Latest / WHAT I'VE LEARNT / Beyond words - Frances Corcoran & Selena Whitehead (Amazing People Schools)

Transcript

Beyond words - Frances Corcoran & Selena Whitehead (Amazing People Schools) · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing People inspire us to challenge ourselves.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: This literacy story went global in many media outlets as it was just so inspiring.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing People Schools UK supports young people in both primary and secondary schools to harness these innate character strengths and believe in themselves and flourish.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, an example of this global literacy success was featured in many international media outlets recently.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Highlighting the power of literacy.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: It featured Jason, who was born and raised in a council estate in South London.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: You may have seen it in the paper.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: At the age of three, he was diagnosed with autism.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: He also had global developmental delay, meaning there was a delay in his brain and physical development.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: This led to him not learning to speak until he was 11 years old.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't start reading and writing until he was 18 years old, but he actually left school with two GCSEs in PE and textiles.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: His self-belief urged him forward to continue his studies.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: He worked in several shops to fund himself through several degrees and a PhD.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: His main area of work is looking at the history curriculum that is taught in the UK and how it often leaves out the contribution of black British history.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's called for the decolonisation of the curriculum to reflect the diversity of today's society.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Amazing People Schools has a wide range of resources to support equality, diversity and inclusion for people like Jason.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: These include amazing Eurodiverse people and amazing black Britons.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, while studying for his PhD, Jason wrote on the wall of his bedroom, one day I'll work at Oxford or Cambridge.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well in 2023 this became true, and Jason is now the youngest ever black professor at Cambridge University.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He said I knew I didn't necessarily have huge amounts of talent, but I knew how badly I wanted it and I knew how hard I wanted to work.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Strength of character is everything.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: We all possess amazing potential, and amazing people's schools help students recognise their own strengths and understand what they're truly capable of, just like so many before them.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm thrilled to have these two very inspiring women who work with Amazing People's Schools to support young people like Jason.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: They work both in primary and secondary schools to harness these innate character strengths so that people believe in themselves, flourish, and embrace the literacy opportunity and the way it can change their lives.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, Frances and Selena, welcome to our Beyond Words Global Literacy Podcast.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thrilled to have you from the UK over there.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here we are in sunny Australia, but you girls are getting ready for the World Literacy Summit, which is very exciting.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we are.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's just next week.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to next week.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's going to be incredible.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, firstly, I'd just like to touch on, and we'll get to the history of how the organisation started.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things I noticed on your website, and I mentioned this in our chat, is I love your amazing people's library.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can talk to me a little bit about how that came to be and why that reflects some of the mission that you are on.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sure, Deb.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we've been on a really long journey.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the kind of initial start of our story library started over 25 years ago with our founder, um, Dr.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Charles Margerison.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: He's a psychologist, and he's spent a huge amount of time researching the stories of amazing people, um, looking not just at what they did, but but why they did it and how they did it.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: They're almost sort of like psychological retellings of their of their lives.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one of our really important points of difference.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and from there, as a team, we began to think about um where these stories that he'd researched could have the most value.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we all agreed that it was really in the classroom.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was getting these stories into the hands of young people.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, over a number of years, we've curated this collection of stories of amazing people.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've been very careful to make sure it's as it's as diverse as we can manage.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: As an organization, we talk a lot about um the fact that you can't be it um if you can't see it.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: So for us, it's so important that when young people land in the site, you know, when they see the library, there's people there that they can relate to on some level.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's really interesting.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, talk to us about so you were talking about how um the organisation was founded.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to us about the the amazing historical library inside the website.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so as I was saying, um research into this very wide collection of amazing people, actually, over 500 in total, was done over a number of years, and our team, um, our schools team work really closely then on actually uh curating a collection of stories, historical stories, um, that would be inspirational for young people in schools.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and another really important point of difference, I think, for Amazing People schools is that we look at these life stories through the lens of character.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: So we're looking at you know who these people were um and what they did, but but perhaps even more importantly, the character strengths.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um so when I say character strengths, we're thinking about things like perseverance and resilience, empathy, you know, which character strengths help them um achieve what they did.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, you will feel and see those uh character strengths resonating through all the stories.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um and as I said, we are growing the library all of the time.