Miliband on Personalisation
by Duncan O'Leary
The last two days has seen Demos, OECD and the Innovation Unit (DfES) hosting an international conference on personalising learning and its implications for public service reform. Contributors included Charlie Leadbeater and other experts hailing from Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Finland.
The piece de resistance came with David Miliband's speech , which has been posted on the IU website.
It received an enthusiastic reception and he seemed genuinely modest when faced with applause that threatened to turn into a standing ovation. A one off? Or could this herald the dawn of a new relationship between minsiters and practitioners?
James Page
Sadly, David Milliband's speech was a bit of a let down. I think it unlikely that this is due to his own lack of vision, however. More likely, it is down to thinking that if it were any more future-thinking it would have seemed too far over the horizon to be meaningful to teachers and schools.
The vision seems bold and radical at first - personalised learning as the defining feature of our education system, wihch must be developed bottom up.
However, the three foundations on which it is based are so limited! Intelligent assessment is an important move, granted. But the single conversation is not wildly new, and better "data management" is hardly an inspiring force for systemic reform!
This does leave Demos in a strong position to take the bull by the horns and raise aspirations for a truly personalised education system.