Always look on the bright side …
Life is full of ironies, one being that bad things often turn out good. This is my argument about the British Social Attitudes Survey which has received extensive news coverage today.
The overall thrust of the findings was captured in a quotation from Penny Young, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Social Research, which undertakes the annual survey
“In a time of economic austerity and social unrest, the big question coming out of this year’s report is whether we really are in it together, or just in it for ourselves? An emerging sense of self-reliance may take the government some way toward its vision of a more responsible society, but an emphasis on individualism, not Big Society collectivism, may present as much of a challenge as it does an opportunity.”
With its undercurrent of individualism, scepticism towards the state and limited sympathy for the poor, the survey points to a pendulum swing away from what might loosely be called social democratic values. The survey also confirms other research in pointing towards a mood of social pessimism as well as a gap between some of the things the public say they want – such as less inequality and more affordable housing – and their willingness to make sacrifices to achieve these objectives.
The survey can be seen as a sign that an era of austerity will inevitably be one in which self interest triumphs. But I prefer a less deterministic view. These findings, and the interest they are generating, should be seen as part of a vital conversation about how we as a nation deal with the hard times ahead. If people are repeatedly told ‘there is not enough to go around’ a natural first reaction is to try to protect what they have. But after this, as the new reality sinks in, a more thoughtful response may emerge.
I have written in the past about the need for a ‘plan C’ in which the focus is not how to minimise austerity (although we should, of course, try to) but how we cope with it. If this sounds unrealistic, it is worth noting that many people in Japan consider their ‘ lost decades’ of low growth have enabled the country to reconnect with core values including respect and solidarity, and that in retrospect it was the boom of the eighties which was the regrettable aberration. So what appear to be rather bleak survey findings might actually be just the spur we need for a deeper conversation about how society can grow stronger even when its economy isn’t.
The other reason I am humming ‘always look on the bright side of life’ is more personal. This morning, discussing the social attitudes survey on the Today programme I had a terrifying moment when I completely forgot what I was planning to say next. It was in my second contribution to the discussion when talking about fairness. I just about got away with it but if you listen carefully you can hear a little wavering in my voice.
So when later in the day I got to the RSA Academy I has something to prove to myself. I strode into the pay and personnel subcommittee and really drove through the agenda. As we got to AOB, after a meeting which I had chaired with a combination of authority, control and determination, I felt reassured that my faculties were fully in order. It was at that point that another member put her hand up:
‘Thanks Matthew’ she said ‘it’s only a little thing and I don’t want to seem proprietorial, but actually I am the chair of this committee’.
Utterly mortified I stammered back the inevitable question ‘but why on earth didn’t anyone say anything earlier?’ ‘Well’ said the real chair ‘we did keep exchanging glances but you seemed to be enjoying yourself too much to notice’.
I could at this point conclude that I am now firmly set on a path of decline, inexorably becoming one of those men of a certain age whose capabilities are declining in exactly inverse proportion to their self importance. But ‘no’ I will resist such pessimism. The big lesson to take out of the day is very clear: we could all do with a bit of time for reflection. That’s why I have just booked myself some extra days’ holiday at Christmas.
Richly deserved as I am sure you’ll agree..
Cog blog
I tend – perhaps inevitably – to get fewer comments when I blog about the RSA. But as well as wanting feedback from Fellows, I would be really interested to hear what people outside the Society think of the model I am about to describe.
The RSA to which I was appointed over four years ago had a lot going for it and much to be proud of in its recent and longer distant history. But the Trustees and senior staff had also identified some major challenges which needed to be addressed, such as the external profile, image and impact of the RSA, and low levels of Fellowship engagement.
It is tedious and self-serving to go through the progress we have made on these fronts (and anyway I am hardly the most objective witness). But even as we have seen the RSA brand spread globally through RSA Animate or our influence grow through nationally respected research projects, conferences and engagement with senior politicians, and even as we have seen higher than ever levels of fellow engagement through channels like RSA Catalyst and our regional, local and issue based networks, I have found a big question nagging away at me: ‘There may be good progress on many fronts but where does it all end up?’.
