06 Feb Challenge Accepted: A Classroom Revolution

If any of my former teachers are reading this article, I think they would argue I had already accepted and successfully delivered on the challenge of mounting a classroom revolution!

But I am talking about a very different kind of classroom revolution, one that does not include a flagrant violation of uniform policy (a story for another time)

2018 saw the Department for Education and the Education Secretary issue a war cry – calling on industry to help tackle the five biggest issues facing schools and classroom teachers today. Damian Hinds has challenged the tech industry to launch an education revolution for schools, colleges and universities.

Now you may or may not know this but here at Academia we are very partial to a challenge, be it the National 3 Peaks Challenge, raising a target amount for our charity of the year, or continuing our impressive double digit growth as a business. So why would this challenge be any different especially when it aligns to our core values and is key to the success of our company and vital for the economic future of our nation?

Challenge accepted Mr Hinds!

The DfE have identified five key challenges/opportunities for the tech sector to create a step change in education, improving teaching and slashing educator workload.

So how are Academia stepping up to these challenges and opportunities? How are we developing our portfolio of products and services to ensure we are adding value to schools?

The five key DFE challenges/opportunities include developing innovative:

1. Teaching practices to support access, inclusion, and improved learning outcomes for all.

2. Assessment processes, making assessment more effective and efficient.

3. Methods for delivery of teacher training and development by upgrading educator support so they can learn and develop with more flexibility.

4. Administration processes to reduce the burden of ‘non-teaching’ tasks.

5. Solutions to lifelong learning to help those who have left the formal education system to get the best from online learning.

You will read more about our approach throughout this edition of The educator. You will hear first-hand about how our dedicated team of education experts and professionals are applying their knowledge of the latest technology from leading global companies to help our customers transform teaching and learning and ultimately improve learning outcomes for students.

The Academia approach

1. Utilise technology for personalised learning experience that is inclusive and accessible.

2. Provide greater flexibility to marking feedback and assessment through digital means.

3. Give confidence and capacity to teaching staff to create digital curriculum content and distribute through digital workflow tools and offering teacher/staff tools to deliver and control digital classrooms.

4. Increasing aspects of operational efficiencies and cost savings through the effective use of technology in areas such as photo copying and printing.

5. Using technology confidently to underpin lifelong independent learning principles.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds states:

“Schools, colleges and universities have the power to choose the tech tools which are best for them and their budgets. But they cannot do this alone. It’s only by forging a strong partnership between government, technology innovators and the education sector that there will be sustainable, focused solutions which will ultimately support and inspire the learners of today and tomorrow.”

This is covered in my colleague TAG’s article, focussing on why we need to improve the spending and use of technology in our learning spaces. All too often we hear the horror stories of when an education establishment has used precious resources on ineffective tech that does not deliver any sort of return on investment.

Together, we will help your school, college or university, design and deliver a sustainable learning environment to meet the needs and aspirations of a modern, technology-rich education organisation, whilst recognising and addressing the unique set of challenges facing the sector.