A top-rated education is intrinsically associated with the individual, their individual needs and presenting each pupil, irrespective of their ability, with more collisions with more opportunities to acquire new lifelong skills.
The best schools make pupils feel good about who they are, challenge them with high expectations, and accept that we are all partners in education. The best educational establishments open doors, support dreams and aspirations, and seek to achieve excellence together.
Education should provide a strong moral and community purpose and support enhancing those skills that make the learners more employable than any others in the globally competitive marketplace they will enter. It should combine the development of personal skills with skills needed for the 21st Century.
Research indicates that ten things will lead to success in almost anything in life. These are:
Engraining these into a school curriculum would be extremely beneficial. It strikes me that an innovative educational programme might focus on four primary areas to ensure pupils leave ready for the workplace. These might include:
Learning and Innovation Skills
Life and Career Skills
Information, Media and Technology Skills
Core Subject Skills and 21st Century Themes
The best education focuses on basics and seeks to remove the complexities of learning. An outstanding school recognises that it provides each learner with the platform they need for future success, and it is where every teacher inspires a love of learning in those they teach. If all this takes place in a nurturing, supportive, academically stimulating environment where all the shackles that hinder learning are removed – it’s then that we are starting to experience quality education.