The Ideas-Informed Society
Why We Need It and How to Make It Happen
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- Description
- Contents
- About
Democratic societies thrive when citizens actively and critically engage with new ideas, developments and claims to truth. Not only can such practices result in more effective choice-making, but they can also lead to widespread support for progressive beliefs, such as social justice. With Western societies in the midst of environmental, social and political crises, it seems more pertinent than ever that citizens become ‘ideas-informed’.
Presenting concepts from academia, industry, and practice, The Ideas-Informed Society closes the gap between the ideal of the ideas-informed society and the current reality. By exploring what it means to be ideas-informed and the benefits for both individuals and society, the chapters conceive what an ideal ideas-informed society would look like, what are the key ingredients of an ideas-informed society, and how to make it happen.
Foreword; Sir Anthony Seldon
- PART 1: The Concept of an Ideas-Informed Society
- Chapter 1. Potent Ideas, Engaged Citizens, Healthy Societies; Chris Brown and Graham Handscomb
- Chapter 2. The Value of Uncertainty and the Tyranny of the Closed Mind; Sir Les Ebdon OBE
- Chapter 3. A Little Conceptual Housekeeping: ideas and their contexts; Lesley Saunders
- Chapter 4. Battle of Ideas: Shaping the future through debate; Alastair Donald
- PART 2: Truth-telling, Democracy and Community
- Chapter 5. Battle of Ideas: Weaponising the Free Speech Fallacy; Sam Fowles
- Chapter 6. Reversing Polarisation: How Challenging Ideas Can Help People Find Common Purpose; Sir Paul Collier
- Chapter 7. When Ideas Fail; Iain King CBE
- Chapter 8. Bearing the Truth and Building Truth-telling Communities; Helen Cameron
- Chapter 9. Informed Society and Representative Democracy: the role of parliaments; Stéphane Goldstein and Anne-Lise Harding
- Chapter 10. Questions worth asking and conversations that matter: generating ideas in cohesive communities; Tim Slack and Fiona Thomas
- Chapter 11. An entrepreneur’s journey: delivering ideas to change a VUCA world; Paul Lindley OBE
- Chapter 12. Education for Democracy: Schools as Communities of Inquiry; Vivienne Baumfield
- PART 3: Creativity, Arts and the Environment
- Chapter 13. In Praise of Inutility: Learning from Dickens; Judith Mossman
- Chapter 14. The power of visual ideas – Searching for a sense of place and belonging ; Rafael Klein
- Chapter 15. Curiosity and Stories: Working with art and archaeology to encourage the growth of cultural capital in local communities; John Castling and Jilly Johnston
- Chapter 16. Getting the (Positive) Word Out: The IdeaSpies Platform ; Lynn Wood and Sabra Brock
- Chapter 17. How to succeed in a volatile world? Utilising the 7 Pillars of Positive Resilience to make the ideas-informed society a reality; Belinda Board
- Chapter 18. As we sit in the in-between; Benjamin Freud and Charlotte Hankin
- PART 4: Education and empowering young people
- Chapter 19. Ideas-informed? – Ideas are not enough!; Valerie Hannon and Anthony Mackay AM
- Chapter 20. Unleashing ideas through Youth Led Social Innovation; Katherine Crisp
- Chapter 21. Developing Ideas-Informed Young Citizens; John Baumber
- Chapter 22. The Future Skills Society Needs and Its Critical Implications; Jude Hillary
- Chapter 23. Education policy for a new age of enlightenment; Raphael Wilkins
- Chapter 24. Ideas in Action: Critically Reflective Practice; Neil Thompson
- Chapter 25. Turning Schools Inside Out – Community Curriculum Making; David Leat, Alison Whelan, Ulrike Thomas, Carolynn Kerr, and Ruth Webb
- Chapter 26. The Case for Place: How we can improve our ideas about ‘place’ in education policymaking; Will Millard
Chris Brown is Professor in Education at University of Warwick, UK and Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Tübingen. Chris’ research focuses on improving outcomes for the disadvantaged and marginalised, and he has been awarded numerous prizes for its innovative nature. He is regularly invited to keynote at major international academic conferences and has presented his research at several literature and spoken word festivals.
Graham Handscomb is Honorary Professor with University College London (UCL) and Visiting Professor at University of Bolton, and Durham University, UK. He was previously Professor of Education and Dean of The College of Teachers. He is a fellow of numerous organisations and universities, has written many books and articles for over 30 years and is editor of a number of journals including Professional Development Today. Graham also runs a consultancy service where he provides interim management for medium to large organisations, including schools, local authorities and universities, to help implement complex business critical change in cost effective, tight timescales. He pioneered the concept of the Research Engaged School which has become an internationally adopted practice and policy model.