Topic: Children's Services

Pressure on schools to make rapid improvements discourages deeper thinking about long-term solutions. An article by: Jess Harris, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Newcastle Mel Ainscow, Emeritus Professor of Education , University of Manchester Nerida Spina, Lecturer in Education, Queensland University of Technology Suzanne Carrington, Professor in Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Published by The Conversation.

Including all learners and ensuring that each individual has an equal and personalised opportunity for educational progress is still a challenge in almost every country. Despite commendable progress made over the past two decades to expand access to basic education, further efforts are needed to minimise barriers to learning and to ensure that all learners in schools and other learning settings experience a genuine inclusive environment. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its focus on leaving no one behind, provides a unique opportunity to build more inclusive and equitable societies. This should start with inclusive education systems.

The fifth in a suite of occasional reports. The views expressed in this publication, although personal, have been informed by the sessional discussions and thinking generated amongst the participants who attended the Staff College Summer Think Tank ‘Towards excellence and equity for all: educational innovation in changing times’ on 23rd – 24th August 2016. The Think Tank was attended by 23 senior leaders in children’s services, from local authorities across England.

A place for learning, the third paper in the RSA’s Power to Create series is not framed in the conventional manner of a report on a key issue, in this case lifelong learning. Instead, Tony Breslin’s text is built around a memorandum from an outgoing and highly regarded director of education to a newly elected city mayor outlining a set of policy proposals. 

Unwittingly, argues Sarah Phillips, we are drifting away from an effective national education system to fragmented centralism. 2016 could be the year when we take a good hard look at all the pieces and seize the opportunity to shape a better system.

In this latest post in the Leading Futures Series, edited by Alma Harris and Michelle Jones, Zongyi Deng and S. Gopinathan shine a spotlight on the success of Singapore’s school system and argue that the country’s success comes from educational policies and practices that have helped to develop social cohesion, economic development, and nation building. As Deng and Gopinathan suggest, reforms that aim to borrow “best practices” must consider the social, cultural and institutional contexts of which they are a part.