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      ALEX BEARD

       

       

       

    • Alex has worked in education for a decade. After starting out as an English teacher in a London comprehensive, he completed his MA at the Institute of Education before joining Teach For All, a growing network of independent organizations working to ensure that all children fulfil their potential. He is fortunate to spend his time travelling the world in search of the practices that will shape the future of learning and has written about his experiences for the Independent, Guardian, Financial Times and Wired. His book Natural Born Learners is a user's guide to transforming learning in the twenty-first century, taking readers on a dazzling global tour into the future of education, from Silicon Valley to Seoul, Helsinki to Hounslow.

    • Articles

      Selected publications

      China’s children are its secret weapon in the AI arms race

      Wired

      China wants to be the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. To get there, it's reinventing the way children are taught

      How babies learn – and why robots can’t compete​

      Guardian

      If we could understand how the infant mind develops, it might help every child reach their full potential. But seeing them as learning machines is not the answer

      A round-the-world quest to discover the secret of learning

      Financial Times

      “Schooling is not the same as learning,” wrote the authors of the World Bank’s World Development Report for 2018, the first of its kind to be devoted entirely to education

      Fostering exploration and excellence in 21st century schools

      Economist Intelligence Unit

      I spoke to the Economist Intelligence Unit about how our schools can do more to prepare children for the rapid changes they will experience during their lifetimes

      The Open Mind: School in 2030

      Open Education Europa

      Along with Jacob Kestner, I wrote an essay for the European Commission about how in the year 2030 students will continue to go to the school down the road; they’ll begin to go to the school in the cloud.

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    • Speaking

    • Events

      Join me at one these upcoming events

      Hay Festival

      May 29th and 30th, Hay-on-Wye

      On creativity with Kirsty Williams CBE and Ben Rawlence and inequality with Diane Reay and Margaret White

      York Festival of Ideas

      June 7th, York

      On the future of learning

      Edinburgh International Book Festival

      August 14th, Edinburgh

      On the future of learning

    • Reviews

      Praise for Natural Born Learners

       

      Should be a manual on how to successfully grow a kid’s brain (Ruby Wax, Author of FRAZZLED and HOW TO BE HUMAN)

       

      Really excellent... (Philip Pullman, author, on an extract published in the GUARDIAN)


      Invigorating... one of the most optimistic, thought-provoking and ambitious educational books of recent years. Natural Born Learners is audacious, sassy, unafraid of big questions about what our children deserve and what our culture needs from education...bold and exuberant (Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders TES)

      Readers should accompany Beard on his travels - not only because the subject of his inquiry is so important, but because after myriad engaging anecdotes and encounters, he arrives at some conclusions with universal relevance (Miranda Green FINANCIAL TIMES)

      A timely and passionate book on the need for a global educational renaissance (Jane Shilling MAIL ON SUNDAY)

      Wide-ranging, often humorous and consistently fascinating, this is a book for all those interested in learning - a process that, as the author stresses, should be lifelong (Stephanie Cross THE LADY)


      By learning from educators on the vanguard all over the world, Alex Beard helps us understand what we need to do to ensure that today's children can shape a better future for themselves and all of us. We must prioritise and approach education in a totally different way to achieve this end, and Natural Born Learners helps us see the path forward (Wendy Kopp, CEO & Co-founder Teach For All)

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      Contact

      Email

      Twitter

      LinkedIn

      Instagram

    • Work

      I'm currently working to set up the Global Learning Lab at Teach For All

      Teach For All

      Teach For All is a growing global network of independent organizations working on six continents to grow the capacity of teachers, school leaders and policymakers to ensure that all children fulfil their potential.

      Global Learning Lab

      The Global Learning Lab was launched in 2017 to facilitate, harvest and spread learning and innovations in system-level and classroom-level progress, both both within our global network and beyond.

    © 2018