Education takes centre stage at Friends House
Education conference draws an audience of fifty
Quaker Values in Education (QVinE)’s 2016 conference drew an audience of fifty to Friends House on Saturday 30 April.
The conference explored how Quaker values can stimulate and inspire a productive and broadly based debate about the current unease concerning government policy in the UK’s school system.
The keynote speech was given by Tim Brighouse, a former chief education officer in Oxfordshire and later Birmingham. He spoke on: ‘The flawed values of our schools: how can England turn its schooling system, based on “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing”, into one based on the values of a civilised society?’
Alison Spottiswoode, a teacher and Southampton Friend; retired teacher Graham Ralph of Friargate Meeting in York; and Quaker member of parliament Ruth Cadbury spoke ‘from experience’. Delegates spent the afternoon in discussion groups, considering issues ranging from classroom practice to leadership and governance.
‘The welcome presence of many teachers gave added reality to our concern. The current school system was repeatedly described as punitive, teachers saying that only those who taught special needs kids escaped ceaseless monitoring. The discussion sessions opened up many strong views and all culminated in a deep and uplifting sharing in worship,’ said David Day of QVinE.
