EdQuarter Presents: The Education Station

Our last panel of the year, sponsored by MyConcern, was an extremely important one – especially in the current climate. We spoke to Mike Glanville, director of safeguarding services at One Team Logic; Jan Pickles OBE, safeguarding consultant; Adam Lubbock, director of Kings River Education; and Luke Ramsden, designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy headteacher of St Benedict’s School.

We asked the panel about the current challenges for DSLs, what additional measures schools can take to support them, what lessons have been learned since March on managing the consequences of Covid-19, the implications of online learning, and how schools can develop a culture of outstanding safeguarding practice.

The experts spoke about how the workload and expectations of DSLs has escalated due to Covid-19. “Our DSLs need more support in a number of different ways to be able to enhance their role and really recognise the responsibilities that they have,” said Glanville.

Barnaby Lenon began his career in 1978 teaching geography at Eton College and is currently the chairman of the Independent Schools Council. On the topic of the current state of the independent schools sector, we asked him whether demand for independent schools had changed since the pandemic, the financial toll of freezing fees and the biggest challenges facing heads.

The big question was whether the independent schools sector is stronger or more vulnerable than ever. “It’s clearly very strong in some ways”, said Lenon, highlighting the sector’s “very good education”, “excellent value for money” and “tremendous historic continuity”.

However, Lenon continued: “Politically we’re vulnerable – we don’t have enough friends – financially we’re vulnerable because we know that our fees over the last 15-20 years have risen too fast, so we’ve lost some middle-income parents, but otherwise I think we’re in good shape.”

We were delighted to catch up with Sally-Anne Huang, high master at St Paul’s School, who reflected on the last academic year, her role as chair of HMC, and how schools can foster an environment for good mental health. 

Huang, new to her role at St Paul’s this September, said it had been a good time to move schools, as crisis management meant she had been able to get to know the team very well right off the bat.

She highlighted how headteachers urgently needed consultation with the Government on what is going to happen with 2021 exams, and said this lack of discussion with those at the chalkface had led to a loss of faith. “I do wish there was more consultation. We as headteachers often hear things from journalists before official announcements from the Government. Faith that things will be consistent, I think that’s gone, but in some ways it’s made us more resilient.” Huang added about the independent schools sector: “I do think that we’ll come out of this stronger.”

We spoke to Nick Dennis about the impact of the pandemic on the curriculum and his role as director of studies, how history education is changing, and practical steps to improve the recruitment and development of staff to increase ethnic and gender diversity.

Nick Dennis is currently director of studies at St. Francis’ College, Letchworth and also a fellow of the Schools History Project, the UK’s premier historical education think tank. He has presented a series of historical documentary programmes for the World History Project, where he also sits on the advisory board. Nick is a member of the GSA’s Inclusion Committee in addition to being part of the National Governance Association’s diversity and inclusion advisory group. Alongside teaching, Nick has worked with a variety of organisations such as EuroClio, Europeana and Apple. Nick has published articles on history education, diversity, educational research and the use of technology to enhance learning.

Our panel of passionate headteachers stepped up to tackle the biggest questions in education. This included Nina Gunson, head of Sheffield High School for Girls; Millan Sachania, headmaster of Streatham & Clapham High School; Mark Beach, headmaster of Sherborne House School; and Jo Anderson, principal of Bury Grammar Schools.

We asked them whether schools should have been forced to shut in March, whether they received enough guidance from the Government to open in September, what strategies they used to reassurance parents and if their schools were prepared for more potential lockdowns. We also asked them about the mental health impact of the pandemic on their pupils, which remote learning tools have worked well and what should happen with next year’s exams.

It’s mind blowing that, in 2020, so many people are still fighting for equality. The current climate of anger and divisiveness only emphasises that fact.

Unfortunately, the tech industry is no exception. The gender gap, in particular, has long been a topic of contention. And while seven out of the top 10 most gender-equal countries are in Europe, according to the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, the UK is not one of them.

Even once their expertise and dedication sees them soar to the top, female tech COOs are consistently underpaid, earning 12% less than their male equivalents. Experts say that, overall, across every industry, women may have to wait 250 years to achieve pay parity with men. That simply isn’t good enough. Women must be paid what they're worth. But this is an issue that starts as early as school, where young girls are discouraged from pursuing their passion in STEM.

