Glastonbury for intellectuals” was Bob Geldof’s description of The Sunday Times/Wellington College Festival of Education when he appeared last year, fielding questions from the packed audience about his school days and his radical ideas for tackling truancy today using new technology. Geldof’s remark was a pretty fair epithet for Britain’s only festival of education, which brings together the most stimulating thinkers and practitioners in what many would argue is the most important element of our national life.
Geldof joined a long list of influential figures who have spoken at the annual festival: Germaine Greer, Niall Ferguson, Lord Winston, Rory Bremner and the education secretary, Michael Gove, to name but a few. And like the line-up for this year’s event, they have one thing in common: a belief in the importance of education to shape individuals and society.
The third annual Festival of Education will take place on June 23 and 24 at Wellington college in Berkshire. Already booked to appear are world-leading academics, including the historians David Cannadine and David Starkey, and some of the best-known figures on the nation’s intellectual stage, including the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the philosophers AC Grayling and Julian Baggini.
The festival will take place just three months before one of the biggest upheavals in university education comes into effect: students embarking on degree courses this year will be doing so at the new fee rate of up to £9,000 a year.
What difference will this make to the quality of the experience — for them, and for their lecturers? Stefan Collini, author of What Are Universities For?, and Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of Ucas, the body that processes higher education applications, are among those who will discuss the issue. The personal finance expert Martin Lewis will be on hand to advise parents and would-be undergraduates on how to make sense of the new fees.
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Parents, students, teachers, policy-makers, academics — indeed anyone with an interest in the latest initiatives in a wide range of educational topics, from dyslexia to phonics — will find plenty to stimulate them. There will also be the chance to meet individuals who have made a difference to many children’s lives.
Charlie Taylor, the expert adviser on behaviour to the department for education, will discuss his inspiring work with challenging children. Uta Frith, a world authority on autism, will be talking about the research she has done in this often misunderstood area. And Sir Michael Wilshaw, the new chief inspector of schools, will outline his plans to raise standards.
Two years ago, Michael Gove chose his appearance at the festival to announce radical changes in the A-level system, reverting to a version of the old system of one set of exams at the end of two years. The wheels of bureaucratic process are still grinding, but change is coming.
Toby Young set up a free school in west London, and will give the festival an end-of-year report. Others speakers, experts in their fields who have transformed young people’s lives using different school models, will include Anna Cain, head of the Boxing Academy, Greg Wallace, of the Best Start Federation, and Dan Moynihan, of the Harris Federation.
The festival will also hear from opponents of these changes, such as Mary Bousted, of the teaching union ATL, and Owen Jones, author of Chavs, who supports the comprehensive model.
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One area where change is already under way is the introduction of all things digital in the classroom. Some of the most radical figures in this area, including Ben Hammersley, editor-at-large for the British edition of Wired magazine, will be on hand to talk about their vision of the future of learning, and there will be workshops on everything from Raspberry Pi to online security.
Aspiring entrepreneurs may be interested in the start-up weekend — running alongside the main festival — for those trying to break into the rapidly developing world of new educational technology.
And although not aspiring to the wilder excesses of Glastonbury, it will be very much a festival. The writer Kathy Lette, the campaigner Peter Tatchell, Cordelia Williams, the former BBC young pianist of the year, and Sunday Times columnists including Bryan Appleyard, Minette Marrin and Dominic Lawson will all bring a kaleidoscope of views to the two-day party.
Adding to the festival atmosphere will be music from the Sage Gateshead, drama from the Royal Shakespeare Company, storytelling, literature . . . and, perhaps most important, an ingredient that is sadly not often associated with education today: fun.
Anthony Seldon is master of Wellington college