'A Practical Guide to a BIG Education' launched

We’ve been looking forward to getting our hands on this brand new guide.

Just published, contributors include our Deputy Head (Academic) Bertie Cairns and Head Will Goldsmith.

'A Practical Guide to a BIG Education' is a must read for educators looking to start a transformational journey – or who are seeking new ways to better prepare students for an uncertain future.  It offers a wealth of proven strategies, practices and guidance to ignite student curiosity and agency, and nurture emotional and academic health.

Bertie and Will share how Bedales created new interdisciplinary assessments (Bedales Assessed Courses) which stepped away from the restrictive format of GCSEs, whilst still meeting (and in fact, surpassing) national benchmarks. Bertie discusses the objectives, reasoning and the resulting benefits – including the increase in student motivation. Will shares how the BAC courses differ and how English Literature BAC is bucking the trend of declining numbers by offering freedom and alternative assessment.

This book reveals a vision for what education should and could be.

A ‘Big Education’ that would enable our young people to live happily and successfully, to make a positive impact and to be equipped for life. It clarifies how education needs to value more than just academic qualifications and learning (the Head), it also needs to focus on the Heart and the Hand - physical and emotional wellbeing as well as making and doing. This is not a new concept for us at Bedales of course. Nurturing Head, Hand and Heart is our founding principle and a key part of the vision of our founders John Badley and Oswald Powell who started Bedales in 1893. Great to see that it is increasingly being considered to be the framework of education for the future. Here’s hoping that this book will encourage more educators to think in a holistic way, so that all of our young people can truly thrive.