The outcome of the election has delighted many in education, who are celebrating the end of National Standards and, perhaps, Communities of Learning. The celebrations are ongoing. My response is a little more measured...

Many years ago, a Norwegian criminologist, Nils Christie (1970), published a book with the title Hvis skolen ikke fandtes (If there were no school). He concluded that if schools didn’t exist then it would be necessary to invent them.

I published an article recently – Personalising learning: A wicked challenge! As I read some of the comments, I realised that people did not see “Personalising Learning” through the rich lens of a humanising education as I did. Many saw it as an individualised, technical process and even neo liberal in intent. Hence, this article is, at least partially, a reframing of “personalising learning” into the more political Equity-Mindedness.   

Richardson and Dixon (2017) were right when they suggested that schools were originally set up as efficient ways to deliver education to more people. They said, “Schools have represented an imperfect construct for learning, one driven by efficiencies rather than effectiveness.”

“Personalised learning” rolls off the tongue so easily.

Our vision for education at Amesbury School is:

"that EVERY child will experience what it means to be fully human and continually fulfil his/her potential"

It has to become a global educational priority today for those in education to evolve their ability to think, but also to lay the foundations for an education that ensures our children and young people develop as postformal thinkers.

But mentors and coaches ... also challenge you and encourage you to go to tough places and spaces – to do the thing that you most want to avoid because it scares you silly. They [do it]... because they know that it is in those spaces that we find out...who we are and where we stand.

"They were requiring we show care, but there was no requirement for them to show the same level of care by funding for care."

"The world has changed and education can no longer be founded on the sacrifice and goodwill of its employees. Education must reinvent itself as a sustainable undertaking."

Yes, I know....some university papers are not as long as this! A long read, but a worthwhile read.