Alex Beard

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.
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Writing
Selected articles

T he world is changing, and schools must keep up
Evening Standard
This week children nationwide are travelling back in time. After a long summer of sharing on Snapchat and surfing YouTube, they’re skipping through the school gates for the first day of a new school year — to find themselves once again in the past.
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
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.
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
Speaking

Future
Events coming up
2018

Big Education Conversation, Hereford, September 22nd
Wigtown Book Festival, Scotland, September 23rd
Ashoka, Istanbul, September 27th
Altius Society, Oxford, September 29th
How To Academy, London, October 4th
Wimbledon Book Festival, London, October 6th
EduTech Asia, Singapore, October 9th
CanvasCon, London, October 9th
Creative Industries Federation, October 10th
TEDx Youth, Manchester, November 7th
OEB, Berlin, December 7th

Past
Recent appearances
2018

World Bank, Belgrade, September 18th
Shambala Festival, Northants, August 25th
WeWork Festival, Kent, August 18th
Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 14th
5x15 at Wilderness Festival, August 5th
The Future of Learning, Swansea University, July 17th
Ways With Words, July 15th
Learning Revolution, York Festival of Ideas, June 6th
On Creativity, Hay Festival, May 30th
Every Child, Hay Festival, May 29th
Centenary Lecture, Swansea University, April 18th
5x15, London, April 16th
Reviews
Praise for Natural Born Learners

'A manual on how to successfully grow a kid’s brain' (Ruby Wax, Author of FRAZZLED)

'A dazzlingly fast-paced journey through the classrooms and laboratories of the globe in an attempt to tackle the Big Questions of our age' (Melissa Benn, NEW STATESMAN)

'Readers should accompany Beard on his travels, because after myriad engaging anecdotes and encounters, he arrives at conclusions with universal relevance' (Miranda Green FINANCIAL TIMES)

'One of the most optimistic, thought-provoking, and ambitious educational books of recent years' (Geoff Barton, TES)

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

'Lively and provocative ... Beard is inspirational on the capabilities of the brain' (Helen Brown, DAILY TELEGRAPH)

'A grand tour, looking for what works in an era in which traditional educational models bump up against acute societal change' (Rebecca Asher, TLS)

'Wide-ranging, often humorous, and consistently fascinating' (Stephanie Cross THE LADY)

'Vital and vitalising, this is an incredibly important book' (Owen Sheers, METRO)

'Fascinating' (Fiona Millar, GUARDIAN)

'Really excellent' (Philip Pullman, Author, on an extract in the GUARDIAN)
Lab
I run a global lab exploring the future of learning

Global Learning Lab
I'm a Senior Director at Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations working on six continents to develop the teachers, school leaders and policymakers who'll transform learning.

The Global Learning Lab will be launched in late 2018 to facilitate, capture and spread learning and innovations in system-level and classroom-level progress, within and beyond our global network.
Contact

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