News

This week saw year one of BET Futures draw to a close after a 10 months of intensive research with teams presenting their findings to Trust leaders, local partners and colleagues.

Launched in September 2021, BET Futures was formed to widen the scope of the Trust’s work – providing a think tank arm which could draw on existing research and best practice; producing its own findings to ensure BET’s schools are innovative, impactful, efficient and exciting places to learn and work.

For the 21-22 academic year BET Futures reflected on the following 3 key questions:

1. Is our curriculum fit for the demands and challenges of 21st century life? How can we best respond educationally to the challenges of, for example, COVID, climate change, Black Lives Matter and Everyone’s Invited?

2. How can technology be best harnessed educationally and organisationally? How do we ensure our students have the competitive edge in the future in terms of technological skills? Is our organisation as efficient as it could be? If remote education continues to advance at the pace the last eighteen months has shown, should teaching ever revert to how it was pre-COVID?

3. What are the most impactful ways to close COVID related gaps and needs? Is money the answer? Where are the gaps and which one’s matter? How can we close them without overwhelming staff and students?

Findings showed a real appetite for developing the use of AI across the Trust, for developing a set of BET-wide learning behaviours shared across primary and secondary schools and for offering an enrichment passport to ensure all BET children are exposed to a wide range of opportunities. All of this will be further developed in the next academic year.

Following the event, findings will be shared across the Trust to strengthen educational thinking and collaboration between schools, and externally via the website, educational blogs and vlogs and social media.

If you are interested in learning more about BET Futures or participating in year 2 of the project, please email Penny Alford, Executive Leader: alfordp@bourne.education.