What if… our main objective in education was to build wisdom?

Becky Francis (Chair), Director, UCL Institute of Education, Join us in the debate with a host of fantastic speakers including: Cat Scutt, Director of Education and Research, Chartered College of Teaching David Lambert, Professor of Geography Education, UCL Institute of Education Tony Sewell, CEO, Generating Genius Peter Hyman, Co-Director of Big Education and Co-founder of School 21

The question of whether the school curriculum should focus on knowledge or skills is the debate in education that just won’t go away, and is one that is often over-simplified, based in factionalism, caricatures and false-dichotomies. The majority view would appear to be that building pupils’ subject knowledge is vital but that there is also room for paying attention to skills and other aspects of young people’s development. The more nuanced question seems to be what kind of curricular diet – and associated pedagogy and assessment – will best develop young people’s wisdom, which is surely our main goal.

In this debate we bring together a range of perspectives to mull over the question of how to develop pupils who are wise – knowledgeable, but also empathetic, thoughtful, reflective, self-aware and able to show good judgement.