Find out more about our Capabilities for Life Framework, and why and how we developed them.

The faculty will be developing, prototyping and piloting the Capabilities for Life curriculum on the RSA's new Design for Life Awards. This is a mission-led intervention offering everyone aged 11 to 111 learning, innovation, connection and funding opportunities to grow ideas and businesses for a regenerative world.

We have already started prototyping these learning journeys with our target learners (in partnership with School 21, Bristol University, our Catalyst Award winners, and Purpose Disruptors). We will work with the faculty to bring our reflections and feedback together for a holistic curriculum.

There are different ways in which you might contribute to the co-production of our Capabilities for life curriculum:

• Co-produce three learning journeys: Work jointly with our teams to design three separate learning experiences targeted at different learner groups; these will go live as part of the new Design for Life Awards in September 2024. Guide us to ensure the experiences actively welcome in participants from underserved communities. Make the learning focused on being applicable in the real world, turning a person’s energy for change into regenerative action.
• Help set up evaluation and assessment frameworks: Alongside RSA evaluation experts, support us to design new frameworks, tools and approaches that will enable us to assess the impact of the learning journeys on learner capabilities and real-world impact.
• Inclusive learning content design and advice: Share your experience so that together we craft learning content and resources that are learner-centred and inclusive.
• Test the curriculum: Test parts of the developing curriculum with target learner groups (that you are already working with or support facilitation and review with our test and learn groups). Review and help iterate the content based on feedback from target learners and our test and learn groups.
• Help us design in the open: Share learnings and best practice with the wider RSA Fellowship and beyond (dependent on your capacity).

Practically this might look like:

We are open to exploring how participation might look for you, as we appreciate that people have different work/life commitments and may be joining us from different time zones.

As a reference, working on this may look like:

• Committing a half-day each week from April to July to attend online co-design sessions or undertaking asynchronous work/research.
• This would include joining five two-hour sessions through the course of the process (dates TBC).
• Contributing to online discussions about, and reviews of, our ideas, eg in a dedicated Circle space.
• Sending across existing materials and resources that you are happy for us to incorporate into our curriculum.
• Being available to speak with the team on a one-off basis to be interviewed on your area of expertise.

We are looking for Fellows of the RSA from across the world who can bring expertise covering two or more of the areas below:

• Are experts and practice leaders from across the world in teaching, learning and development within businesses, designing or producing accessible learning content, and/or evaluation and assessment around one or more of our ten Capabilities for life.
• Are experts and practice leaders in designing and/or facilitating learning spaces (via coaching and mentoring) for action learning (rooted in place-based, real-world challenges).
• Have direct experience and knowledge of facilitating learning with one or more of the RSA’s Design for Life Awards target groups (children aged 11-18, adult learners and social entrepreneurs).
• Prioritise learner-centred and inclusive design approaches, including creating accessible, equitable and culturally adaptive learning experiences.
• Are keen and able to contribute the capacity and commitment needed to help learners of all ages turn their energy to shape a regenerative future for all life into impactful action.

Download the appendix

In addition to the above, it would be beneficial if you have the following attributes:

• Are thought leaders in regenerative design for places and planet.
• Demonstratable ability to practise the ten life-centric capabilities in your life and professional practice.

We hope this will seem like an exciting role as part of your practice area and changemaking community. In addition, you will get:

• The chance to work with the RSA and thought and practice leading Fellows on shaping unique life-centric curricula; grow your own practice and be part of a community that is developing cutting-edge thinking on future proof, regenerative capabilities.
• Your input will shape the experiences of thousands of future learners who participate in our programmes; this is your chance to have tremendous reach and platform – faculty profiles will be shared on our website and on Circle in relation to this work, and your contributions will be credited*.
• While the opportunity now is timebound and on a volunteer basis, this could lead to further work as part our Capabilities for life faculty.
• Priority invites to the DfLA launch event in September 2024 and free entry to the Fellows Festival in 2025.
• As a volunteer, the RSA will compensate you for reasonable expenses incurred to support this work, such as travel, subsistence and accommodation if needed.

*As per our Open Knowledge Standards, all curriculum material will be placed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence to enable more learners and educators across the world to share, adapt and improve the knowledge generated.