The Richard Gerver Blog

Ola, Gooday’ and hello!

April was an extraordinary month for me, for a number of reasons; firstly I travelled round the world and no matter where I went, no matter what the season or the hemisphere, I was rained on… I have only just come to understand that climate change appears to have muscled in on globalisation!

I have had the fantastic privilege of speaking at events in Madrid, Melbourne and Brisbane in the last couple of weeks to a range of diverse audiences; from App developers to educators. The themes though have been the same; enterprise, technology, entrepreneurship and the future.

As is often the case when you have the opportunity to travel and to meet new people, in different settings, from different backgrounds, you get the chance to broaden your mind, challenge your thinking and eat too much of the wrong stuff.

One of the big issues that came out of my time at The AppFest in Madrid was the use of technology as a part of both formal and informal learning; in particular, how in too many places the fixation with hardware; how many computers, laptops and digital projectors we have, has hampered the developed understanding of the real potential for new technologies in the education sector.

Apps are a fantastic example of what new thinking can bring to teaching and learning; designed by entrepreneurs; men and women who think organically and without constraint, about making the impossible possible; finding new solutions to stubborn educational problems; from language development to algebra, I was stunned by the way apps have started to work their magic and encourage us all to re-vision the learning space.

Whilst in the company of some of the Spanish speaking world’s brightest and most enterprising people, I reflected a little on the harsh economic climate that they are enduring and how this new industry can lead the paradigm shift required to help stimulate a lasting recovery.

It was whilst I was in Brisbane that I was introduced to the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute and their annual index. It ranks nations in terms of the contribution entrepreneurship makes to their overall economic output. It makes for very interesting reading; especially when you assess it against the s-curve of a nation’s economic development.

You see the theory goes that a country’s first economic stage begins with its natural context and is driven by a number of key factors; geography, levels of natural resource and climate for example. As its economy matures it moves into an industrial stage where efficiency and productivity become the key but then it develops into full maturation which is an economy driven by innovation.

The latest index, published this year makes for interesting reading; at the top is the US, a spot it hasn’t filled in recent history, as it has been the proud seat of Scandinavian nations; they are still there or there abouts by the way, with Sweden taking the second spot, Australia complete the top three. The UK takes 13th with its closest European allies nearby; Germany 16th and France 18th… then it gets really interesting; Korea are 26th, Japan 28th, China are thirty places behind with Russia 62nd and India 74th; bringing up the rear are the African states of Angola and Uganda.

When you think about the s-curve of development you could anticipate these rankings given where in economic maturation nations are but this then got me thinking about the relationship to educational performance and in particular the dreaded OECD PISA rankings in Mathematics; because you see many established, Western economic states such as the UK, US, Australia and Spain are obsessed with competing on the PISA league table with the high flyers; China-Shanghai 1st, Korea 2nd Japan 9th because apparently, we aren’t doing very well! The US 31st, France 22nd, the UK 28th. As a result we are dragging our education systems backwards to mirror the highly traditional systems currently at work in some of the ‘high-flyers’. What this finally led me to understand was just how futile and misguided league tables and comparisons across varying contexts are.

We need a different kind of person coming through our education systems if we are to compete in the mature markets of innovation, that are the signs of a developed economy and therefore we must stop trying to replicate what is happening in countries such as China and Korea. They top the PISA tables because they need to. It’s vital to their economic development as they journey up the s-curve, but our future lies further up the chart and requires us to encourage and nurture the kinds of entrepreneurs you meet at places like AppFest, most of whom, taught themselves to do what they do, outside of formal education; in fact the vast majority of those I spoke to, describe themselves as mavericks who found school boring and lacking in dynamism, challenge and purpose.

Can I take this opportunity to thank the many new people I have met this month and who have challenged and broadened my thinking… it has been amazing!

Finally, I have at last got some news for those of you in Spanish speaking countries who have asked me about my first book and when it would be published in Spanish. Well I am thrilled to announce that Crear hoy la escuela del mañana La educación y el future de nuestros hijos, will be launched at The Madrid Book Fair at the end of May!

The School of Communication Arts has put together a short film exploring my ideas around Education, Education, Education. Please take a look!

