EDUC ATION
OUR CHILDREN AND THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
F
aith Hagerty, Head of More House School in Knightsbridge, writes on the importance of empowering young people to be agents of change if we are to prepare them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Our schools are in the middle of the most significant transformation we have seen for hundreds of years. Faith believes that “This is the moment as leaders, to harness this window of opportunity and press on with transforming our education system into something that will serve the fourth industrial revolution and its future inhabitants.” There is a mountain to climb, but what many schools have proved through the relatively instantaneous move to online learning during the first Covid 19 lockdown, is that all things are possible with the right leadership. Those leaders who felt empowered to sail their school ship into unknown waters with courage, resolve and willingness to take a risk, turned necessity and circumstance into an opportunity. It is this kind of leadership that we must model for the next generation. We are exposed daily to examples of the impact of the global climate crisis and must empower our young people to understand how to lead, in order to bring about change. Schools can do more than provide opportunities for eco committees, but can and should involve pupils at a strategic level. What better way to let our children witness the lead up to Cop26, than from a position of influence in their own school spheres?
180 SEPTEMBER 2021
At More House, Faith works closely with the More Green group led by sixth formers, involving them in meetings in which finance, logistics, health and safety and of course the school’s carbon footprint are interrogated. They are empowered to challenge the Bursar, whose agenda is of course to save the school money, but from these discussions, the pupils understand that there is more to sustainability than recycling paper and plastics. Faith states “We have a choice at this pivotal moment in the development of our education system, and we must shape up and seize the day if we are to equip young people with the tools they need to drive us through the fourth industrial revolution”.
THE DETAILS: For more information about More House School, please contact registrar@morehousemail.org.uk or visit morehouse.org.uk