'Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World'

I was re-reading Tony Wagner's book “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World” which confirms the importance of the work we are doing with the Cutlers' 'Better Learners, Better Workers' approach in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Tony Wagner describes himself as “a translator between two hostile tribes” — the education world and the business world, the people who teach our kids and the people who give them jobs. It is interesting that Tony Wagner’s argument in his book “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World” is that our school and colleges are not consistently “adding the value and teaching the skills that matter most in the marketplace." The goal of education today should not be to make every child college  and university ready  but job ready and innovation ready — ready to add value to whatever they do in the world of work.

“Because knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what you know.  The capacity to innovate — the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life — and skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge."
These skills lie at the heart of the Cutlers' 'Better Learners, Better Workers' approach!

“Every young person will continue to need basic knowledge, of course, but they will need skills and motivation even more. Of these three education goals, motivation is the most critical. Young people who are intrinsically motivated — curious, persistent, and willing to take risks — will learn new knowledge and skills continuously.”
We know skills matter and we have seen the impact the Cutlers' 'Better Learners, Better Workers' programmes has on attendance, behaviour and outcomes!

“ Re-imagining schools for the 21st-century must be our highest priority. We need to focus more on teaching skills and will to learn and to make a difference and bring the three most powerful ingredients of intrinsic motivation into the classroom: play, passion and purpose. Because what gets tested is what gets taught all students should have digital portfolios to show evidence of mastery of skills like critical thinking and communication, which they build up right through secondary education."
We are developing digital badges as the next iteration of the Cutlers' 'Better Learners, Better Workers' approach so watch this space!