THE SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION

I have attended three very interesting events in the last few days, different kinds of event; one for school leaders, one for young people and one for senior business leaders and at all three the same message was screaming through the rhetoric. It is a message that I also heard underlined once again by one of Escuela’s other guest column writers, the OECD’s Andreas Schleicher. It was a simple message, a message that we must all work harder to enact; it was that…

COLLABORATION IS CENTRAL TO THE FUTURE OF SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION.

At the first event, I was speaking to one of the few politicians in the UK that I have real respect and admiration for; Baroness Estelle Morris who was the UK’s Minister of Education in 2001/02 under Tony Blair’s premiership. She resigned her post as a matter of principle, because she felt that she was constrained by the system from actioning policy that would really impact on children. We were talking about the current education landscape in England; the low morale, uncertainty and drive towards a more traditional system. Her objective assessment was wholly accurate; educators and politicians have moved so far apart that constant conflict is sadly inevitable. In her view, one I share, the challenge is to build new bridges of trust and collaboration if we are really to design and implement a new paradigm in education that will meet the complex needs of the global environment and of the young people who will have to succeed in it. It is of course, a key feature of why Finland has enjoyed such phenomenal success in recent years and why Brazil is experiencing such a dramatic transformation in its educational development. What is clear is that the sentiment first echoed in African culture; “Ora na azu nwa”; “it takes a village to raise a child”, has never been more pertinent. We cannot allow the stand-off to continue and more importantly, we must push harder to build relationships across education, politics and business communities.

This brings me on to the second of my recent experiences. I was asked to open an event held on the site of the former Earth Centre; now a children’s activity centre, in South Yorkshire, by an organisation called Destination ImagiNation. I am ashamed to say that I had not heard of them, until an email arrived on my computer a few weeks ago, asking if I would be prepared to give up a Saturday morning to participate in their event. I am so glad I said yes! It turns out that D.I. is huge in the US. It is run as a ‘not for profit’ organisation to promote creativity, problem solving and team work in young people. It has centres all over the world, where young people come and share their extraordinary talents, meet new friends and celebrate human ingenuity. Every year there is a global event which brings the participants together for an amazing ‘memory of a lifetime’ experience. From the minute I arrived I was moved by the energy, commitment and dynamism of the organisers, all of whom had given their time voluntarily to make this event and the preparation for it possible. They were led by an inspirational young woman called Katherine Morse, who having been a participant on similar events in the US as a child, felt compelled to give up a successful career in advertising to drive the programme in the UK. After opening the proceedings, I had the enormous privilege of watching the youngsters as they solved complex problems and developed creative solutions in their regional teams; kids from differing backgrounds and cultures; some who had travelled from as far afield as Norway just to participate. It is at times like this, that I miss being a class teacher; watching the energy, commitment and skill of these kids; their emotional intelligence in action, as they naturally support and encourage each other as they confront complex problems with flair, creativity and enthusiasm. During a coffee break I asked Katherine how well the project had been received in schools; the starting place for groups wanting to take part, she smiled ruefully and said that whilst many were keen, they felt that they couldn’t spare the time to run the programme given the pressure of curriculum and timetables. Ironic really, because as I toured the site observing the events unfold through the morning, I reckon that these children had experienced an entire national curriculum in a day; in practical and irresistible ways that would remain with these students for ever.

I urge you all to look into Destination ImagiNation and find out how you and your students can participate in it or similar experiences. It is one of the most powerful examples of the strength of collaboration and the impact it can have on young people and their learning.

My final and most recent experience was in Zurich where I was invited to address business leaders participating in Young Enterprise programmes across Europe and beyond. The event, the annual congress, was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the YE programmes so far and to urge both sustained and increased participation in the future. It was a great opportunity to underline the need to build much closer links between education and business communities and to further underline the power of collaboration. Speaking to a number of Y.E. alumni, I was struck by the life changing opportunities and learning that participation had brought them; endless tales of struggling students who had gone on to create successful businesses, providing employment and opportunity for others. I found my earlier conversation with Baroness Morris resonating powerfully as I talked to educators and CEOs about the connected nature of education and business and just why me must work hard to break down the artificial barriers between the two. I remember seminal moments in my own experience as a Headteacher when I managed to convince banks, broadcasters and professional dance companies to work with our young students in order to broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations. I remember celebrating with these same people as they saw the unbelievable impact their involvement had had on young lives and their educational development and I remember the conversations I had had to convince them to participate in the first place. My argument was a simple one; invest time and energy now in young people, because tomorrow they could well be working with you and just imagine the skills and competencies they will evolve if you help start that journey now.

