It’s not coronavirus alone but it was almost a final straw on top of other financial threats. Schools are braced for a dose of tough reality.- UK private schools feel pandemic squeeze And so it begins – the great corona virus contraction of 2020. The old new normal is now the new abnormal normal. After the global recession of 2008-2009…
I did not attend the NAIS Annual Conference this year – first time for many years – so I don’t have any takeaways to report like Grant Lichtman. But I was in Baltimore for an ICG (Independent Curriculum Group) board meeting and I was at the conference center to pick up a set of attractive little enamel badges (see below)…
The NAIS Annual People Of Color Conference opens this week in Atlanta. It will draw independent educators from across the country. They will gather in groups small and large; renew friendships and make new connections; listen to speakers and attend, participate in, and lead workshops and meetings. I am sure it will all be a necessary time of re-dedication, renewal and affinity.…
My title line is from Kevin Kelly whose new book The Inevitable is about the deep trends in the next 20 years that will shape our lives. And a little reflection helps us understand that truth. The future happens very slowly and then all at once. First it seems outlandish, strange, unusual and possibly impossible. Then it looms over us and then…
The summer 2013 issue of Independent School magazine was about technology and schools and posed the question The Great Disruption? Just then retiring NAIS president Pat Bassett article’s The Third Great American Revolution outlined what should by now be the familiar big shifts in education. And he delivered this stirring call to action and imagination. Fast forward two and a half years…
What does innovation in education look like to you? This question and What does innovation in education look like around the world? were posed to the first cohort of 28 TED-Ed Innovative Educators a global program that connects leaders within TED’s network of over 250,000 teachers. You can read their ideas at the link but perhaps before you do it might be a…
Disruptive changes to business models will have a profound impact on the employment landscape over the coming years. Many of the major drivers of transformation currently affecting global industries are expected to have a significant impact on jobs, ranging from significant job creation to job displacement, and from heightened labour productivity to widening skills gaps. In many industries and countries,…
Five years from now, over one-third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed. That’s according to a new Forum report, The Future of Jobs,that looks at the employment, skills and workforce strategy for the future. How will these skills be developed? What are the implications for what happens in schools now? Not just what…
We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be…
Here’s a interestingly provocative article for all of us in education. How Much Do we Need to Know? by Peter Evans-Greenwood. It opens with: We used to be defined by what we knew. But today, knowing too much can be a liability. Here are some of the key threads from the article: Expertise matters in a few narrowly highly technical…
For those of you who concerned about our children’s future – and I would think that includes all of us – there was an interesting article in Fast Company magazine: These are the Top Jobs for College Graduates in 2015. Apparently job prospects for new college graduates are looking up according to the most recent report from Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment…
Panel on the Future of Education from the NAIS Annual Conference, Boston 2015. With college presidents Rebecca Chopp, Nan Keohane, Paul LeBlanc and Pamela Gunter-Smith Moderated by NAIS President, John E. Chubb Featured photocredit: Dana Critchlow
Not content with sweeping the international testing stakes Finland is setting about radical school design and reform – again. And given some rather gloomy economic outlooks maybe not a moment too soon. Maybe they know that topping the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) test pile is not the holy grail and that these scores don’t tell us anything very useful …
I’m not sure when PDS became a member of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) but it was a long time ago. A few years back they published their short and quite excellent wonderful online A Guide to Becoming a School of the Future. The first section makes the case for schools of the future and if there’s anyone out…
I’m looking forward to the NAIS Annual Conference- #naisac15 – this year – assuming of course that Boston can dig its way out of all the snow. The theme is appealing: “Design the Revolution”. It’s a slogan that manages to evoke the design thinking and maker movements while also embracing the ineluctable truth that the world is speeding along rather…