We talk to some of the industry’s most powerful female figures about their experience as a woman in tech, laying out a blueprint for breaking the bro barrier and inspiring a female digital workforce.

MEET THE PANEL: 

Chloe Barrett Founder & CEO of Immersify Education  

Rosie Bennett Investment Programme Manager, SetSquared / Twitter @RosieDBennett

Geseth Garcia Co-founder / Twitter @GesethGarcia

Kimberly Bryant is the founder and CEO of Black Girls CODE – a non-profit organisation dedicated to “changing the face of technology” by introducing girls of colour (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts.

Prior to starting Black Girls CODE, Kimberly enjoyed a successful 20+ year professional career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries as an engineering manager in a series of technical leadership roles for various Fortune 50 companies such as Genentech, Merck, and Pfizer. Since 2011, Kimberly has helped Black Girls CODE grow from a local grassroots initiative serving only the Bay Area, to an international organisation with fourteen chapters across the U.S. and in Johannesburg, South Africa. Black Girls CODE has currently reached over 10,000 students and continues to grow and thrive.

Kimberly has been awarded the prestigious Jefferson Award for Community Service for her work to support communities in the Bay Area, named by Business Insider on its list of ‘The 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology’, and featured on The Root 100 and the Ebony Power 100 lists in 2013. Kimberly has been deemed one of FastCompany’s Most Creative People, and was named a White House as a Champion of Change for her work in tech inclusion, as well as for her focus on bridging the digital divide for girls of colour.

In this exclusive one-to-one interview, Anna Britten – managing editor of EdQuarter – explores Kimberly’s journey from engineering manager to edtech pioneer. They will discuss Kimberly’s experience as a woman of colour in tech, her campaign for increased diversity and her continuing battle for BAME inclusion.

With extensive experience in schools and colleges as a teacher, lecturer, senior manager, principal and governor, Bob Harrison has worked with head teachers and senior leaders in developing leadership skills for the National College of School Leadership. He was also the advisor to DfES on the FE Principals Qualification, the digital/e-learning advisor for the DfES Standards Unit and the lead on Digital Futures for the Building Schools for the Future Leadership programme which he designed and delivered at national level for several local authorities.

Following 12 years as Chief Examiner as well as being a fellow of the RSA, Bob was made an Honorary Life member of CGLI for services to Vocational Education. He is also Chair of Governors at Northern College, Governor at Oldham College and Vice Chair of Governors at a Trafford Secondary School.

As Toshiba’s Northern European Education Advisor for 16 years he is a writer, presenter and researcher on mobile learning, digital technologies and next generation learning. Bob is a BERA member and recently presented BERA 2019 on “Digitisation and Academisation”.

An active member of the Association for Learning technology he is also the ALT FE Ambassador and a member of the conference programme committee.

Bob has recently been shortlisted for the TES FE “Lifetime Achievement Award” for services to Further, Vocational and Adult Education and so we are very pleased to welcome him to our Sofa Sessions where we hope you will join us for this exclusive one-to-one interview hosted by Debbie Luckham, Marketing Consultant at EdQuarter.

Twitter - @BobHarrisonEdu

Laura McInerney is an education journalist, former teacher, and co-founder of Teacher Tapp – the app that uncovers teachers’ secret lives.

She regularly appears on TV and radio as an authority on schools, including BBC News, Today on Radio 4, Sky News, and Newsnight. Laura taught for six years in challenging secondary schools before being taken to court by Michael Gove for asking a difficult question about free schools (and yes – she won the answer eventually, and did so while wearing a dazzling sunshine-yellow jacket!). After this, Laura became a journalist, writing a monthly column in The Guardian and editing Schools Week, where her team won national awards for their hard-hitting scoops. Here, Laura profiled over 50 names in education, including Dylan Wiliam, Carol Dweck and David Blunkett.

As co-founder of Teacher Tapp, the daily teacher survey app, she is on the pulse of teachers’ deepest wants, needs and thoughts. Laura is known for being blunt, bold, but fair. She holds to account politicians across the spectrum and is widely respected across the sector.

Join us for this exclusive one-to-one interview, where Genna Ash – editor of Education Technology – speaks to Laura about her transition from teacher to edtech trailblazer, touching on her life and experience of the sector, and uncovering the meaning of that gorgeous yellow jacket in Laura’s quest to shine a light on the truth…

In this episode our expert panel explores...