These last few days have served to reinforce my resolve further and have given me grounds for renewed optimism; I have met some amazing teachers from some fantastic schools, I have met some inspirational social entrepreneurs, giving their time voluntarily to ensure that young people get the opportunity to broaden their skills, their minds and their experiences, I have spoken to some visionary business leaders who have committed to support their own futures by supporting the talents of our children and I have met some students and former student of all ages who are the very embodiment of powerful collaborative learning, stimulated by whole communities; local, national and global. We must all do more, in order to ensure the same for all children, everywhere.

“ORA NA AZU NWA”

I am writing this around the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens, one of the greatest of all writers; a man who spent his life as a champion for those who had no voice, a man who had a profound believe in the potential of all people no matter where they were born or where fate located them. I have to confess that he is one of my true heroes and that his shortest novel, first published in 1854 as a series, in his weekly magazine Household Words, changed my life.
I was seventeen the first time I read Hard Times; it was on my English syllabus, along with the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare. I loved a little bit of our William, but only when performed, I hated reading and analysing it; I would often wonder if he had thought of any of the complex themes and subtexts that York Notes, the study guide of choice, had told us that he had. Shakespeare for me, only came alive on a stage I’m afraid, and as for Chaucer; well apart from the obvious attraction to a teenage boy, that his work was apparently somewhat bawdy, his work was something I never really grasped, I didn’t understand anything of his language, I just didn’t get it! Dickens on the other hand, really spoke to me. You see, I had hated my final years at school, which is a terrible admission, given that my parents had scrimped and saved to send me to a top British private school. I hated it, because I was a dreamer; I loved acting, writing, painting; creating but alas, my school didn’t. It was a fantastic custodian of traditional education values; its core purpose was to prepare its students for Oxford, Cambridge, Banking, Politics and power!
The first time I read the opening words of Hard Times will stay with me for ever. I was sat on the terrace outside my study bedroom in my boarding house at school. It was a damp but warm, late summer’s day. The rain had been and gone and the mists were rising off the perfectly manicured grass as the sun broke through the clouds. I had picked up my library copy of the Dickens with the same enthusiasm I had just read Canterbury Tales, flicked passed the ‘expert commentary’, and started to read:
BOOK THE FIRST – SOWING
CHAPTER ONE
THE ONE THING NEEDFUL
Now what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts: nothing else will ever be of service to them…
Those first words, the words of Thomas Gradgrind, hit me with a jolt. I was captivated and immediately emotionally connected. As the chapters flowed, each a social commentary; Murdering the Innocents, Never Wonder, No Way Out, I had found a champion in Mr Charles Dickens, a man who understood what it was like to be trapped in a world to which they did not belong. He may have died in 1870, but he was speaking to me and my predicament, sat there on that heavy twilight afternoon in the mid 1980’s; a child who had done what he had been asked, who would go on to pass his final exams and head off to university, but who did not have one clue what he really wanted to be, or do with his life.
What strikes me hard as I sit here today, a middle aged man with a daughter who is the same age as I was at the moment of that epiphany; I am saddened and angry that we have still really learnt nothing from Dickens.
Our schools are still running as if we were living in the midst of the industrial revolution, in a world of insular nations and a time of certain pathways and outcomes. Two hundred years on we still have the same subject hierarchies, the same layouts to our classrooms and the same over inflated academic currency that seems to determine success or failure. My daughter turned round to me the other day, after she had completed another heavy day of exam revision, and asked me why she should bother. Her argument was a challenging one; “So I pass my exams and go to Uni, I rack up thousands in debt, in order to pay for my tuition and accommodation; I get a degree, and then what?” She had just seen that the youth unemployment figures in the UK were over 25% and that there were, on average, 70 applicants for every graduate level job. It was a tough one to answer. What would you have said?
As a parent, I want the very best for my kids; I want them to grow up to be able to realise their aspirations and to feel that they are of value, as citizens; local, national and global. I find it very hard indeed not to impose my aspirations on them, to guide them in the direction I want to see them travel. I find it so hard to fight against that urge every day. Funnily enough, it is another great Dickens tale that I use to jolt me back to my senses; the story of Pip and the controlling Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. The problem is that we can only base what we think is right or wrong on our own experiences, particularly where our own children are concerned. It is why I believe education has changed so little since the times of Gradgrind. Mass education in the 19th Century was designed around the notion of control and class structure; it was hugely successful at ensuring that children knew just enough for their position in society; factory worker or politician. It counted on fixed routes into fixed lives; the idea of social mobility was the invention of people like our Charles. At the higher levels of society it was used as a filter; designed to identify who should lead and who should follow, to an extent, it still is; most of those in the political and finance sphere have all followed the same routes to power and most come from the same social strata. Intelligence was valued in what you knew; who you had read and if you understood Latin.
Now though, we live in times of change, not that change hasn’t always been part of life; it is not a 21st Century invention, but the rate of change is exponential and is now moving at such a frightening pace that we can no longer predict our social, economic or industrial structures beyond a matter of months let alone years. As a result we cannot seek to use education as a method of control or preparation for set pathways; they simply don’t exist. It only struck me recently, that the children graduating from school this year had no idea what the internet was when they started their formal education less than fifteen years ago!
Dickens’ genius was that he could see the problem 200 years ago; he knew then that successful evolution required empowerment not control, he knew then that there was a squandering of talent and potential that would ultimately mean that society would suffer. He was a humanist who understood that it was people not systems that made the world a better place and it is only now, that I explicitly understand why I was so drawn to his work as a teenager.
What did I tell my daughter? Well I explained the system to her and acknowledged that her education would not guarantee her, the key to the door of her dreams but because it was still the game that society plays, she would need it in order to ensure that at least one bolt would be opened, but she knew this already. You see my wife and I were both teachers, my wife is still working as a school Head, and we were determined to ensure that whilst we would do what we could to change the system, we knew we would only be able to scratch the surface; but as parents, well, that was where our power really lay! We realised that it was our job to educate our children for the challenges of their future, to ensure that evil Thomas G. could not grind them into submission.
Happy Birthday Mr. Dickens!

