Edge Forum

Thursday 30th April, 2009

Visionary 2009

By CJ

CJ – So whats going on?

Sim – I just went into a school with Mark & Steph and did a presentation about our mission and introduced the Visionary project.   We went to show 250 year 10’s how they would be using Visionary as part of their work experience.

CJ – What do you hope they got from the presentation?

Sim – Just looking into hands on learning and looking further into what they are doing in the future and realising they have different options.   I hope they will learn something valuable by doing an interview with a successful person at the work experience placement.

CJ – So how do you think it went?

Sim - I thought it went quite well cos they all listened and seemed interested.   I was a bit nervous but you don’t need to write that…

CJ – How are you feeling about the intensive Visionary workshops we are running next week?

Sim - I’m feeling positive about next week interested in speaking to year tens about what they want to do and how they are feeling about school at the moment.   I’m interested to know what they want to do in the future and whether they have the same look on school as I did.

 

Monday 27th April, 2009

Paul Preston Role Model Interview

By Admin

Members of the Edge Learner Forum went to Unilever to meet up with Paul Preston.  Paul has worked at Unilever for forty-five years, having joined the company straight after leaving school at 15.  The Forum interviewed Paul about his experiences in education and his career. 

 

ELF: How would you describe your educational experience?

 

Paul: Pretty horrible.  I went to a grammar school where you came out and became either a doctor or a teacher.  I left when I was fifteen, but would have left at thirteen if I could have.

ELF:  What was the reaction from people around you, like your parents?

Paul:  My parents were upset and horrified – you know, I’d got into a grammar school, a good school, so it was a shock to leave.  My mum sort of understood it, but my dad was cross with me at the time… he had to admit I ended up being pretty successful in the end and I think he forgave me.

                   

At the age of fifteen or sixteen I just wanted to be a tennis player.  I hadn’t really thought properly about bills or anything like that, I wasn’t conscious that wasn’t the right decision at sixteen.  I left school without qualifications, which was pretty dumb actually, but I just thought – why would I ever need a GCSE in Latin?  At the age of 15, 16, 17, I never thought about what anyone else might be thinking – I wasn’t trying to let them down, I just couldn’t see any relevance to my learning when I could be earning money.

 

If I was doing it again I wouldn’t do the same thing, even though I achieved, and ended up with a senior role. I would have done things differently. 

 

At school you’re told what you’re bad at.  But you can use the bad things in a good way – I discovered I had a good mind to become an accountant.  It wasn’t that I was good at maths; I just had a good mind for numbers and business, so that set me off on my career.

 

Then I started to come up against people that had been to uni and good schools, and I was now at the same level as them when they came in.  I was considered by management to be a very slow starter.  I was bumping up against these uni-leavers and it irritated me.  I saw how I had missed out on university life and now I’m glad my daughter has gone on to have a university life.  I missed out on the enjoyment of education – I’d only known it as a memory test, whereas university teaches you in a different way.

 

Daniel: I sometimes wonder why I’m in education.  But there’s some experiences of learning you would miss out on if you weren’t, it’s true.

 

Simon: How did you block out the fact you were up against these people who’d been to uni and had qualifications?  Did it worry you?

 

Paul: Yes it did.  That feeling of being slightly inferior, that I’d missed out on this ‘club’.  I worked in a department that was made up of university graduates – and me.  50% of the conversation went over my head.

 

Rose: Most of the time they do that to make themselves feel better.

 

Paul: I started to take the piss out of them!  I decided that I wasn’t doing the work any worse than they were and I started to use the experiences I had had to my own benefit, because I had experiences they didn’t have.  I could actually use my life experiences to work.  You’re on a losing wicket if you try to compete by playing their game.  So play a different game.  I just went on being me.  Never lose sight of who you are.  I can see elements of brilliance amongst you.  Compete where you know you have strengths.  So my advice on dealing with these people is to take the piss; play your own game; and never feel inferior. 

