Matthew Taylor
The world that children are growing up in today is changing rapidly. They face an unpredictable future with new social, economic, environmental and technical challenges. At the RSA we are focused on enabling people to reach their potential, and for the RSA Education Programme this involves building innovative projects that facilitate young people to develop knowledge and skills required to thrive in this socio-economic context.
Clearly this demands a dynamic curriculum which is far more flexible, engaging, and embedded in the wider world beyond school than is the existing National Curriculum. It was this agenda that led the RSA to incept the Education Charter, the fore-runner to the Whole Education Network, drawing together other organisations dedicated to a more progressive curriculum suited to the social and economic demands of the twenty-first century. At the RSA we have pioneered curriculum innovations that have pushed the boundaries of the National Curriculum. These include our Opening Minds curriculum, which foregrounds the development of competencies that enable young people to thrive in the contemporary social world and jobs market; and our Area Based Curriculum, which draws on expertise and experience from local communities to energise curricula and engage young people in their local communities and the world beyond.
Hence we, along with our Whole Education partners, aim to challenge the narrow confines of existing curricula and education experiences to engender a Whole Education fit to meet the needs of young people in the twenty-first century.
Matthew Taylor
Chief Executive
RSA