I have a confession to make to you all; it may amaze you to know this, but I do tend to get rather animated when people talk about children and education and at times, I have been known to lose my temper! It seems to be happening more regularly than usual at the moment, which I think is an indicator of the times in which we are living. It has been some months though, since my last, full on eruption of anger, that was until a couple of weeks ago, when I read a quote from the English Schools’ Minister, Nick Gibb, who was quoted as saying that, “Social and emotional learning is ghastly and likely to distract from the core subjects of academic education.” It turns out that this is not a new quote but one from a couple of years ago, when his Government first took office. It has resurfaced because the Government have recently revised the criteria for successful schools and have removed the assessment of how well English schools cater for the social and emotional development of pupils from the process of inspection. I am appalled but sadly, not surprised. This is after all, the same Government that two years ago, suggested that we should hire former soldiers as teachers, in order to bring order back to our schools.

It strikes me, that as the current world events and in particular, the economic crisis continues to suffocate so many of us, Governments are obsessed with clinging to certainties and in education that appears to be a desire to return to a simple academic model of basic subjects, taught in disciplined environments where children are regarded as vessels to be filled with knowledge. This is the pattern in England, most of Western Europe, the US and Australia. There seems to be a belief that in order to regain economic and social control and to reassert the industrial dominance of the 20th Century, the West needs to return to some set of long lost rules and systems. There seems to be a belief that because we have taken more humane approaches to schooling; the understanding that all children are different, with different interests, skills, weaknesses and personalities, and we have therefore endeavoured to create more humanist and personalised approaches to what, in the past was a pretty dehumanising experience, that we have, in fact, broken our system and it is this that has led to our economic frailties and social decline. I worry that education and the developments in it over the last few years, are being used as a scape goat for a far more complex social and systemic problem.