 

I have actually done a lot better than a lot of those other people.  Someone once said to me: ‘You haven’t changed in 30 years, Paul.’  And at first I thought ‘that’s not very nice!’  But I realised she meant it as a compliment.  ‘Thirty years on you’re still Paul.’  Remember who you are and where you come from.  There are some people who will be better at certain things, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying.  I’m never going to beat Tiger Woods in a game of golf – I aspire to! – but that doesn’t stop me from trying.  Remember who you are and be yourself – don’t try and be someone else.

 

ELF:  If you were in school now, do you think you would have stayed on?

 

Paul: If I was in school now I’d probably have been excluded.  Not for being violent or anything like that, but a fault in me is that I speak out about things.  The stupid thing is that when you do that you become a voice of sanity.  I work with groups of professionals at the absolute top of their game – the reason they appreciate me is because I speak out, I say if I don’t understand.  Some people just shut up.  I would have been excluded.  I needed praise, praise is important to me.  

 

My worst nightmare is that Saskia [my daughter] becomes a teacher.  Teachers always gave me detentions and said to me you must do better, change your attitude, it’s wrong, so it would have been my worst nightmare if I had to carry on in education until I was 18.  If it was still like it was when I went, or like some of you have described to me, I’d do everything in my power not to go.  So I thought that if there was some way to put my energy into being part of the team that shapes what learning might look like, I’d like to be involved in changing it.  The big test would be in 2013 if you ask me that question again and I said YES, I would stay in education if it is like this.

 

ELF:  What are you going to do now?

 

Paul:  Now I want to do things that give me a buzz, what I’m good at.  It’s not for money anymore; I want to do something I’m really interested in.  I’m good with people and I believe people can do extraordinary things.  There are such great skills in this room among you, hidden talents.  One thing I want to do over the next few years is help people recognise their potential. 

 

ELF:  Would you have gone to university to do accountancy, if you could do it again?

 

Paul: If I could do it again I think uni would be great.  You get a completely different way of teaching and learning.

 

Rose:  So would you have gone because you felt enriched by the experience?

 

Paul:  I would have done things in those years that I never got another chance to do.  Once you’re in your career you can do qualifications with the company, but you’re on the career path by then – which is fun, it’s engaging, but it’s bloody hard work.  It sounds glamorous and it is, travelling and moving to different houses, but there are lots of downsides.  Being set on your career path is different from reading for the sake of reading. 

 

Ola:  Do you think it is possible to become a businessman without qualifications? 

 

Paul:  Well I’m sure Alan Sugar hasn’t been to university.  I never used to admit it but it has become more difficult to get into business.  I wouldn’t even get into Unilever today.  But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t get into smaller businesses or start your own company.  One thing is emerging as they talk about diversity – people are thinking that if you only get people in from Oxbridge, you are missing out on a huge amount of people.  It’s like the school inspections by Edge Instead versus Ofsted, that’s different thinking.  I just wonder if companies are starting to think they are taking in much too narrow a band of people.  In my last job I was working on understanding what we are calling the ‘War for Talent’ – how can you get the best leaders?  They have to come from a wide band of places.  Who would have though Barack Obama would have become the President of America?!  The 44^th president of the States is going to bring us in a new direction.  It’s not to do with his colour; I think he is just coming from a totally different place. 

 

Nathan: How does it make you feel to know that Unilever doesn’t take people from a wide spectrum?

 

Paul:  It makes me angry.

 

Devante:  Don’t get mad, get even!

 

Paul:  I have tried to play the game. Now I have a chance to start influencing people, for example, looking at the War For Talent – one of the things I would like to do is see how I can get some of your good ideas into Unilever, those different ideas and say ‘hang on – we can do things differently’.  Strangely you can do these things better from the outside than the inside.  It [the recruitment situation at Unilever] is not something I’m happy about, but I’m not going to get mad – I’m going to get even.

