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Welcome to the RSA Academies’ November newsletter. This time, in the light of the current situation, we have collated a series of articles and blogs (and links to online events) on educational matters written by the RSAA team and other colleagues at the RSA in recent months.

Some of these are part of the RSA’s “Bridges to the Future” initiative looking at how society might need to change in a post-Covid-19 world. Some are reflections on the current challenges and opportunities in education.

This summer’s grades and exams fiasco has brought into sharp focus the question of what exams are for. It’s time to ask whether they really benefit young people. Why are we talking about exams? Exams were cancelled this year due to Covid-19. An algorithm was used to calculate grades. But the results produced by this […]

It became apparent early on in this pandemic that exams would have to be cancelled. The Government boldly promised that no child would be at a disadvantage. The announcement that a school’s historic exam performance will play a role in how grades are standardised has raised concerns that the potential of disadvantaged pupils and turnaround […]

Colin Hopkins, Executive Director has written for Medium on whole system change in education in a think piece titled Creativity and Collaboration in Education. It’s a longer read at 14 mins, and you are warmly invited to reflect on the ideas posited here which cover school funding, accountability, the schools’ system and the curriculum. Photo […]

Are you enthusiastic about education and offering the best life chances to young people?  If so, the Central RSA Academies Trust has a number of vacancies and is seeking high-calibre, committed Governors and Chairs of Governors to strengthen its Local Academy Governing Boards (LAGBs). The Central RSA Academies Trust is a multi-academy sponsor with a […]

Most of the discussion on the impact of school closures has focussed on pupils, rightly so. But there is another group of learners in school who have been disrupted. Teachers. Every year there are almost 30,000 new entrants into teacher training programmes. Most of these eventually go on to become Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs). For new […]

One of the first changes we could see in public as a result of the lockdown were rainbows going up in windows. Created by children to support the NHS and care workers, these little bursts of joy created instant community on our streets. Families came to together to express compassion with a symbol of hope. […]

By Krystal Douglas FRSA In 2015, Warwick University and RSA Academies created a PhD research post focusing on young people’s peer networks and their relationship to higher education aspiration. This four-year studentship was awarded to Krystal Douglas. Since undertaking her research, Krystal has worked with RSA Academies to disseminate her findings to educationalists and young […]

In this blog post for the Contemporary Art Space Project based in the West Midlands, we hear from project curator Josephine Reichert about the impact of the in-school launch of Rudy Loewe’s “The Depths of Our History” held on 4 March 2020. In summer 2019 I was appointed the curator for the Contemporary Art Space […]

On Saturday 7th March 2020, RSA Academies’ Teaching School Alliance (TSA) held a conference for their cohort of newly qualified teachers (NQT) across the RSA Family and partners schools. The RSA Academies’ TSA recruits and trains new entrants to the teaching profession every year. This is the second time the cohort have met for a CPD […]