The 20th century and most of the dominant economies during it, were driven by structures first articulated by Frederick Taylor and his work on The Science of Productivity, which as it developed became what we know as the study of ‘Time and Motion’; the thinking being that greater productivity came from increased efficiencies; a model that in an industrial age is extremely effective. We used it in the early 1900s and it was adopted and refined with stunning effect by the developing Asian markets as the new millennium approached. It was based on the idea that success came from doing what you do; manufacturing product or delivering services as quickly and as cost effectively as possible, to do this, you would need a workforce that had a good basic technical ability and that could be managed through rules and routines which would be assessed for effectiveness. We set targets that were fixed outcome focused and data driven, creating professional development programmes and performance management cycles that ensured that people got their heads down and did what their job descriptions told them, without fuss or question in order to encourage greater speed and accuracy.

The education system was designed and structured in order to create a mass populous that would function in this mechanistic and efficient world. It worked and very well, for most of the last century, but of course times have changed and the future success for most traditional economies now lies elsewhere; in innovation, creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit. We are struggling though, because most of us are finding this new world, post Taylorism; a world of uncertainty, of ever changing industrial and service models, of fragmented workforces and decreasing public sector investment, very hard to live in. Mental health problems across the world have never been higher; there is a mounting discontent that comes with a sense of powerlessness. We have been talking about the age of enterprise and innovation for many years; a new organic future, where the innovative and curious will thrive, where risk taking and those that can challenge convention will drive the agenda, yet we have done very little to prepare people for this, either in business or in education, because many of us were educated and condition to live in a Taylorist environment.

In order to thrive in times of uncertainty, change and fragmentation, you need above all things, to have great mental strength, the ability to challenge and to experiment. Never before have people needed to be able to analyse their own emotional responses, fears and aspirations in the way they do today and its why, sadly, any country obsessed with dragging education backwards, due to some kind of misguided belief, that certainty will only come from a return to traditionalism, is going to fail; fail us and our children.
Education needs to put the individual at the heart of its process because we are no longer training our children to work as cogs in large manufacturing machines, they will need to be street smart, enterprising and emotionally intelligent and to that end we need education systems that recognise and deliver on that; not as an alternative to knowledge but in equity to it. A new age, requires a new toolkit, a new toolkit requires new imagination and a recognition that the past is exactly that.

The reason so many people continue to struggle in the modern age is because they don’t have the competencies and skills necessary to realise that change is no longer a review process carried out every few years in an organisation’s productivity cycle but that it is a very real part of everyday life; now and increasingly in the future. A real commitment to social and emotional education will ensure that this is addressed; it will help people to focus their energies on realising aspirations and cementing their values. It will mean that they can turn confusion, anger, passion and uncertainty into something productive because the future is not standardised. What is ghastly is that so few of our ‘Taylorist’ politicians have the experience to recognise it.

P.S. You can see me speak in March at the SPEAKERS for BUSINESS showcase. Click here to book free tickets.

As the fireworks set on the last, dark days of 2011 and the sun rises on 2012, I find myself in quite a reflective, but combative mood. Last year was, for many, the peak of the economic crisis and the emotional challenge that went with it, if we’re honest, the change of one digit on our annual calendar really changes nothing and we still find ourselves teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. However, I have always believed that the way you attack the start of a new year, defines the shape of the twelve months ahead and as I sit here on day one of 2012, I firmly believe that the next twelve months could well define the rest of the decade, a decade which will see our current generation of children reach maturity and take on the mantle for the future; in other words, the next year will be crucial, as we build the legacy for the next generation.

I have committed to spend the next few months fighting through the winter mists and seek out the light and optimism that we owe our children. It will be a huge year for Britain, crowned by the lighting of the Olympian flame over London as the world’s youth unite, to show the rest of us, the immense talent, commitment and ambition that they possess. Our young people will rise up in the heat of July, August and September to burn brightly through the gloom and set an example to us all.

We must take the example of those brave Olympians and work hard towards new targets and goals to ensure that the year the Mayans predicted would be our last, will in fact, be the first of a new beginning; a new mind-set that is driven by new perspectives and attitudes.

