Educational Wealth Fund

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The Educational Wealth Fund (EWF) is a registered charity in England and Wales. The EWF is building a permanent endowment fund to provide grants to non-selective comprehensive schools in the United Kingdom. [1]

Contents

Overview

The EWF seeks to fund capital projects which provide schoolchildren, and their communities with a sense of awe, inspiration and wonder. It has five priority themes:

One of the stated aims of the EWF is to enhance the position of education within national culture,  citing calls by UNESCO and the OECD on the vital need to improve globally the image and status of the teaching profession. [2] [3] The EWF notes that the highest performing education systems around the world are also supported by a national culture which prizes education and holds the teaching profession in high regard. [4] To this end, the EWF seeks to raise the profile of education by funding projects which will create positive and inspiring stories about learning and teaching, such as; life-size dinosaur skeletons, wonderous libraries, art galleries, full-scale kitchen gardens, planetariums, world-class sculpture, landscaped gardens, music centres, and events involving renowned artists. [5]

History

The charity was founded in 2020 by British science teacher Jason West FRSA. Since publication of its vision the EWF has attracted wide support from economists, academics, authors, artists, TV and cultural personalities, including two former Presidents of the Royal Society. [6] Jason cites that he was inspired by Carl Sagan's 1994 Pale Blue Dot speech given at Cornell University which questioned the futility of conflict, and humanities vision for its place on Earth.

Notable patrons

PatronNotable for
Professor Jim Al-Khalili FRS OBE Theoretical physicist and TV Presenter
Beanie Bhebhe Percussionist for Rudimental
Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE Explorer
Professor Ian Goldin Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technological and Economic Change. Former Vice-President of the World Bank
Peter Horrocks CBE Chair of SEMLEP and former director of the BBC World Service
Professor Saiful Islam FRSC Chemist and Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer
Ian Kelly Actor and Historical Biographer
Dame Ann Limb CBE, DL, FRSA Chair of the Scout Association
Sir Paul Nurse FRS Nobel Laureate, former president of the Royal Society, CEO Crick Institute.
Chris Packham CBE Naturalist, TV presenter and author
Professor Martyn Percy Dean of Christ Church, Oxford University
Sarah Pinborough Novelist
Lord Martin Rees OM, FRS, FRAS Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society
Jacqueline de Rojas CBE President of techUK and Chair of the Board of Digital Leaders. Non-Executive Director on the boards of Rightmove, Costain Group and FDM.
Professor Andrea Sella Science communicator
Nicki Shields Presenter Formula-E
Sir Tim Smit KBE Founder of the Eden Project
Iain Standen FRSA Chief Executive of Bletchley Park
KT Tunstall Singer and Songwriter
John Wallace CBE  Former principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Administration

The EWFs founder, Jason West, was appointed by the board of trustees to become its first Chief Executive in July 2020. The Board of Trustees include: Sir Peter Birkett (Chair from 2020), Junita Fernandez, Lucian J Hudson, Zoe Raven, Andrew Harris, Victoria Mayes, Richard Bywater, Robert Gifford, Stuart Young and Chris Bridgman MBE. Youth Advisors include Amy and Ella Meek founders of Kids Against Plastic.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education</span> Transmission of knowledge and skills

Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Various researchers emphasize the role of critical thinking in order to distinguish education from indoctrination. Some theorists require that education results in an improvement of the student while others prefer a value-neutral definition of the term. In a slightly different sense, education may also refer, not to the process, but to the product of this process: the mental states and dispositions possessed by educated people. Education originated as the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Today, educational goals increasingly encompass new ideas such as the liberation of learners, skills needed for modern society, empathy, and complex vocational skills.

Education reform is the name given to the goal of changing public education. The meaning and education methods have changed through debates over what content or experiences result in an educated individual or an educated society. Historically, the motivations for reform have not reflected the current needs of society. A consistent theme of reform includes the idea that large systematic changes to educational standards will produce social returns in citizens' health, wealth, and well-being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School</span> Institution for the education of students by teachers

A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught is commonly called a university college or university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocational education</span> Studies that prepares a person for a specific occupation

Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with requisite skill. Vocational education is known by a variety of names, depending on the country concerned, including career and technical education, or acronyms such as TVET and TAFE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adult education</span> Any form of learning adults engage in beyond traditional schooling

Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. It can mean any form of learning adults engage in beyond traditional schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal fulfillment as a lifelong learner. and to ensure the fulfillment of an individual.

Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper secondary and university levels. Education prior to elementary school is provided at kindergartens and day-care centres. The programmes for those children aged 3–5 resemble those at kindergartens. The educational approach at kindergartens varies greatly from unstructured environments that emphasize play to highly structured environments that are focused on having the child pass the entrance exam at a private elementary school. The academic year starts from April and ends in March, having summer vacation in August and winter vacation in the end of December to the beginning of January.

