Disruptive innovation

Lord David Puttnam started his speech by reading a passage from a book by the British philospher Bertrand Russell who said there is no state on Earth where there is no conflict between what the child needs and what the state wants. In other words, state education is failing children. This still remains true today, said Lord Puttnam - and launched into a damning endictment on the state education system. Education could become one of the most effective drivers of economic growth - if we let it, he said. Disruptive innovations are essential for forward movement he suggested, but the opposite is actually happening when we look at current government policies. Affordable, accessible technology is now embedded in the lives of teachers, but how at liberty are they to use them effectively in the context of school?

Echoing some of Ken Robinson's recent tropes, Lord Puttnam argued that school is still based upon Victorian values and not the values espoused by the current digital cultures. What would a digital curriculum look like? he asked. Apple didn't invent the smart phone or the computer tablet. But their marriage of the two in a smart way has disrupted personal computing for ever. The mobile app economy, he said, has changed forever the way we communicate and connect with information. In his calm, and forthright manner, he asked the killer question - when will we apply the same disruptive values that are pervading every other aspect of society to the isolated world of state funded education? Times are changing, was his theme. Earlier, to pre-figure his presentation, a video was projected onto the large screens in the arena. The title? The Digital Story of the Nativity:

Children today need new skills, he argued - skills that we didn't need when we were in school. But because the world has changed, we are now needing to think about how different the world will look like when the children of today leave school and start work. His stark warning was that if we in this country don't get it right, and marry education and technology effectively to equip our young people to be competitive, then the rest of the world - those countries who have been bolder, and have taken the risks - will shed no tears. Imagine a world in which we can devise entirely new ways of assessment, experiencing new things and acquiring new skills he asked. Lord Puttnam's message was a polar opposite to the earlier, less well received (and I put it mildly) presentation by Government advisor Katherine Birbalsingh, who called for a return to the Victorian values of privately funded schools such as Eton. David Muir puts it quite well on his EdCompBlog:

"Is education insulated or isolated from the disruption the technology is causing elsewhere. We need to discuss who we can embrace the technology that is already embedded in the lives of the pupils in our schools. We need to reboot education to make sure it meets their needs and the needs of the businesses they will work in when they leave school. If the state fails in this task, private companies may step in and do it instead."

He wasn't finished and wanted to look globally. Never before in history have we been living in each other pockets, said Lord Puttnam. This means that we are more dependent on each other globally than we have ever been. We need to earn respect for our place in the world, and an online conversation between participants all around the globe, and instant access to the enabling technology, is what young people expect. Is it what we are offering them? he asked. His final comment was this: Getting education right is the most important priority for all of us. It's the whole ball of wax. No state education system will be any use, unless it trains and sustains good teachers. Teacher education in a digital age, using the best and latest technologies is a must, he said.

Disruptive innovation by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.