The RSA Blog

Brown's national plan - six discussion points

Blog

29 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

Another crazy day in the office . I have torn myself away from Anne Atkins and Jeremy Paxman debating the English language in the Great Room to steal ten minutes to write  this post. I wish I had longer because the plan being published by the Government in an hour deserves proper debate . Maybe I'll come back to it tomorrow. But here are some points to be going on with:

The end of an education era?

Blog

26 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

Next month, at the RSA, I am delivering the annual lecture of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The speech is in draft form but it contains the observation that the framework of central prescription, repeated pupil assessment and inspection has run out of steam. So, I welcome the briefing ahead of next week’s schools white paper that the Government is moving away from the centrally prescribed literacy and numeracy strategy.

The RSA - do you get it?

Blog

25 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

A lot about the RSA in the blog this week (‘about time too’ some people might say). This is partly because I have been writing elsewhere. Also, some time between now and midnight I‘m penning a piece for the Times on home ownership; I’ll be able to draw on a really interesting discussion on this site.

Narrative shift: telling stories about climate

Blog

24 Jun 2009

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Fellowship - some big questions

Blog

24 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

Interesting responses to my post yesterday; both as comments and direct e-mails to me.  Some eyebrows were raised at me being so explicit about the challenges the RSA faces. Apart from wanting genuinely to engage Fellows, there is a wider reason why I am committed to openness. 

The elusive brow of the hill

Blog

23 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

When talking to people about organisational change I use a cycling metaphor. The first phase is like riding up a hill into a fierce wind. It’s tough. If you don’t keep pedalling hard you find you have stopped moving or may even be sliding back downhill. Then there comes the brow of the hill and you enter an exhilarating time when change is happening effortlessly. The temptation in this phase is to freewheel down into the next valley; if you want to keep improving you have to use some of the downward momentum to start the next climb.

The Politics Pen

Blog

22 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

For anyone who might be interested, Newsnight is showing the first 'Politics Pen' tonight  - and here is a piece I wrote for their website.  Regular readers will be familiar with these views - so just goes to show you DO read it here first!

Social capital and social networks - what are we talking about?

Blog

22 Jun 2009

The Connected Communities programme is about understanding and using social capital and social networks for social and economic development. So we’ve probably already lost most people just in saying what the programme is trying to achieve. Social capital is a term academics and policy makers are always talking about, but it is often hard to be clear what they mean by it, how you would go about measuring it, and what can (and should) be done to influence it.

The shot putter's final throw

Blog

19 Jun 2009

Matthew Taylor

After schools, houses, electoral reform and the future of the human race, it’s time for a bit of politics to finish off the week; time also for one of my famous incredibly contrived analogies. Gordon Brown is in the position of an Olympic shot putter who has had two no-throws.