When I was at school, it was a rare thing to be asked what I thought about my education…the range of subject choices was limited, and the extent of my careers advice was that I would make a good policewoman. But all that’s changed. Today, ‘student voice’ has become hugely important – recognised as one of the nine ‘gateways’ to the Holy Grail that is personalised learning….

As the new secondary curriculum becomes statutory for year 7 pupils in September, Twofour has been given the opportunity to create a ground breaking set of films which will explore the reactions, feelings and aspirations of learners embarking on their secondary school career - at a time in which important changes are being made both to what children learn, and the way in which they learn.

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust’s (SSAT) curriculum dept have created this project initially to develop an understanding about the way in which learners make the transition from primary to secondary, but with a view to continuing to map their progress annually throughout their school life, reminiscent of an education focused ‘7 up’ or ‘Child of our times’ series. It’s a really exciting prospect – and as the producer / director, I’m really looking forward to seeing the project unfold.

The ‘Big Picture’ of the new curriculum takes into consideration fresh understandings about the nature of learning, changes to the nature of work, the impact of technology, and an increased global dimension to life. Curriculum innovation embraces the futures agenda - ECM, personal development, social cohesion and enterprise. I am optimistic that our initial film will kick off what is to become an insightful and somewhat inspiring evaluation of curriculum design and the way in which learning is managed.

Having made an initial visit to ten schools across the country, I am looking forward to meeting our prospective contributors in late September, and I am keen to ensure that the chosen 20 will represent the range of young people living in England today.

After workshops with the families, we will be ready to film in November. The content of the film will be guided very much by the 20 children we follow – their favourite subjects, their own comparisons between primary and secondary school, and their current thinking about the choices they will make as they get older. Our brief is to create a 20 minute film featuring all of the children, which will appear on SSAT’s website, and will also be shown at lead practitioner events and educational conferences across England. A series of short profile films will also be created which will look at 12 – 15 individual experiences in more depth. These will also appear on the SSAT site, but I am hoping that - riding on the success of the project - we will eventually build a microsite for these mini profiles where progress can be easily and accessibly traced through the years.

So far schools have been extremely keen to get involved, and the project itself has been received with huge enthusiasm, watch this space for further updates!

In his blog my colleague Adam Montandon (HMC Interactive) draws attention to a truly life changing project currently being undergone at the Keio University in Japan. The project headed by Professor Junichi Ushiba, allows severe paralysis patients to take to the virtual world of Second Life, controlling their avatar via electrodes. They are able to… experience many new opportunities: business, shopping, making new friends, and ‘chance encounters’. The latter is particularly interesting. According to Prof. Ushiba:

“In ordinary life you go shopping and you might just happen to see a jacket you like and buy it, or the cover of a book might catch your eye. Sometimes you chat with people you just happen to run into, this kind of chance encounter could enrich people’s lives.”

So for patients that are immobilized by illness or injury, virtual life provides this random element. This impressive research into the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance the lives of these patients is very impressive.

It’s an exciting time in the world of mathematics at the moment. Last week, I attended the NCETM annual conference where Lord Andrew Adonis formally accepted on behalf of the Government all the recommendations that Sir Peter Williams laid out in the launch of the Primary Mathematics Review. This included key recommendations such as a specialist maths teacher in every primary school in the country…, and paying teachers up to £8000 in incentives and rewards to train towards gaining a Masters in maths teaching. £24 milion will be invested over the next 3 years to fund this major training programme for 13,000 existing primary school teachers.

There was a great buzz at the NCETM surrounding the launch and the feedback was extremely positive with everyone welcoming the new initatives. Sir Peter’s vision for bringing improvements and change to primary education, is rooted in best practice with a greater emphasis on play. The message is about collaborative learning and pupils being active which should make for a lively atmosphere in the classroom!

The conference also saw the official launch of Bowland Maths.