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we add new people um throughout the year.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we love to take suggestions from schools.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: So if there's an amazing person that a particular school would like to see in, um, you know, we love to hear about that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: And perhaps another really important thing just to quickly touch on is that we are evolving the library as well to also feature um contemporary role models as well.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: So they live in a slightly different area of the site.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's so important to us that these uh these inspirational people, you know, in essence, these role models are really accessible for for young people.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and there's obviously amazing stuff going on all the time, people doing stuff that you know really, really speaks to the character strengths that we champion in schools.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're yeah, we're always bringing in you know more contemporary role models as well.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that they can relate.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one of the things that, and you know, you just showed me some of it, it's quite accessible, it's very user-friendly, and it's very easy to read.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's important.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Give could you just give us a little snapshot of some of the characters there or any anyone that you'd like to highlight just to demonstrate who who you're talking about?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, we you and I would we were just discussing, but maybe it'd be good to mention some names so that people can see the reference.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we've got a huge range.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one of the most popular characters in the site is Frida Carlo.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um obviously had uh a massively challenging life, um, suffered injury and illness, um, and you know, came out the other road and challenging her perseverance and resilience and creativity to become, you know, one of the most inspirational artists in the world.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: We've got uh Wang Zen Yi, who was a polymath, um, a Chinese poet from I think the 17th century, Selena.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: 18th century, yeah, 17th century.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: 18th century, sorry.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: William Shakespeare.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think a really important point to note is the fact that we've got some really, really well-known characters.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, the likes of Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci, we've also got some some lesser-known names as well.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, what we often find is schools will weave these stories into the curriculum and day-to-day school life through particular character strengths that um they're really keen, their young people develop.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's wonderful and also uh very diverse, which I like.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: You've got, you know, a broad range of representation there, and that's really important.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's obviously something that you're continuing to expand on.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and so really, um, Selena, um, you referred to the fact that there's the historical library, which is the core, but we actually you actually have other library resources there.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk to that for me?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, we it was really a response to schools.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we we developed a diverse voices collection uh which was uh enabled us to to portray contemporary role models as well as historical role models.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it started off uh to meet topics that various schools do.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So here in the UK we have Black History Month, uh, we have different focuses at different times.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Schools might be looking at Diwali, they might be looking at different topics of different parts of the world.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a way of being able to respond to that uh with a collection of contemporary and historical role models who were inspirational, that they're really brightly coloured, they're they're really nice for students to read, to do further research on, um, and also to sort of uh weave those character strengths through the activities that are suggested.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and to increase, as you say, diversity, but to increase inclusion and representation for people who might not reach the uh the main curriculum.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we develop that collection, and that's a growing collection of of people.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then the third library we have, which is before you log into the site, is our today's amazing person.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we were chatting just before about Jason Arday, who we've just had on there.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and what the wonderful thing about the Today's Amazing Persons slot is that we can be as responsive as we we we are able to be, that when something crops in the news that really enterprises us and gets us, we we can quickly uh write a biography um and and and put that in and usually be able to quite easily sort of see the the character strengths that that amazing person demonstrated.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and also to give a way of giving some reflection questions, some critical thinking questions uh for students to be thinking about in form time first thing in the morning or you know, at some point in the day when you've got that collective in the class and you're slightly outside of the curriculum time, but you're but you're you're talking about an important subject.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we've now got three libraries uh growing, which is uh which is really exciting.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the online platform obviously gives you great scope for many people to access it.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: How's that changed?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Has it has it always been um, I mean, you talk about when it was founded, Francis, um how much has it evolved and what has been the cornerstone of that evolution?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, it's it yeah, we've been on a real journey actually.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we started with um a pilot site over four years ago now, which featured just 15 amazing people.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we wanted to test, you know, does this approach work?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how does this storytelling land in schools?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Is it something that schools can use easily?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: The pilot went brilliantly.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: We had we had massive engagement.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: We did a a campaign actually with with a BBC um focusing on inspirational scientists, which brought a lot of visibility to amazing people's schools.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: But what we really saw was um there was a real appetite for this kind of content.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think while all that was happening, you know, there were a lot of different book series around the world which were becoming really popular.