idiscover

Working with 2,000 young people, in 16 schools in three regions (London, Manchester and the Highlands of Scotland) idiscover explores the role of pupil choice, of well structured enquiry based learning and great group work, and the motivational power of real-world (authentic) learning experiences to engage young people in learning - and so help them be better prepared for the world they will graduate to.

On idiscover each young person is given, each term, up to £200 worth of credits to spend on learning experiences of their choice.  It is up to them to choose which experiences they access. 

The learning experiences available range from rocket and robot making, to hands-on science experiences, and onto podcasting, film-making and music production experiences.  All idiscover experiences give young people a real-world problem, and the opportunity to work co-operatively alongside their peers with structured support from external professionals.

About the idiscover Learning Framework

Delivering idiscover type learning opportunities

Why idiscover

There is a robust argument that today's children are more intelligent than their parents and their grandparents.[1]  For example, Dylan Wiliam's tells us that a child who would have (just about) gained entry into a grammar school on the basis of IQ scores at the end of the Second World War would today be regarded as below average in intelligence.[2]

However, alongside this achievement our young people face new learning challenges because of the shift to an innovation driven economy.  This is a world where the UK has, in the last ten years, lost 400 no-qualification jobs every single day[3], and where our economic prosperity depends on us having a labour force that can synthesise, weigh and apply complex information and concepts; and which can work co-operatively with others to generate and apply new ideas, processes and knowledge.

The work of the OECD allows us to put an (enormous) figure on what education means for our collective prosperity; if, in the next twenty years, the UK could increase its international education performance to the levels of Finland we would, over the lifetime of one generation, be richer by $7,326 billion.[4]  And there is the human dimension: learning, and a capability and commitment to lifetime learning, is key for effective communities and social engagement, participatory democracy, and for living fulfilling and meaningful lives.

The challenge, then, is to use innovation to bring what goes on in our schools closer to the heart of the activities that make up an innovation economy - and this requires, as a recent publication has phrased it, moving learning centre stage.[5]  NESTA's idiscover project trials new ways of achieving this. 

Impact

We don't yet know the final impact that idiscover has made (we wait for our exam day when we find out) but we will share the results with you when we do. What we do know now is that the young people enjoy their idiscover days (80% of young people judged the idiscover experiences they went on excellent or good) and see them as offering something different from normal school.

[1]Flynn, J. R. (2007). What is intelligence? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

[2]Dylan William, Teacher quality: why it matters, and how to get more of it

[3]Patel, R., Kelly, S., Amadeo, C., Gracey, S., & Meyer, B. (2009). Beyond Leitch: skills policy for the upturn. London, UK: Learning and Skills Network.

[4]OECD 'The High Cost Of Low Educational Performance'.

[5]OECD 'The nature of learning'.