TEDxLondon - Ken Spours
[Music] [Applause] education is arguably the most important thing societies do it can transform lives it can support the economy it can cohere communities and Society itself we would all agree that education is very very important do we just think for a minute the commitment to educate someone throughout the life course that is a truly remarkable human achievement my argument today is that education is not only important it's too important too important for what you might say to be treated as a political [Applause] football recognize him a slightly younger Tony Blair remember the slogan education education education when a politician or a minister turns around and says I am passionate about education reform my heart sinks why should that be the the case let's just consider what's been going on they treat many of them treat education as some kind of political play thing what you would keep refers to as the biggest train set in the world there's constant change tied to ministerial careers everybody wants to make their mark But in double quick time and there is crucially the deliberate manufacturer of conflict within the debate the creation of polarities and dichotomies that should not exist and there is a complete absence of policy memory it would seem that politicians suffer from an advanced case of policy Amnesia in their un willingness to actually learn from the past and why because everything has to be shiny and new and what is the result of all of this one of the major results is that there is no slow ACC accumulation of our wisdom about education everything suffers under the zigzagging of policy and what ises this mean for all of us well the turbulence tires teachers it puzzles parents and employers and leaves us with a general sense of discontent nothing is right now it doesn't have to be like this we can actually have a different type of English education Revolution my argument here today is this I'm arguing for a revolution that's based on moderation on deliberation on agreement now that within the English education system would be revolutionary indeed how might we go about this well first of all we've got to find some way of distancing education from Party politics now they managed to do this in other countries far better than we do we should slow down the political process so more people can become involved fast politics exclude we should sit down and deliberate actually look at the evidence rather than education policy being based on political whim and here we come to the most radical part of all we should actually seek agreement how could we do that well first of all I think we should start by considering our values I'll make an observ at this particular Point politicians are obsessed with structures whether it be school structures or qualification structures it is much easier to get agreement around values than it is about structures because structures are the main source of conflict within our educational system currently and where would I start when it comes to a debate about values I'll start with three but there'll be others first of all that everybody counts everybody can be educated everybody's educable everybody can think as well as do it is part of the human condition to be able to do both secondly we should have a law of care those who need the most will get the most not the inverse law of care where those who have get and thirdly it is about holism and here I come to another very radical suggestion but perhaps we can begin to move from the world of versus to the world of and if you think about the way the debate is being conducted currently subjects versus real life experience knowledge versus skills no its subjects and real life work real life experience and its Knowledge and Skills I noticed today that Prime Minister David Cameron had sent a good Goodwill message to the conference unfortunately the Prime Minister and his secretary of state still occupy the world of verses I would like to make an invitation to the Prime Minister and Michael G today to join me and others in the road away from verses to the world of and and if we went down that road together we'd end up in a much more interesting place than we are at the moment we also need to think more ecologically about education perhaps in this journey we could be be begin uh to discuss this now you recognize Bruce he's a a Shar in finding neemo a very good film by the way now Bruce begins to realize that he's having an ecological effect on The Reef in fact Bruce is having a rather dramatic ecological effect on the reef now R Bruce is persuaded to think ecologically he says I'm not a Mindless eating machine yes I must change my ways fish are friends not food now if Bruce can do it politicians can do it [Applause] my pledge to you today is about a pledge I want to pledge a hypocritic author education here we see a picture in a minute of medical students in the United States making a medical pledge the original hypocritic oath my argument today is that we need a hypocritic or for Education that embodies our very B basic values the ones that that we've been hearing about today about Learners and creativity and nurturing those talents and in Testament of the great human ecologist Yuri Bren Berner I want to talk briefly about the three levels the three ecological levels of a hypocritic auth education that I will work for from here on in first of all the microecological level of the learner where the teacher dedicates themselves to the nurturing and development of that learner through thick or thin secondly at the Meso Level of the area that head teachers and principles who are some of the most voracious sharks I know by the way dedicate themselves to everybody in the area not just their children and pupils in their own school and if they did that I'd be far less exercise about free schools academies State schools and colleges because they all would have taken the pledge and thirdly politicians in their National macroecology decide to offer real leadership by actually giving power away if when if you're confident you don't have to hold power close to your chest you can give power away to the levels below safe in the knowledge that those on the ground know better than you the conditions for sustainable and Lasting change but I will leave you with a warning if we do not take this kind of Direction all the ideas that great ideas that we've heard here today will find it very difficult to see light of day inside our school system we have to bring about a change in the relationship between education and politics remember good ideas do not simply emerge because they're good they emerge because we create the conditions for their realization and that's perhaps what I'm referring to when I talk about the need for real in English education Revolution thank you very much