Hi friends,
18 months since my last post.
has been gibing: “I keep waiting for your own Substack to send me a post” etc. So here is a quick update on a few projects I’ve been involved with.Arka - a new tutoring initiative
Josh and I have now appointed an amazing management team to run Keystone Tutors. Though we remain closely involved at Keystone, we have moved our attention to a new initiative: Arka Learning. We plan to set up a network of affordable after-school learning centres across UK high streets and shopping centres, teaching English and Maths initially but perhaps fanning out into other subjects in due course.
Learning centres are a mainstay of educational cultures across the world, especially in Asia. Our hope is to make them so across the UK too. Might they also serve the purpose suggested by
in his latest?One of the most important things in rebuilding Britain after decades of often bad public policy is building education institutions outside political control, including but not only ‘schools’ — i.e not following the national curriculum or politically-controlled exams.
It would be especially wonderful if, at the same time, we could capitalise on the thesis recently put forward by
(Why We Stopped Making Einsteins) and (Childhoods of exceptional people) and unlock all sorts of latent intellectual firepower through the unique power of tutoring. I’ll keep you posted.The first centre launches in High Wycombe in early 2024. Register for updates here. There are loads of ways you can help if interested: a curriculum bod with a passion for Singapore Maths I would give my gallbladder for. (I am parting ways with this horrible organ next week, so I guess this is potentially a genuine offer.)
Speaking of how judicious tutoring might create a parallel school system, how enterprising and suggestive is this new ‘Learning Group’ venture from Emmanuel Christian School!
Schools policy
I spend approx 1-2 days per week on schools policy. Here are some of the areas I’ve been interested in and working on:
Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE). The absolute mess caused by this subject since its reform in 2019 has been well documented. Thanks to the work of Clare Page, Miriam Cates, Jo-Anne Nadler, Dr Anna Loutfi, Lottie Moore and no doubt many others, the issue has gone from the fringes to the mainstream. Suella Braverman listed it as #4 of the PM’s ‘broken assurances’ on her resignation letter! Many of us attended an excellent panel on the issue in the House of Lords. My remarks here.
A Parents’ Union. There is no national voice for parents in their dealings with schools. Some of us are trying to set one up - let me know if you’re keen to get involved? We of course owe a debt to Charlotte Mason’s own PNEU - see the formidable ladies and one loonish gent striding forth during Swedish Drill in the header above! - and, like hers, ours will be “for the children’s sake” too.
Behaviour. ResPublica kicked off their schools policy unit with an excellent but under-acknowledged report showing strict behaviour policies lead to school success. Similar conclusions were drawn by SchoolsWeek when assessing Nick Gibb’s record in office, and his unpopular - but far-sighted - championing of traditional teaching. I chimed in on the same topic for the Critic after another astonishing lunch at Michaela.
Smartphones. Opinion is finally shifting. Great work from UsForThem, Sophie Windsor and pioneering schools like Heritage amongst others has pushed forwards a sluggish conversation on their takeover of children’s lives. Gillian Keegan even hopes to push ahead with an outright ban in UK schools. Jon Haidt was so persuasive at ARC (summarised well here) and his new book ‘The Anxious Generation’ is going to be a bombshell. I was talking to someone at ARC about distributing it to all school leaders and asking them to sign a pledge to enact his four suggestions. If you’d like to help, please get in touch. (*PS Heritage are holding their first CPD Training Day on 28/11: get in touch if you’d like more information.)
Private schools and elite formation. With all the talk of VAT on private school fees, I’ve been wondering whether the experience of attending a private school could be ‘unbundled’ and offered a la carte rather than all-you-can-eat. LinkedIN seemed pretty persuadable: link to my essay here. I also spoke to Eton’s Philosophy Society about C S Lewis’ wonderful essay on education, the Abolition of Man. They were so unconvinced by moral objectivism! (Copy of my talk here.)
Thanks all - see you next time!
Gibing? Moi?