RSA Networks - Comments

A progress report of the

Simon — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:49:27 +0100

A progress report of the first 3 months of the campaign is now available here:

http://www.colalife.org/2008/08/27/progress-report-27808/

Simon

Hi Folks, I'm looking for

osbert — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:14:53 +0100

Hi Folks,

I'm looking for mentor(s) to help us develop our company - Footprint Consulting Ltd. We work with organisations to make the planet a better place - and doing that helps the organisations themselves thrive.

We've been doing this for several years and have worked with a number of organisations across business, public and third sectors. See more here: http://www.footprintconsulting.org/

We are now looking take some big steps forward and work with more organisations which will have even greater positive impact in the world.

We think our ideal mentor will have strong business experience and a personal commitment to social and environmental issues - plus of course mentoring skills. But we might be wrong!

If you're intrigued or inspired by our approach and ambitions, and think you have insights and connections that might help us, I'd love to have chat.

Osbert

(a) thanks (b) perfect!

PeterC — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:39:33 +0100

(a) thanks (b) perfect!

Thanks Saul, very

PeterC — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:29:04 +0100

Thanks Saul, very interesting. Any thoughts on how to find someone to help crack this nut...http://networks.thersa.org/project/lonely-isolated (there were a number of helpful suggestions that didn't quite hit the target)?

Hi Simon, sorry it's taken

Randerson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:09:34 +0100

Hi Simon,

sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you! August is a bad time to try and get anything going. Like most of the other people in London I seem to be all over the place.

Thank you so much for your comments. Re: the first point I think Governornet provides a very comprehensive nuts and bolts description of what statutory roles and responsibilities governors have. Check out http://www.governornet.co.uk/publishList.cfm?topicAreaId=1&pageStart=1

This, of course, is a long way from being a description of what governors are for...

Moving on to your point about assessment and standards. This is something for the future network's members to decide among ourselves, and it's going to be a contentious one. I personally think that it's worth acknowledging that having some metrics which are consistent across schools has helped identify areas of strength and weakness. They're a useful part of any governors' diagnostic toolkit. However, they're far from the be-all and end all of running a great school and they're not very useful as predictive tool. It's an interesting question - to what extent should governors be free to decide outcomes for their schools? Do they have the skills to create ways of assessing if they've achieved what they set out to do?

And finally, another great question and one we really need to decide upon - what's the proper relationship between governors of public institutions and politics? THere's another way of looking at this, one that I think is really interesting: to ask how schools should be governed, not simply concern ourselves with governors per se. What's the relationship between teachers, pupils, parents and the wider community in each school?

I look forward to hearing people's thoughts on these things...

Cheers

Rosie

I would also be interested

beckyswain — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:17:32 +0100

I would also be interested in finding out more about the Mentoring Exchange. Interested to find out more about the 'reverse mentoring' idea too. I have been involved in developing a co-mentoring programme for school staff and individuals from the cerative and cultural sector - shared reflective enquiry rooted in a cross sector context. It had led to many powerful outcomes for co-mentors and there organisations and we are constantly learning and developing the programme. For more info see www.reflectco-mentoring.com

Simon - as you know, you can

David Wilcox — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:29:44 +0100

Simon - as you know, you can count on my support. I hope this campaign will appeal to other Fellows and RSA staff because it is potentially win-win-win for children and families, for Coca Cola, and any NGO or other interest involved. It shows how we could use the web for influence leading to practical aid, starting with one person's vision.

Thanks to Matthew and

Simon — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:12:09 +0100

Thanks to Matthew and Rowland for their offers of help - I have sent them personal messages. Any other offers?

The project now has its own website:
http://colalife.org
and blog:
http://colalife.org/blog

The Facebook Group is now approaching 5,000 members:
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18947780476

Our aims and objectives are here:
http://www.colalife.org/aims/

We need to get into print media and could do with celebrity endorsement . . . . any help/advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in anticipation

Simon
17/08/2008

Hi there, I do agree Louise

Randerson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:48:48 +0100

Hi there,

I do agree Louise - so much of our Education work is very much England and Wales focussed and of course Scotland is a very different place. A place with lots of really exciting policy work happening in this field as you point out. The Anglocentricism is a question of capacity, and I know Ian, Louise and myself would very much welcome RSA Scotland picking up the baton in whatever way they feel appropriate.

However, the Governors Network is not primarily an Education project, but an, er... governance one. We think there's a real opportunity to refocus attention on school boards as servants of the public interest and the local accountability aspect of the role. One of the first things I'd like the network to explore is what makes a good school governor - not a good school manager.

So, while the policy context is very different in Scotland and much work needs to be done on plugging into it, do you think that there's room for a discussion about grassroots participation and accountability in schools north of the border?

Hi Rosie- I just wanted to

judith.friedman — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:53:58 +0100

Hi Rosie-

I just wanted to add to what Louise contributed by saying that I would be very happy to support your work in this and to do some work to contextualize this exciting project for Scotland as well.

I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Best to you-
Judith

Adam, I think this is an

ianlewiscrawford@yahoo.co.uk — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:03:26 +0100

Adam, I think this is an excellent idea and I met my present boss through the RSA after graduating. I feel that the RSA is in an ideal position for a something like this and if I can help in any way just let me know.

Hey Laura - that sounds

David Wilcox — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:45:03 +0100

Hey Laura - that sounds great! Let's connect with Saul when he's back from hols and start things moving. As you say, all interest welcome.

David thanks for your

laura — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:36:00 +0100

David thanks for your suggestions. Really up for talking about Open RSA/early adopters event to create some buzz and build up the site together. It's beautifully timed that the Open RSA anniversary is in September as this might be a good time to soft launch the site, after this initial testing period, don't you think? Let's convene jointly! I'm aware for the first part of next week but perhaps let's talk later on in the week?

And on this initial testing page we'll schedule some dates shortly and be in touch with everyone who has expressed an interest here. Anyone else please feel free to sign up below.

I'd also be happy to join in

Nick Booth — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:59:31 +0100

I'd also be happy to join in the Beta stage.

I've been mulling over this

magnemar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:41:48 +0100

I've been mulling over this topic for a few days since joining this site and keep getting distracted by my own notions of 'art in the community' that keep getting me sidetracked.

Coming at it from another angle, and going from my own experience, I have found that art can have an effect at a very basic level within a community, not just through specifically organised 'community art' (as my mind keeps trying to limit it to).

Some friends of mine decided to run a pub in a fairly run down area of Coventry - partially to fulfil a long held desire to do so, but also to attempt to develop the community of that area (which has been struggling for quite some time). As part of the redecoration of the pub, I offered some of my pictures for the walls.

The works I created were developed in response to the community that I have met in that area and I have been told that many of them have spoken to people and given rise to discussions that have helped the community of the pub develop.

I guess my point is that even on a very basic level, it is possible for art works to communicate with and develop society - if we can encourage work that flows from where it is displayed and that attempts to be 'prophetic' (for want of a better word), we can bring about social change to a certain extent.

As to the nature of this work, I believe personally that any work that projects hope, or challenges injustice in all its forms, is effective in provoking debate.

Hope this makes sense - I've never been great at getting down what's going through my mind...