By this I mean; ‘how do the key developments and functions in the Society cohere into a secure foundation for the RSA’s next stage of development?’ Or to put it (yet) another way; ‘we may have a new strapline – 21st century enlightenment – and many successful aspects to our work but how does that translate into a story about the organisation as a whole?’
Of course, I wouldn’t be asking the question if I didn’t think I was nearing an answer. Here it is:
The RSA impact engine
The model captures the unique (and I really think it is unique) way in which the modern RSA seeks to deliver its historic mission of innovation for the benefit of society.
The ideas and influence cog is about how we bring the most exciting ideas in the world into the RSA and how we use our brand, reputation and networks to get our ideas noticed by everyone from cabinet ministers to budding social entrepreneurs.
The research and development cog is about how we develop, refine, test and roll out our own ideas about how best to enhance human capability (with a particular focus on the capabilities of the least advantaged).
The Fellowship activities cog is about how RSA Fellows are themselves a powerful source of ideas and a motor of change in both society and The Society.
Although perhaps seeming outdated in its mechanical overtones, the metaphor is intended to imply that each cog must be turning in its own right and that, as it does so, it should be helping to turn the other cogs. If I was better at PowerPoint art I would also have sparks flying out the machine which would symbolise the things the RSA helps to create which then spin out into the wider world (everything from the Great Exhibition to Tomorrow’s Company to the RSA Academy).
As I listened to some fascinating debates in our Fellowship Council yesterday I could hear many Council members describing aspects of this model.
There is further to go – much further in some areas – before all the cogs are turning as fast as we want and each is connecting as well as it could with the others. It is, for example, vital that we build swiftly on the early success of Catalyst to create a strong set of expectations about how groups of Fellows are encouraged and supported to develop their own projects. Also there are important aspects of the RSA – like 8 John Adam Street – which impact on different cogs in different ways. But this, it seems to me, is a powerful way of thinking about the RSA; what makes it special and what gives it such incredible potential for the future.
RSA Academy – let the success continue
Yesterday was a proud day for the RSA. Our President, Prince Philip, officially opened the new building of our RSA Academy in Tipton. Indeed, as he himself noted, this was the second time he had ‘opened’ the school having visited back in 2009 when the school officially came under RSA governance.
Our inspirational Principal, Mick Gernon, got the proceedings off to a great start by telling us that the school is now in the top one percent of performers in terms of improvement in pupils’ overall attainment. After some words from our President pupils then showed us around the new buildings which, as well as their many other qualities, were custom built to enable the teaching of our Opening Minds curriculum.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the Academy is to see such a nationally prestigious institution based where it is. As I said in my previous blog, I am a great fan of the West Midlands (despite West Brom’s terrible form) but I’m sure I won’t be insulting anyone if I say that few people would have associated an area like Tipton, in the black country, with cutting edge innovation. As well as providing brilliant education, the Academy is both transforming expectations among pupils (all last year’s sixth formers who wanted to went to the universities of their choice to do the course of their choice) and changing the way a community sees itself and is seen from outside.
There was however one small cloud overt the proceedings. This week – in fact tomorrow – will see the Coalition’s schools white paper. In this we will find out more about how Michael Gove intends to reconcile his commitment to devolving more power to schools and teachers with his somewhat prescriptive views about what should be in the curriculum and how it should be taught.
I don’t have any problem with the idea that every pupil should acquire key areas of knowledge – although I think we should avoid the mistake that beset Kenneth Baker’s original national curriculum; swamping teachers with content they have to cram into the curriculum. But I also believe that knowledge can be taught through a competencies based curriculum such at the RSA’s Opening Minds. Yesterday, in the lessons we observed, the pupils were acquiring lots of knowledge but not through chalk and talk but by through working together in groups on projects structured around key competencies.