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't know if you've seen the Little People Big Dream series, uh The Rebel Stories for Girls.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: So it felt like globally there was a real sort of appetite for stories about um inspiration.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think during COVID, you know, obviously a difficult time globally.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um that sort of um, you know, thirst for sort of stories of inspiration to uplift us, you know, was really kind of built as well.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, COVID for us was was a really interesting time.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, just in that we're we're online, so teachers are suddenly thrown into this, you know, absolutely unknown story chaos, yeah.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: And oh the stories we've heard from schools, you know, they yeah, had to contend with a huge amount.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think amazing people schools as a way to you know support young people to develop coping skills, you know, um support to deal with challenge um was super useful, and we we really did grow quite substantially during COVID.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, we're we're really excited about the future and and where we can take this.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because you know, obviously there's no limit to the stories of uh, you know, amazing people.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of amazing people.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um who who selects so is it is it a you know who who decides who's going into the library?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a is it a you know collective, I'm assuming.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sure.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking that it would have been quite quite an interesting board table to sit around, actually.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well we had, I mean, uh our founder sort of wrote over 500 uh initial uh first-person biographies of of a mate of the historical characters.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that was very much our starting place.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: But then what we needed to do was to sort of look across the world, see different countries were represented, have a good balance of men and women, um, and then see different walks of life being represented.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yes, it was it was uh it was quite a complex spreadsheet to do it and some interesting conversations between us.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the joys of the way that the site has evolved is that now with our uh diverse uh voices collection um and our today's amazing person collection, it it can just it can just keep growing.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's much easier, really.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um whereas with the historical, there's a lot of attendant resources and there's a video and a timeline, and you know, there's lots and lots of um lots and lots of work that goes into adding an historical uh role model.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: So these other two libraries um can can can really develop at a at a much speedier pace, um, which is fantastic because it means that we can be really responsive, as as we were saying, as we were with Jason Arde, we were able to get his story up within a few days of the story breaking.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you sort of in a way have a template that you can use that you can create and quickly upload, and that's the beauty of the online platform.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of um teacher response, um what's you know, you talked about getting great engagement.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: What sort of response are you getting and and and why do you think it's resonating other than what you've outlined already?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because there's a lot of competing elements online, particularly at the moment, you know, lots and lots of resources.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you think it's that you've made it quite a nutshell, like quite an accessible when I look at it, you know, it's a very quick, um, easy resource.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is that do you think that's the main reason that teachers are and others?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, yeah, no, I I mean I think the the the majority of of teachers and senior leaders that I speak to are really interested in in using these diverse role models through the curriculum, um, because they they're they're often aware that um that their curriculum is not as diverse as it might be, and and that the role models that kind of go through, it's kind of the same old people that that are sort of being recycled if you if you like, who are great and and they're also and they're also on the side, but it can be really interesting.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that we've been able to do is to map the curriculum and say, well, look, here's some here's some mathematicians, here's some scientists, here's some people that would fit into geography and and re and and music.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And do you know what I mean?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that you've actually got these alternative people um who alongside the the names that are already on the curriculum can be there to really enhance and um give a different perspective um to the curriculum.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I think teachers have have enjoyed that, but I think they've also enjoyed the fact that the students can access the site for themselves.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: The stories are differentiated between primary and secondary school, and there are supplementary materials.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So there's an audio version of the story for uh reluctant readers or people who might need to listen to the story first before they they they can read it.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's a video which again sort of helps to to pull in the the key uh key elements of the life.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's a timeline.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think all of that sort of helps the schools that have got the pupils to be directly reading the stories for themselves and and using those stories.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I think that's that's the main sort of combination of reasons, I think, as to why people are really engaging with it.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just to add to what Selena was saying, you know, I think we're really aware of how time poor teachers are.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, as we were saying earlier, sort of um, you know, there are a huge demand on teachers um globally, and we have developed the site really carefully to be adaptable and flexible.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's not a sort of a prescriptive approach.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: We we really encourage schools to make it their own.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, on a very regular basis, we're we're just totally inspired by um, you know, what we see schools doing with it.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we just had a thing actually last week a school um who, you know, financially challenged, you know, having real budget challenges, many schools are, and they are seeing an event where they're getting all the students to come in dressed as different amazing people.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's what's wonderful they're working on, um sharing it with parents, so to try and make it a bit more of a you know a wider dialogue across the school community as well.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: So um, so yeah, I think schools also love it because um they yeah, they they can own it a bit, and I think that's that's really important.