, very challenging role to define, develop and execute a new digital platforms/product strategy.
This will be a rare opportunity to really make a difference by taking on one of the most influential players in the education space.
To see more about the offering – see here
