A joint statement of intent
The world in which we are living is rapidly transforming and the pace of that change is ever increasing. It is also a world which urgently faces unprecedented and interlinked crises of inequality, poverty, conflict and climate change.
Schools need to prepare young people to navigate such complexity and challenge and to play a full part as active and engaged citizens. The need for a generation of learners who can deal creatively and constructively with an uncertain and ethically challenging future grows ever more pressing.
To truly face such a future and successfully nurture active, enterprising citizens able to flourish in whatever form that world takes, schools must now think differently about their purpose as well as how they go about change.
We need to allow our schools to work at the heart of their community to build shared purposes and values so that there is a strong sense of belonging (or ownership) for all. When great minds unite around a shared purpose, great things become possible.
Schools of Tomorrow and Whole Education have been bringing together school and trust leaders through our networks to share ideas and practice for many years.
Schools of Tomorrow focuses on:
Encouraging and engaging school leaders to become gardeners rather than carpenters, to see their leadership in school more as nurturing a pond, organic, messy, alive and growing in unexpected ways, rather than as managing a swimming pool, static, sterile, and scrubbed.
Supporting staff to create and nurture high quality relationships as the foundation of effective learning and to foster a broader understanding of school purpose and quality through our four-quadrant framework, developed by school leaders and informed by research.
Supporting and enabling students to re-engage with authentic learning and become the voice of tomorrow today in their schools and communities, giving them real agency in creating meaningful change.
Seeing parents as engaged co-educators, partners in learning, rather than passive service consumers.
Whole Education focuses on:
Building networks of leaders from across our fragmented educational landscape so that they are able to span the boundaries for the benefit of all.
Creating a climate within those networks where deep thinking, humility and collaboration are highly prized.
Encouraging leaders to slow down and work with their communities to intentionally design and then build schools that prepare all learners to thrive in our rapidly transforming world.
Meeting leaders where they are and without judgement; and where necessary supporting them to establish ways to find sustainable solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing our school system.
Understanding that every individual, regardless of age or life stage, benefits from a Whole Education.
Both organisations believe that, given the enormity of the challenge facing schools and all of us, it is incumbent on all of us who share common values and a vision for a better future to collaborate as closely as possible in the interests of young people. We believe that now is the time for us to work more closely together for the benefit of the school, trust and local authority leaders in our networks and the communities they serve.
So we now jointly commit to:
Collaborate to share planning and information so as to avoid duplication of timing or content, while aligning more closely our membership offer and pricing, to avoid unhelpful competition.
Each offering members of the other organisation member rate access for any ticketed activity they wish to attend.
Jointly organise a live conference event in the spring term. This will be held on March 6th in London.
Offer a new joint membership subscription for individuals who want to be associated with our work, and values, in addition to and alongside our respective offers for schools and trusts.
Create a shared online resource area for members.
