When stepping away helps us step forward
In this personal piece, Big Change CEO Essie North reflects on the fears, questions, and internal shifts that accompanied her decision to take a two-month…
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A moment to feel… well, hopeful
Essie North, CEO Big Change, responds to a government announcement signalling a curriculum more focused on helping young people thrive.
Every so often, we read a headline we could only have dreamt of a few years ago: “The schools curriculum to focus less on exams and more on life skills.”
And the timing is poetic. This week we gathered with our community to imagine what further collective action we can take to ensure every young person has access to the purpose, agency, growth and meaningful relationships they need to thrive in life.
Then hot on the heels of these discussions we see the glimmers of a better future coming to life: a government announcement signalling a curriculum more focused on helping young people thrive for the long term.
We’re genuinely thrilled to see thriving more centered in this vision. And a reshaped curriculum that values life skills, creativity and enrichment. One that recognises oracy as a foundational skill alongside reading, writing and maths, and recognises the importance of preparing young people for the digital future. The new enrichment entitlement for every child chimes with what we’ve heard time and again from young people themselves: that to thrive, they need purpose, agency, growth and relationships.
Our community came together with their insight and evidence to collaborate and share contributions to the curriculum and assessment review. This joined up approach made it simple for their networks to participate confidently and champion change together.
Essie North, CEO, Big Change
At Big Change, we are unashamedly hopeful for a future in which young people thrive. But often this hope is put to the test. Bad news dominates the headlines. Change can feel painfully slow. Arguments around whether knowledge or skills are more important can prevent us from building a shared focus on the combined power of both for long term learning and wellbeing. Yet, this curriculum review feels like an opening for real progress. And it hasn’t happened by accident. It’s the result of the collective courage and ambition of educators, young people, policymakers, and partners who called for change - and through their work on the ground demonstrating that a new way is possible, and can have a powerful impact on the lives of young people.
Last year our community came together with their insight and evidence to collaborate and share contributions to the curriculum and assessment review. This joined up approach made it simple for their networks to participate confidently and champion change together. We’re incredibly proud of these extraordinary leaders including Rethinking Assessment, Big Education, HeadsUp4HTs, ImpactEd, Gesher School, The Difference, Voice21 - and many more who shared their insight and expertise and helped shape this shift . A decade ago, we supported Voice 21 to pilot a focus on developing oracy skills in one East London school. Back then no-one was talking about oracy, and now it is at the heart of the curriculum with equal status to reading and writing - what an incredible shift to be part of.
Of course there’s still much to do. Whilst systems are being unblocked, we need to move further to truly enable young people to thrive. We are ready (and excited) to be part of making this a reality.
Essie North, CEO, Big Change
If you, like us, want to create a future in which all young people thrive, please get in touch, info@big-change.org.
Delve further into the responses from our community:
