The Education Foundation is a leading organisation set up to accelerate and support positive change in the British education system and beyond.
Co-founded by Ty Goddard and Ian Fordham in 2011, key achievements for The Education Foundation in its first 5 years of work have been:
- Delivering advisory work and partnership projects in the arenas of: teacher’s professional development (Teacherlab); technology and innovation (Learning Lab); creating a vibrant UK edtech startup ecosystem (Edtech Incubator & Edtech UK); and supporting FE colleges and the skills sector with the digital agenda (Digital Colleges)
- Influencing policy development at a national level including running Britain’s first Education Reform Summits, in partnership with the Department for Education & UK governments in 2014, 2015 & 2016; running the first Edtech UK Global Summit with the endorsement of every Whitehall government department in November 2016; our work on the role of the middle tier and submissions to the Select Committee; and our work on the shortage of school places feeding directly into the Mayor of London Schools Inquiry.
- Writing insight and thought leadership reports on the future of the UK education system (Education Britain: the journey to education reform); the way technology and social media can be a tool for teaching and learning (The Facebook Guide for Educators); the strategic development of technology in schools and tackling key barriers across the system for learning (Technology and Education: a system view); the digital transformation of the further education and skills sector (Digital Colleges: the journey ahead) leadership lessons between the US and UK (Building a Lattice for School Leadership); and the development of the UK and London’s edtech ecosystem (Edtech London’s Capital for Learning Technology)
- Undertaking commissioned research including the Facebook Guide for Educators – the first piece of research commissioned by the global technology company outside of the US; work on the future of leadership and new school models for the Powerlist Foundation, to help them shape their vision for a pioneering Sixth Form Leadership Academy in London; a collaborative research report on the lessons and learning from the UK school leadership system for US policy makers; the Mayor of London/London Enterprise Panel’s Digital Skills research project to audit and map school, college and industry digital, computing and STEM provision across London to help shape a major Digital Talent Fund
- Hosting and delivering 50+ Education Foundation policy events, conferences, summits and roundtables on a range of policy issues in the UK and the USA with partners including: The Department for Education, Association of Colleges, Edge Foundation, UKIE NextGenSkills, Thomas B Fordham Institute, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UKTI, Tech City UK, London and Partners, Universities UK and the British Consulate in Boston
- Developing a Corporate Partners network of leading global and UK companies who work with The Education Foundation on projects, ventures and programmes of work to help drive reform and innovation in the education system – including: Facebook, IBM, Pearson, HP, Randstad Education, Cambridge University Press, Skype, Sony, Google and Samsung.
- Speaking at numerous education, technology and policy events and roundtables including: ASU GSV Summit, The Festival of Education, Campus Party Europe, Economist Infrastructure Summit, TES & New Statesman roundtables, Tech London Advocates Summit, Guardian Innovation in Education Conference, the Innotech Summit and running the BETT Futures Startup Zone in 2015 and 2016.