As always, education will be at the very heart of this new beginning, it has the power to set the tone, to build the capacity and direction of growth. As educators we have the very future in our hands and we carry the frightening yet hugely privileged burden of lighting the beacons of change and ensuring that they can burn brightly for years to come. For many years now, we, as a profession, have felt like victims of ‘the system’, vilified by certain elements of the media, society and politicians and as a result, many of us have buried ourselves deep in the bunkers of our classrooms hoping to survive the tsunami of uncertainty and change. We cannot afford to do this any longer; our time has come, as it has for the sprinters who will crouch on their blocks, the gymnasts as they powder their hands and the swimmers as they bend, ready to explode into the water. We owe it to ourselves, our profession and most importantly, to our children, to lead the charge for change.

I want 2012 to be the year of youth; a celebration of our children and of their future. I urge us all to look to put the last few years behind us and to invest our time and energy in tomorrow and to the people who have the ability to lead us there.

One of my abiding memories of 2011 were the riots in London in August; most of the world talked about the involvement of young people and the way it highlighted that they really were a feral generation, but what struck me, was that five times as many youngsters, came out on to the streets after the riots, to clean up their communities, as the few mindless idiots who perpetrated them. It made me realise that we should be deeply optimistic about our children as they carry far more light than dark. Sadly, we allowed the headlines to eclipse the real story!

I want all of us, wherever we are, to sign up to a five point promise that will see us work towards a more hopeful and productive vision for our young.

1. As educators, we promise to base our strategic decisions on what is best for our students; this may mean that sometimes, we have to step outside of our comfort zones. The use of digital technologies for example.

2. We monitor what is being said about young people in the press and in the public arena and for every negative story, every poor portrayal, we respond in positive defence through emails, social networks and where possible, through the main stream media. We must stand up for our children!

3. We will not patronise our young people and assume that they can’t or won’t take on real responsibilities and meaningful decision making. We must work hard to improve their own voice in society and allow them to demonstrate what they are capable of by giving them opportunities to lead learning in our schools and teach us about their world.

4. We must work harder to use education as a tool to prepare our children for the future and not to use it as a way of validating the past. We cannot allow curriculum to be a purely academic experience driven by people who view tradition as opportunity. We must draw in businesses, social enterprises and people beyond schools and universities, to create learning experiences that are valid long after the school bells stop ringing.

5. Most importantly of all, we must ensure that all members of society realise that to successfully educate our children for the future and the incredible opportunities it represents, it falls on us all to play our part in that education; parents, politicians and the wider community. Schools cannot be seen as the closed environment where education occurs, they must be seen as the hubs; the conduits where the community converge to work together to realise the full potential of our future generations.

2012 will be what we want it to be; yes it could be a continued crawl into despair and a further vacuum of hope and empowerment, or it could be the start of the future; where a new mind set and generation define the legacy of the remaining decade. What I do know, is that it is our generation that has caused the mess of the last few years so it is us who must now start the clean-up, to clear the path for the torch bearers of tomorrow to light the beacons that will guide us all into a better future!

Happy New Year to you all!

Also if you have a moment please check out what the School of Communication Arts 2.0 students have been up to on youtube using one of my talks… this is an innovative generation… http://youtu.be/1sM0-TRZVDs

So it’s time to bid farewell to 2011; good or bad, it’s certainly been a memorable year. On a personal level, I have experienced many highs and lows, just as I would expect you have. I have visited every continent, with the exception of Antarctica! I have met many amazing people and worked with some pretty groovy organisations including Google and Microsoft.

On the other hand; I have seen the media turn on our young people yet again, we have seen death, destruction, rebellion and a deepening economic crisis that is having a growing impact on all of us. I am becoming increasingly aware of the impact our treatment of young people is having on their ability to change, to adapt and to take control of their own lives, the lives of so many people who feel more and more disenfranchised. We are all becoming increasingly risk averse as the stakes get higher. I have been guilty in the last few months of sticking to what I know and trying to survive the current climate. I have also realised now is a time for action. In my new book I have used a quote from John F Kennedy. It is one that has jolted me into a new determination for active development.

