Redesigning Schooling – 1: Why change is needed

The author, Sue Williamson puts forward a passionate call for school leaders and educators to collaborate in setting our country’s education system on course for world-class, and explains why every education professional needs to be part of this campaign. This introductory pamphlet in the Redesigning Schooling series does not seek to tell school leaders what to do, nor how to do it. That is for the profession, to define, and the pamphlets that will follow in this series will outline evidence-based approaches to help.

Rather, this introductory pamphlet strives to hold up a mirror to reflect on the cumulative lessons of SSAT’s work over the years with schools, academia, stakeholders and policymakers. It signposts the clear direction in which these cumulative lessons now point, through a necessarily broad and wide-ranging exploration of the reasons for change. It poses the big questions that I think we need to urgently address.

So how do we design and deliver an education that will prepare our children to thrive in this fast-moving world? A world in which they will encounter challenges, and hold jobs, that we can’t yet even imagine? SSAT, working with school leaders, is attempting to redesign schooling to meet the challenge. To achieve this ambition, SSAT believes first and foremost that schools must lead the way. You are the ones with the deep, hard-earned knowledge and understanding to design an education system fit for purpose. It is essential that schools and school leaders work with all stakeholders – students, parents, employers, FE and HE, and policymakers – to do this. As the independent hub of the largest and longest-standing network of education professionals in England, SSAT has a unique position. Daily, my colleagues and I hear from you, SSAT members, about the challenges and the sometimes uneasy decisions that you face