With financial analysts forecasting a £463m shortfall for the next academic year, as 14,000 fewer prospective students from just eight southeast Asian countries opt to cancel or postpone their study plans, these invaluable institutions must do all they can to protect the bottom line, all while maintaining the elite student experience for which the UK is well-known.

Staff are stretched by swelling workloads and rising administrative tasks, all while working from home and dealing with heightened levels of stress. How can universities support their student recruitment teams and maintain a seamless recruitment model to see them through these unprecedented times? Does the answer lie in technology and automation?

Meet the panel

Laura Rettie - Vice President of Global Communications & Brand at Studee / Twitter @laurarettie

Harjiv Singh - Founder and CEO of BrainGain Global

Vivi Friedgut is the founder and CEO of Blackbullion – the award-winning edtech company on a mission to make the world’s money smart.

Prior to founding Blackbullion, Vivi was a financial management expert, spending almost a decade managing the wealth of high net worth families and individuals. She’s on a mission to empower young people by helping them build financial capability, opening up the conversation surrounding money and cultivating a healthy, money-smart mindset.

Fast becoming the go-to financial platform for leading universities, Blackbullion currently supports 700,000 students through partners including King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh and the University of South Australia. A champion of tech for good, the platform is actively integrated into university student recruitment, retention and financial support strategies.

In this exclusive one-to-one interview, Anna Britten – managing editor of EdQuarter – talks to Vivi about her path from finance professional to global edtech founder, discussing her insights on the current status and value of financial management in education, and mapping out her vision for the future of the sector.

Twitter @ViviFriedgut

On June 15, Tory MPs, Tony Blair and leading UK charities issued a warning to the education secretary, stating that as many as 700,000 children – the very same bunch who have been eligible for free school meals throughout  the lockdown – also don’t have access to the internet at home. The open letter cited fears that the young people who are falling behind now “may never catch up”…

But this is by no means an issue that’s exclusive to the UK. Remote learning relies on tech and tech costs money to implement. In this new remote world, is it fair that some students are automatically disadvantaged because their socioeconomic circumstances are not the same as their peers? Will this gap in access further marginalise underrepresented learners? How can we ensure reliable and equitable access for all so every student has a fair chance of unleashing their full potential? Will the government fulfil their promise, or will this be a lasting battle that puts the most vulnerable and disadvantaged students at risk?

MEET THE PANEL

Priya Lakhani OBE is the founder and CEO of CENTURY – the award-winning AI education technology company.

In 2008, Priya left her career as a barrister to launch a FMCG business with products in nationwide supermarket chains and independent retailers. The company’s charitable arm provided millions of meals and 35,000 vaccinations to the underprivileged.

Priya was awarded Business Entrepreneur of the Year by the Chancellor in 2009 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2014. She has been a member of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Entrepreneurs’ Forum and in 2019 was appointed to the UK government’s AI Council.

Join us for this exclusive one-to-one interview, where Genna Ash – editor of Education Technology – speaks to Priya about her career and perceptions of the sector, delving into the topic of AI in education and unravelling her forecast for the industry’s future.

Twitter: @priyalakhani

Education has been slower to commit to the digital transition than many other sectors, fearful of straying too far from tradition and restricted by a lack of adequate training in tech. But failure to adapt could have caused irreparable disruption to students’ education and upped the risk of a lost learning generation slipping through the cracks. Schools had to make use of the tools at their disposal, and it took something as drastic as COVID-19 to drive this revolutionary change.

The sector has now been functioning remotely for almost three months. The majority of teachers have little to no experience in delivering education online, and the move happened so fast that many have still had little to no training in how to do so effectively. On top of this, they are juggling the daily anxieties that inevitably come alongside a global pandemic…

The government’s plan for the phased reopening of schools on 1 June was shelved before it had even begun, and it’s looking increasingly likely that remote learning in some form or another could be here to stay. So, how are teachers faring in this remote world, and are they ready to embrace the ‘new normal’?

Meet the panel

Mathew Pullen - Senior Lecturer, University of South Wales / Twitter - @mat6453

Justin Collins - Associate Professor, UCL / Twitter - @4urology

Neelam Parmar - Director of EdTech, Ashford School / Twitter - @neelamparmar1