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” - John F. Kennedy

As the holiday season approaches and we all seek out the warmth of the familiar, it is vital that we prepare for a year of revolution, of paradigm shifts; we must all come out of the blocks with new resolve, with determination and optimism; resolved to take control of our lives and the lives of those who rely on us. We must not let our comfort zone stand in our way. What is abundantly clear is that 2012 will be the year where only the risk takers and change agents will thrive. We must use the break to reinforce our personal visions and beliefs and come out fighting. I will be looking to my own future and the kind of positive legacy that I can help to create. I will commit to a greater emphasis on collaboration, to personal development and to investing in our children.

To all of you that I have had the privilege to meet this year; to work with, to laugh with and to learn from; thank you!

Have a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year, here’s to 2012 and the year we empower ourselves and each other!

Oh the season of mellow fruitfulness and scooping the seeds and stuff out of pumpkins. It’s the perfect ending to a fantastic month and the first time I’ve been at home for Halloween in four years. Actually, I have spent the best part of October at home on writing leave, it has been a treat! In the spirit of self-indulgence, which I think is vital every so often, I thought that this month, I would tell you a little of what I’ve been up to, apart from picking pumpkin seeds off the kitchen floor and looking up soup recipes for the discarded flesh.

I am thrilled to have made real headway in writing two books…you wait years for one to come along and then…

The first is called Jump in the Water’s Lovely and is a personal reflection on change and leadership. I am really trying to understand the nature of change for both people and organisations. I have been exploring the crucial issues of vision and empowerment; areas that have been driving my work over the last few years and have become key elements of my speaking work and of my unique collaboration with Think Again Media and David Bell (www.thinkagaineducation.co.uk), more of which I’ll tell you about in the months to come. I am determined to make Jump in a very human and readable exploration of the change process and hope that by this time next year, it’s available for you all to buy. If anyone would like to read the introduction; which explains the title, please feel free to email me richard@richardgerver.com and I’ll send it to you.

The second is a novel that I have wanted to write for the best part of ten years called The World Between. It’s funny really, because it has been playing out in my head for so long and I’m not entirely sure what finally made me start work on it… It may be that I haven’t written any fiction since I was at University and was scared that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I am glad I have begun though; I’m finding it a relaxing and strangely cathartic process. It’s the story of teenage girl who through a series of life changing events learns about the world beyond her own protected experiences; I think that in part, it’s an ode to my daughter.

As the month comes to an end, it’s time to dust down my passport and head back out on the road. Over the next few weeks I will be in assorted destinations around the UK, Spain, Sweden, the US, New Zealand and Australia, so if anyone wants me to come and work with them in any of these places please let me know.

I have just returned from speeches in Pretoria and Chicago, speeches to very different audiences, the first to senior leaders in education, the second to senior leaders in HR. The hospitality shown to me at both was fantastic and as is often the case, I had time to have a meal and a conversation with the organisers. We talked a great deal about the impact of the global economic crisis and about the challenges facing us, our children and our diverse organisations; education, health, the armed forces, tax offices. We talked about human challenges on local, national and global scales and yet again, I realised that we are all dealing with the same issues; they are of course, well rehearsed; change, risk, creativity, productivity and efficiency.

The epiphany for me has been that you can distill the world’s problems into common themes and optimistically, we can therefore find solutions by talking more, sharing more and isolating less! When I started out on this journey, moving from the classroom to the speakers podium I was worried, very worried… I knew I had something to say about education and schooling but wondered what I would have of interest for audiences in a corporate realm… Very quickly, I saw the links and I have been fascinated by them since… But my global adventures have led to another revelation; the generic links that work across continents as well as corporations, because the solutions all rely on humanity.

As a result, I have a plea to make; please, let’s get over ourselves! And actually it’s just a matter of emphasis… We have got to stop reacting tribally by dismissively saying, ” What do THEY know?” and asking inquisitively, “WHAT do they KNOW? For example, if we want teachers to be more inclined to action research, let’s ask the medical profession. if we want to create more entrepreneurial cultures let’s ask Brazil, if we want to understand human leadership ask great school leaders. After reading this, make yourself a promise, that by the end of the week, you will have shared your challenges with someone who lives life in a different realm to you… Because some WHO, on earth, KNOWS!

