Coming to a cinema near you, The Private School Business

In spite of the Harry Potter effect only 7% of children in England attend private schools a rather modest number compared to almost 40% of their antipodean counterparts. I have been thinking upon private schools a lot since an interesting meeting with the senior management team at a high profile Australian private school to discuss […]

6 years ago Education More
 

Elite Australian private schools face an uncertain future

Elite Australian private schools face a couple of problems similar to those facing elite US universities – high fees and how to cope with excess demand. Supply of places in elite Australian private schools is very limited and so parents have to pay to join waiting lists. In most markets a supply side gap normally […]

6 years ago Education More
 

What’s the difference between an accelerator and an incubator? Two letters and a sematic minefield.

In the last few years both incubators and accelerators have grown in the tech scene almost like viruses. From the well-known ones like ycombinator, 500 Startups, TechStars and SeedCamp, to newer players like Wayra, Angel Pad and Springboard, the list seems to grow  daily. I have been involved with a couple as a mentor and […]

6 years ago Education More

Will the upcoming Australian election bring forth yet another education revolution?

Politicians with an eye to the media cycle frequently tout their latest initiative as a ‘revolution’, but often the most substantive transformation is a lot less money in taxpayers’ wallets. In 2008, Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard (then Minister for Education), having launched the $16bn (£10.5bn) Building the Education Revolution (BER) followed this with the […]

6 years ago Education More
 

Start Up Weekend Education London

I was one of the organisers and a judge at the recent Start Up Weekend Education London. For those who have survived one of these 54 hours marathons you will know all about the heady mix of inspiration, frustration, elation and exhaustion. In 2011 Night Zookeeper won the first ever London Start Up Weekend Education […]

6 years ago Education More

Onalytica Influence Index of the top 100 education blogs

Over the last few weeks I have been working with UK tech firm Onalytica to develop an index of the Top 100 Influential Education blogs which we launched during the recent Start Up Weekend Education London. At a basic level the index is built using Onalytica’s sophisticated data analysis tools, which are used by companies […]

6 years ago Education More

New York’s school bus strike & US education reform

One of the most recognisable icons in America are the yellow school buses that take millions of students to and from school each day. If we had anything similar in England it’s estimated that it would reduce traffic congestion in cities by 10% during peak hour, saving the economy billions. Will we ever? Unlikely, unless […]

6 years ago Education More

My edSurge story: Where’s the Money, Jack?

Last year Tony Wan at edSurge asked me to write a story about the London edtech scene. It took a little while to finalise and my story went live at the same time as I was on a panel discussing start-up funding with members of the London Educational Games Meetup Group (LEGup). LEGup is organised […]

6 years ago Education More

Chris Whittle – third time lucky?

Education can be an unforgiving lover, as education entrepreneur Christopher Whittle knows only too well. His latest venture ‘Avenues – The World School’ a nascent chain of for-profit international private schools – comes after bruising encounters with his first education start-up, the sponsored media business Channel 1 News (sold in 1994) and his more high-profile […]

7 years ago Education More

Elite universities schooled?

Chris Whittle’s new venture Avenues – The World School may be an object business lesson for the elite university sector. Yale recently invested $600m to expand its undergraduate intake by 15% or by around 800 students. At $750k per student this is rather expensive even when you take into account they had to build two […]

7 years ago Education More