The RSA academy is a success story and I believe the Society is poised to play a bigger role by working with more schools to offer engaging, demanding and innovative learning within intelligent institutions. So I, like many other champions of broadly progressive education, will be hoping that Michael Gove balances his own preferences for learning with the need to allow a wide range of successful practice in schools.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose
As I approach four years at the helm of the RSA I find myself assessing progress. The Society faces vitally important decisions about its future so it’s useful to get a sense of where we are now.
A long term trend in the RSA has been to expand our research capacity. A few decades ago we didn’t really do research and even when we did it had a somewhat random feel to it. We have come a long way since then. But it is fascinating that today’s new focus, new methods and new ambition are balanced by a strong sense of continuity. For example, I have on my desk the draft report of our Tomorrow’s Investor project. In the face of the shocking fact that many private pension savers see up to 40% of their savings consumed in fees, the focus of this report is how to put in place an affordable and well governed pension scheme. There is even an intimation that if Government rules change and allowed the new scheme we are proposing to be created, the RSA could in some way be involved in establishing it. While this is a big idea and a new research area, longer standing Fellows will see the continuity with one of the Society’s most influential projects in recent times: Tomorrow’s Company.
Another area of continuity is the RSA’s commitment to engage Fellows in projects. Not only is the Tomorrow’s Investor project overseen by a steering group made up of Fellows but the very first stage in the project – two years ago – was a kind of citizens’ jury of pensions savers largely selected from the Fellowship.
Next week will also see the publication of our report on ‘whole-person recovery’, which is, I think, an exceptional piece of work. The report breaks new ground for the RSA with a methodology which engaged up to two hundred people with drug and alcohol dependency issues in designing not only a new way of thinking about recovery but also new types of service. Not only is our model proving very interesting to central Government but is being taken up and used on the ground. But, again, there is continuity. This project emerged out of the work of our Fellow-led Commission on Drugs which was published to widespread acclaim back in 2006.
The same pattern is repeated elsewhere. Our Academy is going great guns and we are thinking about the possibility of having a close relationship with more schools. The Academy is developing the Opening Minds approach, now taught in over 200 schools, which was first promulgated in a report in 1999 which was itself based on earlier work on new forms of learning, again overseen by a working group of Fellows. And today we have a research project – the area based curriculum – based in Peterborough which could in time help develop a new direction for Opening Minds. This project was high on the agenda of a very lively Fellows’ network event in Peterborough earlier this week.
Our design team continues the long tradition of our student design awards but now the emphasis on service design and what we call ‘design for resourcefulness’ (how can design not only meet needs but help people to meet their own needs).
Overall, our projects team is getting more press overage, achieving greater impact with national and local government and attracting more external funding than ever before. But the progress we are making is built on the strong foundations set by a previous generation of Trustees, Fellows and staff.
Getting a buzz from the RSA Academy
A short post on my way back from the RSA Academy.
My regular reader and hammer of progressives, ‘OldAndrew’, won’t like it but, as well as core necessities like standards, discipline, and safety, what I most prize in a school is:
a) what I call – for want of a better phrase – ‘modern student centred learning’ (such as that provided by the best Opening Minds schools)
And
b) it should be an intelligent community which fosters the habits of good citizenship.
Which is why I always get a buzz from the RSA Academy. Not only are the exam results improving but exclusions and allegations of bullying are falling (the latter more or less to zero). The pupils – largely drawn from a working class community with limited parental educational attainment – are also enjoying amazing enrichment opportunities, including educational trips to South Africa and the USA, and visitors flocking in; in the last couple of weeks alone, some of our eminent RDIs have put on inspirational sessions to explain the work they do in their respective fields of design.
There is also a splendid Student Parliament. Not only has this overseen the successful policy to eradicate bullying but it has done great work with pupils from feeder primary schools. The new dimension we heard about today was student awards to teachers, developed by students, voted on by students and awarded by students. What a brilliant idea.
No wonder the most common feedback from Academy parents (most of whom went to the predecessor school) is ‘I wish it had been like this when I was a kid!’
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