News1st February 2022
Students from three Ark schools have joined a youth panel to provide the Times Education Commission with insight and ideas to support its work to recommend changes to the education system.
The commission has brought together education experts – including headteachers, academics, vice-chancellors, senior MPs and academy school trust leaders – to discuss future reform, and make recommendations to the Government. Ark Chief Executive Lucy Heller is a member, as well as Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, and Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner for England.
Students from Ark Academy in London, Ark St Alban’s in Birmingham, and Ark Alexandra in Hastings joined the panel’s first meeting, where the discussion focused on exams and prospects for school leavers after school and university. It was reported in The Times newspaper in January, which you can read here.
Ark Alexandra Principal Liam Collins said: “I am proud that our young people expressed their feelings about the current education system. They have shown huge resilience during the pandemic and are now passionate about discussing the system that decides their next steps. Adults much deride teenagers, but given the opportunities, such as this critical Commission, they show their ideas, empathy and leadership.”
You can read more on the Commission here and the final report will be published in the summer.