RSA Fellowship

Inequality in Education: The Future of Education in England

5 October 2015
6pm - 9pm

The RSA, The Great Room, 8 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6EZ

Inequality in Education: The Future of Education in England - Organised by RSA London Inequality in Education Network hosted by Annette Smith, Education Consultant and member of Turning The Tide.

We are delighted to announce two great speakers: Diane Reay, Professor of Education at Cambridge University & Danny Dorling, Professor University of Oxford. Both speakers are passionate and informed critics of the current education system.

This Year's Conference

The conference is aimed at anyone interested in promoting fair access to education regardless of socio-economic background from Early Years to Further Education. If you are a parent, pupil, teacher, governor, university representatives, interest group, NGO or just passionate about education, this conference is for you.

This year’s meeting will be designed so that participants have prior notice of some of the questions to be discussed and so that the event will have a strong social media presence. We are doing this because we think it unlikely that any significant changes will be made unless there is a strong social movement supporting progressive reform and we intend the meeting to be a contribution to the building of such a movement.

Your Questions for the Conference

The following questions have been presented by the speakers, Diane & Danny, respectively. It would be great to receive your answers and comments prior to the conference.

Questions from Diane Reay

What needs to change to achieve greater equality in schooling?
What needs to change for the key indicators below to improve?
Which indicators are the most important and why? (Diane's suggested indicators below)
What is missing?

The degree of difference in educational attainment levels across different classes and ethnic groups
The levels of well-being and happiness of school students
The difference in spending per pupil across different types of schools (including the private sector)
The levels of segregation and polarisation between schools and within them (including the private sector)
The degree to which all children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum
Teachers' levels of professional satisfaction and autonomy

Questions from Danny Dorling

Is a more expensive education really a more privileged one?
Have you learnt a great deal if you are awarded many A*s?
Do we value memorising above problem solving and experimentation?
Can we imagine a schooling system without so much testing of children?

Please send your answers and comments to John Bayley FRSA: jbayley1961@gmail.com. These will be sent on to the speakers and collated for use in the conference.

History of the network

In May 2014, a RSA London network on educational inequality convened a meeting in the Great Room to which we invited Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Mortimore. Our aim was to address inequality of outcome in the English education system. Both speakers gave inspiring and informative talks - you can wahtch them here & here.

The talks got a strong response from Fellows and since then we have held a number of network meetings in London. At these meetings we have become aware of the increasingly urgent need for a national discussion on education that includes the voice of parents, children and teachers who are increasingly concerned about the inequality and disorganisation of our entire education system from early years to tertiary provision.

The programme for the evening will be sent out prior to the event.

For further information about this event please contact John Bayley FRSA: jbayley1961@gmail.com

RSA Inequality in Education network: The Future of Education in England