Schools as Living Labs
Re-engineering British education out of the factory and into the real world
Britain’s education system remains standardised to 19th century factory models, fostering deep socioeconomic inequalities and failing to prepare students for 21st century life. As a result, British academic standards and productivity are in decline. In the last 25 years, Finland’s education policy has continued to adopt an egalitarian ethos of economic equality, curricula personalisation and intergenerational support. Due to these radical changes, the Finnish system now outperforms most other countries.
If Britain hopes to improve their current failing academic and productivity record, policymakers must adopt a similar radical egalitarian ethos, supported by a 3-part collaborative learning agenda:
- co-creation of learning curricula;
- co-creation of learning assessments; and
- co-creation of learning spaces.
Taken together, these policy changes have the potential to re-engineer British education out of the factory and into 21st century Living Labs. In other words, dynamic research and innovation hubs where diverse teams of people can map real-world problems and prototype responsive solutions.
Such disruptive education policy changes present significant short-term economic and social challenges. Yet such short-term challenges are insignificant compared to the long-term benefits to people and society.
Namely, providing British citizens with the 21st-century skillsets they need to flourish, so they can contribute to a better and brighter democracy.
To read the full paper visit Schools as Living Labs
