NESTA 7

 

Is BESA stuck in a Jam?

BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association) are likely to seek a Judicial Review of the government’s decision to fund Oak National Academy (Oak), but only if their members fund it. This may play well with their edtech and publisher members, but is a non-issue for the many companies who supply things like furniture, pens and paper, […]

4 months ago Education More
 

The Endowment Effect: relying too much on the initial piece of information offered when making decisions

In my 20 years in the business of UK education, tutoring was almost always seen by governments as ‘the love that dare not speak its name’.  That political and ideological taboo has been shattered as a result of Covid-19, and in England we now have a state-funded, 3rd party-managed and 4th party-delivered National Tutoring Programme […]

2 years ago Education More
 

Month 4 of Covid 19’s impact on the UK education sector.

Right at the  start of the crisis the UK Office of Budget Responsibility predicted that in the 2nd quarter of 2020 output in education would be down by 90%.Published c.24 May, the scale of the estimated downturn was dramatic news for those in the business of education. It should also have been a clarion call […]

2 years ago Education More
 

An oddball army of weirdos and misfits

I have been thinking about Dominic Cummings’ plans to shake up the Civil Service by hiring a cadre of weirdos and misfits (most people I know seem to think I fit this criteria but I doubt my CV would make the cut with no tertiary qualifications, being too opinionated/old, Australian etc). However, I do have […]

3 years ago Education More
 

DfE’s new EdTech Leadership group & how to prevent groundhog day

Recently I saw a tweet from Professor Peter Twinning about the DfE’s new EdTech Leadership Group (also known variously as the EdTech Expert Group). I have met several people on the list and had the pleasure of chatting briefly to Caroline Wright at BESA’s recent event to launch the DfE’s new EdTech Innovation Fund. Some […]

3 years ago Education, Uncategorized More
 

My thoughts about the DfE’s new £4.6m EdTech Innovation Fund

A few weeks ago I attended the BESA event to explain the new DfE Edtech strategy. So popular was the announcement, BESA had to find a new venue. Ironically the same venue as my first-ever meeting, almost 20 years ago, when I was working for what was then called the Department for Education and Skills […]

3 years ago Education More
 

Is edtech a thing yet?

Audience Notes from Edtech Podcast event on Monday 20 June at NESTA I was asked to sit on this panel by the delightful Sophie of Edtech Podcast, who briefed us on what we needed to focus on. Being time limited and a tad verbose, I’m always a bit frustrated as I always have far more […]

5 years ago Education More