Education policy consists of the principles and policy decisions that influence the field of education, as well as the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems. Education governance may be shared between the local, state, and federal government at varying levels. Some analysts see education policy in terms of social engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open educational resources</span> Open learning resource

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and resources for any user to use, re-mix, improve, and redistribute under some licenses. These are designed to reduce accessibility barriers by implementing best practices in teaching and to be adapted for local unique contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental education</span> Environmental social science

Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teacher education</span> Training teachers to develop teaching skills

Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school, and wider community. The professionals who engage in training the prospective teachers are called teacher educators.

This glossary of education-related terms is based on how they commonly are used in Wikipedia articles. This article contains terms starting with T – Z. Select a letter from the table of contents to find terms on other articles.

Open educational resources (OER) are learning materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. OER policies are adopted by governments, institutions or organisations in support of the creation and use of open content, specifically open educational resources (OER), and related open educational practices.

Global citizenship education (GCED) is a form of civic learning that involves students' active participation in projects that address global issues of a social, political, economic, or environmental nature. The two main elements of GCE are 'global consciousness'; the moral or ethical aspect of global issues, and 'global competencies', or skills meant to enable learners to participate in changing and developing the world. The promotion of GCE was a response by governments and NGOs to the emergence of supranational institution, regional economic blocs, and the development of information and communications technologies. These have all resulted in the emergence of a more globally oriented and collaborative approach to education. GCE addresses themes such as peace and human rights, intercultural understanding, citizenship education, respect for diversity and tolerance, and inclusiveness.

Teacher quality is said to be the most important factor influencing learner outcomes. The Education for All Goals set by UNESCO have been achieved by some countries but many millions of children remain out of school or with poor teachers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varkey Foundation</span>

The Varkey Foundation, initially the Varkey GEMS Foundation, is a global charitable foundation focused on improving the standards of education for underprivileged children. It was formed in 2010 by Indian businessman Sunny Varkey, the founder and chairman of GEMS Education, the world's largest operator of kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools. The foundation's main focuses are improving global teacher capacity by training tens of thousands of teachers and principals in developing countries; providing access to education via a variety of programmes and projects; and advocating for change in, and conducting research that can help develop, education policies worldwide.

Inclusive education in Latin America aims at giving all people of the region the right to access education. Its development consists of four aspects that may define the position of the debate on inclusive education in the region:

  1. Combining traditional programmes with new approaches
  2. Focusing in and beyond the education system
  3. Educational progressivism
  4. Understanding the past and the present

Climate change education (CCE) is education that aims to address and develop effective responses to climate change. It helps learners understand the causes and consequences of climate change, prepares them to live with the impacts of climate change and empowers learners to take appropriate actions to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Climate change and climate change education are global challenges that can be anchored in the curriculum in order to provide local learning and widen up mindset shits on how climate change can be mitigated. In such as case CCE is more than climate change literacy but understanding ways of dealing with climate

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goal 4</span> 4th of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to achieve quality education for all

Sustainable Development Goal 4 is about quality education and is among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in September 2015. The full title of SDG 4 is "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all".

The Survey of Teachers in Pre-Primary Education (STEPP) is the first international survey for low-and-middle-income countries designed to collect information that is known to affect the quality of pre-primary education from pre-primary teachers and centre heads. The collected information concerns training and professional development, pedagogical and professional practices, working conditions and job satisfaction, and characteristics of pre-primary personnel and the settings in which they work.

The learning crisis or global learning crisis is a term describing the fact that, despite a large increase in access to schooling, learning outcomes remain poor, especially in developing countries. Worldwide, millions of children who attend school do not acquire basic skills such as literacy and numeracy, and many more are far behind age-appropriate expectations in their national curricula. Proponents argue that this crisis needs to be addressed due to the importance of education in fostering children's development, social mobility, and subsequent opportunities.

References

  1. Charity Commission. The Educational Wealth Fund, registered charity no. 1192427. Retrieved 20 November 2020
  2. Tang, Q et al, UNESCO, Education 2030, Incheon Declaration and Framework for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4, 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2020
  3. OECD (2014), A Teachers’ Guide to TALIS 2013: Teaching and Learning International Survey, TALIS, OECD Publishing. Retrieved 17 August 2020
  4. Report on Research into Maths and Science Teaching in the Shanghai Region, National College for School Leadership (2013). Retrieved 17 August 2017
  5. “Our Vision”. The Educational Wealth Fund. Retrieved 13 October 2020
  6. “Patrons and Supporters”. “The Educational Wealth Fund. Retrieved 13 October 2020