Made in Sheffield!

I spent the morning in Sheffield talking about the opportunities we face to build a new curriculum.Sheffield isn't somewhere I have worked and it has been fascinating finding out and learning about some of the brilliant things that are happening in this great city; including Bright Sparks, Work Wise and Sheffield Interactive. Sheffield isn't unique in the challenges it faces and the new national agenda and the new National Curriculum provides us all with a window of opportunity and this is particularly true in cities like Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham. Having spent time in Sheffield over the last few weeks there is a real appetite in schools, colleges and businesses to work together to co-create a new offer with a new entitlement for every learner linked to employability and the world of work. There is a real understanding that with encouragement and support something powerful and effective can be developed. There is also a willingness, and a capability, to face up to the challenges of introducing a ‘new’ curriculum alongside the ‘old’ framework which simply is not delivering despite the extraordinary efforts of schools.

We need to be able to compete with places like Singapore, China, India and Korea and the keys to achieving a transformation in outcomes are very straightforward. We need to work together with local businesses, partners and stakeholders to develop a powerful and compelling vision for the future and we need to encourage and support those who are brave enough to be the pathfinders for a  radically different approach to teaching and learning. We need above all to learn from and share what works and share local, national and international ‘best practice’ to build world class learning and achieve a step change in outcomes. We will need great leadership and strong and effective project management to provide support for the pathfinders and we will need to work with higher education to carefully evaluate the work as it develops to demonstrate it's effectiveness, impact and outcomes.

Interesting times! If you are interested and want to find out more please let me know. If you want to help I would be delighted to hear from you!

Chris