I have just come back from holiday; two weeks of sun, sea, sand and kids… I loved it, every minute! The worst thing about going back to work for me, is knowing that for the next twelve months, I will spend less time with my family, less time with my own children and their friends. We had a great break, made even better because my two kids made friends with what became a posse of about ten youngsters between the ages of 10 and 17. It was infectious watching them all; laughing, splashing about, dancing… having fun. It was a strange juxtaposition because whilst we were away we watched, in horror, the events unfolding in some of the UK’s biggest cities; images of flames and destruction, hatred and fear. We then watched the experts being wheeled out to tell us that Britain was under siege from its youth, politicians queuing up to tell us that we lived in a broken nation.

We returned from holiday just as the exam results were released and we were told that yet again, our children had broken all records of success… only for them then to be told by certain factions of the media and our ‘oh so positive’ politicians that the only reason for this was because they had elected to take easy exams in easy subjects.

This week I read, that even our young children are out of control because about 240 have been excluded from primary schools each year in the last 5 years… which I agree sounds shocking, until you realise that there are approximately 5,500,000 children in primary school in the UK each year!

I have spent my life working with young people and the vast majority are amazing; their enthusiasm infectious; their energy and desire for life humbling. They want to live happy lives, they have powerful moral beliefs and they care deeply about society, however they are so often made to feel like second class citizens. I know some people will read that statement and accuse me of being a soft liberal who is responsible for the supposed downfall of our society… I am not!

The problem here is that we are generalising for the sake of headlines and political impact. Too many people think that our children should be caged and treated like wild animals in need of civilizing… they don’t! They need to be listened to, to be understood and to be valued… Our kids are us, twenty to thirty years ago.
I remember being taught rule number one, when training as a teacher; don’t keep telling children that they are naughty because they soon start to behave to the expectation. Over the next few weeks, months and years we must remember that the majority of our young are incredible, talented and determined people with a growing sense of identity; we must help them develop their skills, their talents and their sense of identity because they are amazing and they deserve it!

If we have problems and we do, we must stop blaming those who can’t defend themselves; our kids and look within because there lie the real problems… and problem number one, is how WE treat THEM!

I like most people have been glued to the news over the last week of the unbelievable tragedy unfolding in Norway; of the innocent lives extinguished because of hatred, paranoia; sheer lunacy!

I was in Norway last December speaking to an audience of educators and university professors about the future and preparing our children for it. It was a wonderful trip to a country that oozes humanity from every pore.

This is not the first time that in one of my blogs I have reflected on tragedy and the impact the images and coverage of these obscene events have on our children and I am sure that it won’t be the last. However it seems to be a comment on our times, that events so immense, events that put us all so deeply in touch with our own humanity and our feeling of togetherness, brings out the true nature of our own kind. It appears that it is in moments of immense pain and suffering that we come together and show the real potential of our species; our natural instinct to work together for each other, to support, to encourage, to survive. Last week I sat in front of the television transfixed by the sheer spiritual beauty of the people of Oslo, as they came together with candles and flowers and on mass stood; all colours and creeds, in defiance of evil and inhumanity. This is real democracy, the power of the people working together with each other, for each other.

Ironic really, that all of this has come at the end of a month dominated by the corruption of media moguls, politicians and police officers; closed cartels who work together too often to tell us how broken we are and persuade us to believe that they carry the flame for moral good… that we should look to and depend upon them to guide us and to unite us. Watching their unseemly wrangling, mud-slinging and petty politicking in times of such powerful juxtaposition, serves only to underline to me the importance of teaching our young people that they must stick together, that the power of humanity; collegiate and collaborative, working together for a better future is the only way to meet the challenges that we have set before them.
I was brought up in a time dominated by a survival of the fittest mentality; where the likes of the Murdoch family rule and where has it got us?

Now more than ever it is apparent that we cannot educate our children to perpetuate the same cultures and ways of life… It may sound kooky but, we need a global education system that teaches our children to stand together; to light candles of hope and raise flowers of optimism in all times; good and bad… we must teach them that above all, they must work and live together for a common vision of an optimistic future. Let’s make that the vision for a future global curriculum and help prepare them for peace in their time!