 

Nathan:  I’ve been engaged with people in the private sector before who talk the corporate talk, but with you it’s different, it feels real.  When you get exposed to things like this and people like you, you really learn. So thank you.

 

 

 

Thursday 16th April, 2009

Dan Harding

By Admin

Cumbria's chip shop entrepreneur on what it means to be successful (click here)

Tuesday 7th April, 2009

Latest London News

By Admin

We know it’s been a while. You probably think we’ve been on holiday or something. In fact, we’ve been BUSY, and a whole lot of big changes are in the works. Here’s a quick roundup.

Movement MAYHEM!!!

 Over 2009, we’re expanding the Edge Learner Forum into a national MOVEMENT, getting 10,000 young people involved in our mission. Which means there’s more chances than EVER for you to get involved with our projects, having fun, gaining experience, and making education better in the process. All you have to do is sign up as a Young Associate by completing our survey.

Read on to find out more………….

Youth Commission INSANITY!!!

What could you do in 10 minutes?

Scoff your lunch? Definitely. Facebook ‘research’? Probably. Tidy your room? Unlikely. Change education. Say WHAAATT?

 If you've been keeping your eyes on the front page news you'll know our groundbreaking Youth Commission project is ploughing full steam ahead. And, believe it or not, you can join in the movement to change education in 10 minutes, just by doing our online survey. If you're between 10 and 25 and haven't completed the survey, click on this link NOW:

http://www.shmsurveys.co.uk/survey.php?sid=72%20

Following on from the launch in January (photos below), we've collected over 2,000 detailed accounts of young people's experiences of education and what they make of the new education age. We're going to make sure this info has an impact on a national level, thanks to our friends in the Select Committee.

The Phase 2 survey is now collecting a further 5,000 views. We need as many young people as possible to complete it. It’s a chance to have your voice PROJECTED on a national level. And it’s 10 minutes long, so what have you got to lose? Pass it on to your mates, stick it on your favourite sites, GET INVOLVED and GET IT SAID!

Here’s those photos:

The orange juice's lack of fashion sense meant he could never truly feel part of the huddle.

Learner Forum TV MANIA!!!

The best quotes are short, striking, and inspirational-

‘I have a dream.’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk)

‘We will never surrender.’  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6llT2ZYg-4E)

‘Yes, we can.’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms)

‘Get it said.’

GET it SAID?! Oh yes. If you haven’t seen it yet, get back to the home page NOW and check out the latest episode of Learner Forum TV (LFTV for short)!!!!

The 3 most beautiful words we’ve ever heard…

Louis' version of the Macarena was somewhat unorthodox.

Take a look and let us know what you think!

Role Model MADNESS!!!

28th March saw all the usual London suspects greeting a few of our comrades from Sussex for the latest Forum meeting.

On the menu: Role Models. This is our quest to seek out 200 successful people who’ve taken practical and inspirational routes through life. We’ll be showcasing them on this very website very soon. Check out LFTV for the first two: A top businessman and a professional breakdancer! If you have anyone you’d like to nominate to be a Role Model, please drop us a line and let us know!

Here’s some shots from the day:

 The 'no tables' rule was taken very seriously.

 Big Mike tells it like it is for his Role Model interview.

Adam's 'Hypno-Hand' move caused envy wherever he went.

Youth Commission workshop HYSTERIA!!!

Sightings came in yesterday (April 6^th) that members from London and Sussex were dancing around like absolute NUTTERS in a secret location somewhere North of the Thames…An eyewitness described the event as ‘absolute carnage’. Thankfully no injuries have been reported yet.

In fact, we weren’t at the G20 protests. It was all part of an energetic training session, conducted by our good friend (and upcoming Role Model) Michael Jones. Members will soon be running workshops for Phase 3 of the Youth Commission, and the session was all about preparing them to do this.

That wraps it up for now, but we’ll be back soon with more news and photos than you can shake a stick at. And remember, if you want to get involved, all you have to do is complete the survey or get in touch!

Peace till next time…