An absolute privilege to be joined by Malcolm Greenhalgh, a former Primary school teacher who went on to lead one of England's largest independent inspection companies contracted to Ofsted and is now leading Incyte, a school improvement consultancy. Malcolm provided us with a helpful steer on what he was going to discuss and Ive copied it here.

Inclusive Flexibility

Like most I chat to about family and particularly about our children and grandchildren the chat always turns to the concerns we have about their future. And, in particular, how are they going to survive in such a dynamic world influenced by the impact of AI on the perception of truth, or how international criminal gangs are taking control over the lives of the average hard working person. The chats are always tinged with a significant sense of sadness as our society seems to be walking blindly into a state of chaos where there is great disregard for the laws created to ensure the world we live in is civilised and focussed on the well-being of all rather than well-being of some. There is also a sense of dismay when the chat turns to politics which also seems to focus on those that operate on personal gain rather than working together harmoniously for the well-being of all.

However, it is so easy to criticise but much harder to identify well thought out solutions to these mega issues.

Those of us in education may feel a great burden on our shoulders to provide our pupils with hope for a successful future in life that focuses on a positive contribution to society as a whole rather than a negative one. After all, isn’t this why we became involved in education in the first place?

To achieve this altruistic goal is a conundrum that educationalists around the world are faced with. Most fall into a trap of identifying solutions based on the same start point as we have always started from and then struggling to find the answers that will ensure our system of education is inclusive, equitable and fair, ensuring all pupils have the chance to achieve the goal of making a positive impact on society as a whole. The result is that we simply despair that we are not achieving what we set out to achieve.

In England, I always felt a sense of positivity during the 20th century and early part of the 21st century that we were moving in the right direction, we were making changes that did give all our pupils a fair chance of finding a life after school that they could use their skills, knowledge and understanding to make the positive contribution to society that we so want them to make enabling them to live a happy and fulfilled life. Yes, we did make mistakes when experimenting with new approaches to create an equitable system, but the direction towards the goal was always a positive one in the end.

However, the 100 years or so of progression came to an abrupt decline after the expert panel’s divisive conclusions in 2012 and the will of Gove to turn the education clock back to something more akin to Victorian education principles rather than those needed in a modern, fast moving world.

Although many countries around the world follow a similar process of schooling there are others that are taking decisions that will help to prepare the current population of pupils for the world they will meet when they leave full-time education.

What we need to consider in England is how we change our education system into one that has inclusivity and equity at its heart and meets the decisive individual needs of very different pupils.

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