Lord Jim Knight, Tes Global: Education, technology and politics

Blurred co-founder Stuart meets Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth to talk the blurring lines between education, technology, politics and business.

Education NOT for education's sake

Stuart talks to Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth. Previously Minister of State for schools in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown Government, in April 2014 Jim stepped down from the Labour front bench in the House of Lords to take up a full-time role as Chief Education Officer at digital education company Tes Global.

They cast their minds forward to 2050, where, in a classroom, a history student is studying the period 2016-2019... and imagine what is being said about the time we live in right now.

They discuss the idea of a National Education Service, whether our schools are fit for the current and coming world, and the huge and important difference between the idea of "a school" and the idea of "schooling".

Also explored are Greta Thunbergs’s school strikes, the effect of social media on both children and teachers and - inevitably - the political crisis in which we currently find ourselves.

You can listen to the full podcast here and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And below is a handy time-guide for topics and questions covered.

Topics and time codes:

00:06 Introduction

00:46 What is the role of education today? Do we need to re-imagine what education is for a new world?

07:43 It’s estimated that a child born today will have a 50% chance of living to the age of 105. How will education change within their adult lifetime?

10:36 What are your thoughts on a National Education Service?

17:34 What’s your view on what Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is achieving at the moment?

20:42 Technology is the great disruptive force blurring the lines between all industries and ways of working – how do you feel about it in a school setting?

22:38 What about social media – we can’t doubt its toxic effect, so where do we draw the line?

24:37 Lots has been written about mental health and its effect on the younger generation, but not much attention is paid to teachers suffering from this. What can be done to improve this?

28:03 How does Tes help?

30:42 What’s your view on older first-time teachers?

33:00 How do you feel about the current state of politics?

38.17 Imagine it's 2050, in a classroom where a history student is being taught about what happened in 2016-2019: What kind of Britain are they living in, and what are the teachers telling them about what happened?

42:47 One of your other passions is the regeneration of seaside towns - why does this matter to you and to Britain in the context of our changing country?