The Hawkwood Conversations

OCTOBER 2020 - MAY 2021

The Hawkwood group will be distinctive and unique — a diverse collection of thinkers focussed on a particular challenge and a common purpose. A mixture of educationalists, comprising students, teachers, principals, policy-makers, sustainability experts and activists, will join people who are academics, thinkers and influencers from other sectors, and leaders from the world of business, finance and industry. 

What we will all share is genuine concern for the crisis facing humanity and the eagerness to ensure that education adapts to meet the interconnected challenges of the age. 

To our mind, three core questions are at the heart of our conversations:

1. In what keyways are contemporary models of education fit for purpose? In what ways are they inadequate to the particular challenges of 21st Century living?

2. Given those inadequacies, how can educational leaders ‘re-wire’ their approach to curriculum, pedagogy and institutional infrastructure to address this simple yet fundamental question?

3. What are the principal methods for accelerating this process, drawing on what is already working, and creating institutional and cultural change at the highest level of educative structures (from a teacher-training to admissions processes and the real-world values of degree awards)?

Below you can find a summary of each of these conversations:

Conversation 1 │ 24th November 2020│ 1.00 pm- 2.30 pm CET
Systems Thinking & Education for Sustainable Futures – the Why
Prompts: Keri Facer & Elspeth Donovan
Facilitator: Alison Wood (outcomes & mapping)

Conversation 2 │ 3rd December 2020│ 3.00 pm- 4.30 pm CET
Leadership: Complexity and Interdependence
Prompt: Polly Courtice & Mike Johnston
Facilitator: Richard Calland

Conversation 3 │ 21st January 2021│2.00 pm- 3.30 pm CET
Curriculum: Re-thinking the What of teaching and learning
Prompt: Christopher Newfield & Alex Catallo
Facilitator: Andrew Watson

Conversation 4 │ 9th February 2021│ 3 pm- 4.30 pm CET
Educating in Climate Change (teachers, students, parents)
Prompts: Melanie Harwood & Zineb Mouyhi
Facilitator: Alexei Du Bois

Conversation 5 │ 11th March 2021│ 3.30 pm- 5.00 CET
Pedagogy: Re-thinking the How and Where of school education
Prompt: Rob Paddock & Marwa Bkeirat
Facilitator: Chris Wright

Conversation 6 │ 30th April 2021│ 2 pm- 3:30pm GMT
Perspectives from the ‘Colonies’
Prompt: Muthoni Kanyana & Paul Lalvani
Facilitator: Elspeth Donovan