The Great Imagining

a learning festival for a greener, fairer, wiser future

We are devising and producing a 2 week festival of imaginative

student-led learning for secondary schools in the UK.

This public festival will reflect the urgency for a greener, fairer, wiser future.

We are building this in partnership with visionary experts and creatives

who are creating a hybrid digital and analogue programme

of innovative contemporary learning resources, masterclasses and toolkits.

This will be an annual festival of the future for communities,

devised and created by young people. 

This will place schools at the heart of the regeneration of their neighbourhoods

Transforming the collective imagination of everyone:

from community, business, the built environment

to our relationship with nature, our health and wellbeing and the wider ecosystem.

How are the programmes being developed?

We are developing a pathway prototyping process with scientists, academics and

specialists as well as artists, filmmakers, designers and art directors

to ensure the content and quality of these programmes

are rigorous, intelligent as well as inclusive and broad.

What will the content cover?

The syllabus is broad, practical and topical -

from food, clothing, architecture, cities, governance,

law, finance, technology, agriculture, forestry,

ecosystems to the solar system and the cosmos.

The curriculum pathways will encompass problem solving,

systems thinking, team work, group relations, and psychology.

The pathway outcomes will be a fusion of exhibition displays and

interactive workshops and theatre.

The pathways cover a range of styles and disciplines

from scientific research, invention,

gaming, debating and campaigning

to inventing, engineering, designing, craft,

performance and the arts

(theatre, music, image making, written word).

What impact will it have?

Transformative learning galvanises a buzz of curiosity

and builds a hive of creativity, discovery and action.

Guided by the UKs most inspiring creatives all pathways

will stimulate and produce fantastic work

which will be surprising, beguiling, informative and transformative.

Why is it needed?

In 2021, we are faced with unprecedented challenges

from structural inequality and mental health crises,

the fast-moving pace of artificial intelligence and the erosion of democracy

to the devastating effects of climate change and

ecosystem degradation.

Over the last few centuries, humans throughout the planet

have developed astonishing knowledge and technology

as well as self awareness and interconnectedness.

However due to the complex systems we have created,

we are now in a climate and ecological emergency

which is having a catastrophic impact on the ecosystems that sustain us.

Young people need the tools to face this uncertain future and

to be coached in systems thinking in all areas of life from

food, clothing and agriculture to government, economics and law.

This will give young people power as citizens and leaders

to make huge contributions to the future

for themselves, their communities and their planet. 

What kind of education system do we want?

We would like to see learning environments that will

equip young people with the skills needed for their future.

These include an understanding of systems thinking, 

exercise flexible and creative minds and increase everyones

dexterity and agility at making, doing, repairing and building.

It is vital that young people are able to develop the critical thinking and resilience 

to navigate our complex and ever-shifting political and environmental landscape.

Our vision is for an education system that meets the needs of young people

as well as empowers them to develop values and purpose

towards a greener, fairer, wiser world. 

However instead of a celebration of 

our addiction to fossil fuels during the industrial revolution

and the inequality and cruelty of our imperialist and colonialist systems -

this time we are imagining and celebrating a greener, fairer, wiser world

transforming every school in the land into a Great Exhibition.

Transforming education

Designed over a century ago, our public education systems

were created for a different world.

Against the contemporary emergencies of our time, 

our education systems are no longer fit for purpose.

The role of creativity in education

Our current era calls for collaborative, student-centred learning which allows for experiment and failure. Transformative learning as this type of learning is called, generates engagement and excitement in all young people whatever their background, abilities or circumstances.

There is a growing wealth research and consensus around the value of

teaching for creativity as well as practical skills and physical activities

throughout all levels and disciplines.

For example the 2020 Arts Council sponsored Durham Commission has recommended that the government set out a National Plan for Creative Education.

New paradigms & pedagogies

There is a growing consensus around the kind of learning that will create the workforce of the future. This agreement is shared by most industries, from traditional workforces

such as retail, tourism and manufacturing to successful contemporary businesses

exemplified by global technology companies.

At the same time industries are transforming and skills will be needed for the new thinking, behaviours and business thinking needed for a greener, fairer, wiser future.

Teamwork & innovation

Many new tech organisations are asking for student graduates who are creative and innovative thinkers, able to work in teams, confident in groups and can build shared goals and develop new solutions within fast moving contexts.

How the syllabus is being designed

We are working with designers, researchers and editors to build a landscape of knowledge and ideas encompassing the rich interconnectedness of our world.

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The Great Imagining syllabus is an exciting cross-curricular banquet of subjects

from ecosystems, natural resources, biodiversity and nature to revealing the

human-made systems of our contemporary planet.

To deliver this wealth of knowledge and research we are making a series of brilliantly researched, highly illustrated, books — the Thinklopedias.

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These books and resources are being supported by a playful digital network of additional content and downloadable material from our partners and collaborators.

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The syllabus is designed to be interactive, drawing on the work done in the schools themselves, building and learning from the hive mind of human intelligence.