[Applause]
my dearest education forgive me for
writing in such formal tones but some
things can’t be captured in 140
characters or a selfie and what I’ve got
to say feels more important to me than
an update status so the problem is our
relationship isn’t going too well these
days in fact it’s because you’ve changed
it might have taken a few stades but
really if you look back over the
centuries you now stand for something
completely different it’s fair to say
over the last few years particularly
been hanging out and entirely the wrong
crowd now those in Whitehall may mock
but perhaps we could just take a few
moments and pause and reflect and think
about what is it we really want what is
the purpose of Education what if the
main not sold but main purpose of
Education was to improve happiness
develop resilience and build well-being
what if the more time we spent thinking
about some of these human skills that
maybe we could just simply accept that
academic success would follow this is
not a breakup letter but it is a letter
to call for change why well simply
English young people are sitting once
again low down the league tables but
this in terms of happiness and despite
prosperity getting better in England
over the last 50 years happiness has
barely improved at all 16 year olds are
told around half of them that they’ve
failed despite the system in which they
have failed is one-dimensional only
measures one type of intelligence and
one type of academic attainment I’ve
worked for years as a business coach and
an educationalist where thousands of
people have watched hundreds including
myself fail why well it’s not because of
insufficient talent or technical ability
boffin it’s because of the lack of depth
of motional resilience
being in a position to understand your
own purpose and being ready to thrive
and if we don’t deal with this through
practical ways then it leads us to a
fairly sad and depressing place
depressive action social isolation
depression stress anxiety he’s not great
things and yet they sadly missing from
our curricula when people suffer will
unnecessarily physically and emotionally
with these actually they don’t suffer on
their own today but they suffer with
their families and the future business
employers suffer with them the scenario
no one feels like the winning at all we
know that wanting for people will suffer
mental health difficulty so why are not
preparing people what we know they’re
going to need which is self possession
and an emotional security now there’s no
silver bullet to deal with this and
we’ve got to acknowledge that starting a
conversation surely is the right
starting point for us now qualifications
are important but the far from
sufficient for helping people live happy
human lives in the world in which we’ve
created there’s an obsession by regional
national government of measuring
economic impact there is endless talk
about skill shortages and skills gaps
and the need to solely meet the needs of
employers in order to drive up
productivity standards the necessity of
growth is always economic and rarely
human my dear education in the system
you created you simply a valuing the
wrong things feels like the right time
to have the conversation feels like the
right time a change the conditions
should seriously and simply be better so
what might a great system look like well
firstly to start acknowledging that we
need to teach well-being and well-being
is a valid educational outcome feels
like a great place to start and also the
development of character william
challeng wrote that the actual birth of
society sits with an individual
character
and i believe the character we
developing colleges and higher education
institutions and schools is of massive
societal importance it has a huge effect
and whilst technical education is
something that’s going to get you a job
its character that’s going to keep it
there we all know this it also helps you
become a better brother a sister a
neighbor community leader people we need
to live next door to in the future it’s
not just about character development but
it’s about emotional literacy if you
look to the economist richard Laird and
his book thrive he often reports that
people who’ve got strong levels of
emotional literacy also correlates with
their overall high levels of life
satisfaction so it feels like this
becomes increasingly important to the
franco Bulgarian philosopher called
taught off who actually talks in an
extension essential way about the modern
condition being trapped between the two
pillars of freedom and responsibility
and that actually we need to make
choices in our lives what sort of life
we want to lead surely a great
educational system as educators we would
scaffold some of those choices scaffold
some of that thinking people would find
a place to trial and error to find their
passions to find their purpose to
experiment and actually different
passions would be valued in the same
same way the wood craftsman with a
science graduate young people would be
allowed to explore their values and
understand how they connect with the
society in which they live it feels like
it’s something missing from right now
but we have got hope because generation
Zed the ones coming through right now so
really believing themselves and that’s a
superb thing the thing they’re equipped
with all of the things they need to find
and actually they’re carrying around in
their pockets most of the time so
perhaps all we need to do as educators
and business leaders is to facilitate
them they’re joining us of discovery
they’re just journeys
finding their passions and occasionally
they might need help in understanding
what means makes perseverance and how it
deal with setbacks in life that we’re
all necessarily going to get perhaps we
occasionally might need to help them
unshackle themselves from their digital
world and work out what emotions mean in
the offline or sometimes I call it real
world so this is what I’m writing to you
about this is my idea now I know my dear
education you don’t like radical ideas
you and your friends don’t really like
that so actually let’s go back some old
ideas some old thinking some old wisdom
I’d actually call upon the ancient
Greeks and these than philosophies to
give us some help in guidance at this
stage in Aristotle said there was a sign
of an educated mind that can entertain a
thought without accepting it so let’s
for a few moments see if we can
entertain some thoughts I turn to the
ancient Greeks and try and rediscover a
concept to a ret a ret to fascinating
idea in ancient Greece the concept of a
rare was the fulfillment of potential
people have a ret were not only brave
but they are the highest levels of
effectiveness and the Homeric poems they
had to use these heroes of men and women
of a ret how to use a bravery there wit
their strength and all of their
intelligence and character in order to
make the world a better place let’s
rediscover ret let’s help people find
their potentials in that Henry through
is often misquoted but I like it anyway
saying the most men lead lives of quiet
desperation and die with their songs
still inside them surely our challenge
now is to not only inspire a generation
but inspire them to sink as well from
the Buddhist philosophy the mantra of
all life is suffering is well
established but in that philosophy it’s
ameliorated easily through teaching
let’s bring humanism and compassion back
into our classrooms through our teaching
let’s deal with people and help them
become
capacity in dealing with the ups and
downs that life which are inevitable in
fact more than inevitable they’re
essential to help us grow let’s help
them find peace in the world that we
know they’re going to have to live in so
before we’re seduced by rhetoric perhaps
we can pause and think what is it we
want to take away what am I really
asking you to do in this love letter and
call a change well actually I’m asking
for three things firstly I’m asking for
us to start a collective and urgent
conversation but all of us need to
participate in both sides of what are
seemingly as a divided line to really
think about what the purpose of
education is and what is it young people
really need rather than replicating what
we often have always done second let
straight take some time to rebalance our
system between academic attainment but
using concepts of positive psychology
and well-being and perhaps some of the
old philosophies in order to improve the
outcomes of young people in terms of
building their resilience and their
happiness and finally let’s credit the
skills of young people in more than just
academic attainment qualifications are
important there are current
understanding of portable currency but
they’re not enough and we know they’re
not enough deep down so let’s try and
rebalance what we’re trying to do
Madonna education I love you and I
always will right back soon because i’d
love to don’t you think your’s always
thank you
[Applause] you