#236 – Why Adult Education is Broken and How We Fix It

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What’s in this episode?

Welcome back listeners…here’s to 2022!

In this episode, it’s James Plunkett, Author of End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken and How We Will Fix It. James is also Executive Director, Design, Data and Technology at Citizens Advice and has held various roles across the Resolution Foundation, Young Foundation and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. We chat about: 

• The challenges of upskilling in an atomised gig economy
• Bold approaches to adult education 
• Why sustaining change management puts you in a long line of social reformers. Keep going! 

This episode is part of our VocTech Podcast series produced in collaboration with Ufi VocTech Trust. 

We would love to hear from you. Record a quick free voicemail about this episode via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Or you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via Twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page or Instagram. 

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People

James Plunkett, Author of End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken and How We Will Fix It. @jamestplunkett

James Plunkett, Author of End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken and How We Will Fix It.

James is also Executive Director, Design, Data and Technology at Citizens Advice and has held various roles across the Resolution Foundation, Young Foundation and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.

James has worked for over a decade at the heart of public policy, exploring how to solve society’s thorniest problems. IN the late 2000s, he was working at 10 downing street when the full scale of the digital revolution started to make itself felt. He has since spent ten years grappling with the social ramifications of economic changes from leading influential studies into the gig economy and prosperity, to overseeing policy and technology teams in the charity sector. Optimistic and curios about the future, he shows how, even in difficult times, we can make society richer, fairer and happier. He can also be found on twitter @jamestplunkett

Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech

Sophie is the founder of the iTunes new and noteworthy, The Edtech Podcast. The mission of The Edtech Podcast is to improve the dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ for better innovation, through storytelling. The podcast is downloaded from over 145 countries with the UK, US & Aus in the top 3. Sophie has spoken and moderated at a variety of events including SXSW EDU, Yidan Education Prize, ASU GSV Summit, and the Next Billion Edtech Summit. She is an industry mentor and advisor, a Reimagine Education, GESA Awards, Bett Awards and XPrize Adult Literacy judge, and previous Edtech50 and Edtech Digest winner.

Sophie is passionate about lifelong and everyday learning. If she’s not interviewing a University Vice-Chancellor, Edtech Investor, School Leader, or StartUp about education innovation, she’s engrossed in Teach Your Monster to Read or wrestling her lockdown baby. A keen cyclist, she has recently relocated to West Devon which she considers the English version of the Pyrenees. She is very lucky to work with a distributed team on The Edtech Podcast.

 Quotes from this episode

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References from this week’s episode

Introduction

• The VocTech Podcast Series – Link to past episodes
• End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken – and how we can fix it – Amazon link to book 
• James Plunkett – Twitter
• Ufi VocTech Trust – Twitter and Grant Call  – £15k to £50k grant window open 
• I’m launching a startup! Are you a developer protoype whizz or a potential co-founder? Interested to find out more? Drop me a note at sophie dot bailey at worktripp dot com
• Sign up to James’ blog

Episode

• Throw back to Gordon Brown and Tim Berners Lee
• Resolution Foundation WorkerTech 
• More on the Ministry of Reconstruction’s adult education committee published a Report on Adult Education – via WEA 
• Harold Wilson’s white hot heat of technology adult education speech
• GI Bill 
• Ufi VocTech Trust White Paper

Thank you to the Ufi Voctech Trust

The Voctech Podcast Series is produced by The Edtech Podcast and supported by Ufi Voctech Trust.

Our aim is to help improve vocational skills in the UK’s workforce by funding digital solutions for vocational learning. We only fund activity that is ‘scalable’ through technology, ie projects that use digital methods to widen access to vocational learning. While digital learning solutions are potentially open to all, we are especially keen to assist digital projects which involve post-school age vocational learners that have failed to be engaged by the education system.

Tell us where you are listening in from

We’d love to hear about innovative technology or approaches you are developing or using in adult education. Leave your stories in the comments below. Alternately, record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Finally, you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via Twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page.