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good point, and that is a point of distinction, and also it's taking storytelling, which in a way what you're doing is actually as old as time itself, really, isn't it?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: The the notion of the characters and it's it's almost going back ironically to the fundamentals of the stories that we tell and and the characters, and so in some ways, I suppose you're just giving an easy portal to that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because sometimes I think it gets so multi-layered and complex that it becomes inaccessible.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's right, and I and I think just referring back to something Franz said earlier, you know, when when schools have really embraced this and and students have had the chance to really understand these stories.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we've heard some really powerful stories of you know, somebody really being inspired by Einstein, not learning to read until quite late, not not speaking until he was quite late, and and being really inspired by I think also finding it out about the the struggles and the setbacks and the failures of some of these amazing people can just be able to do that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Most of them actually exactly, exactly, absolutely.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So beginning to recognize that that failure and setback is is is a part of life, it's it's not an either-or, you know, you that you need to go through that, and that doesn't have to mean the end of the world.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where the character strength comes in as well, is that you you have this inspiring person who has experienced failures and setbacks and adversity, and then you can look at the character strengths to think what helped them to get through those moments of difficulty um and and to sort of push on through.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's a lot of uh teaching resources to support that, support that development, I suppose, support that character strength development.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there's quite a lot on the side about students learning to recognise their own character strengths that they've already been developing and work out which areas they need to develop more and what they might be able to do to do that.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the ways is to find inspiring people who, you know, have the character strength that you're looking to develop and pull out those those lessons.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: In a way, it's like saying, well, first of all, I think there's a universality to a lot of, you know, it makes people not feel so alone.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's something that's that's great about this this focus on character.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I also think from what I'm understanding, there's sort of it's a bit like you have to climb the mountain, and that's okay.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And look at what these people have done, and it's okay if that's a challenge, is what you're saying.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is that right, Frances?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um, you know, we often talk about struggle being part of the journey, um, and you know, to celebrate that, you know, and I think it's often easy, isn't it?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, to want to do the things that we're good at, but actually the way we grow and develop is through, yeah, sort of pushing ourselves and and being able to articulate these character strengths um is so important.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you become much more conscious of yourself as an individual, um, you know, you can talk more openly and freely about what you find difficult, you know, and and all this is so important.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously there's such a big push on the sort of the academic side in schools, you know, um, and and to sort of balance that with you know the development of students, the the whole person and you know what their dreams and aspirations are and and the strengths they maybe need to to focus on to get to where they want to get, you know, that's what we're we're all about.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, just on the storytelling piece, you know, obviously they've got these very inspirational stories, but there's some really lovely resources in the site as well that prompt students to write their own story, you know, to catch their own journey.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful, yeah.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really important, yeah.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think it's you know, Selena was saying we we hear just stories of uh of inspiration from schools, you know, often um, you know, kids that have done brave, uh creative, you know, cool things, and and and this Amazing People Schools gives them a platform to talk about it, I think, a bit more widely, which is which is so cool.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's such important.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Journaling is yeah, journaling is a really important area actually of how the site's developing.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got uh right the way through, actually, from from sort of reception early years, um sort of pre primary school age, right right the way through to 16.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's different journals there to be, as I say, I think an awareness of the language of of characters.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Strengths and awareness of what that means, gathering the evidence of where you are now, thinking about where you want to develop some inspirational role models and some work on pulling out the strengths of that.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: But then journaling for yourself.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's intended to be done over a year, over, you know, over several years over a period of time, but to keep coming back to those journals to be to be making notes, because there can be a lot of toxic identities these days, you know, like particularly as you're going into adolescence, that um a lot of young people can be gathering really quite negative identities.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and identity can be a confusing area for for for all young people growing up.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if we can add character strengths into that mix um and give people the confidence to recognise when they've shown adaptability, when they've bounced back from difficulties and shown their resilience, when they've shown integrity.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's added to their mix of identity.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think that can only be be a good thing, really, whoever they are and whatever their situation and um you know whatever else they're they're they're doing.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you also touch both of you on something important.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if this is being discussed there, but certainly here, there's a lot of discussion around the changing education system and the way that we need to do things differently.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a very good example of a lateral and creative resource.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I suppose, and you referred to it before, Francis, the notion of the pressure of the academic, which often, you know, if you look at when the system the way it is now was developed in the industrial revolution age, you know, it's really for some people it's quite anachronistic to try and navigate for many people.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's a different discussion, but it is an interesting um, in a way, I feel like you're going back to the basics, to the things that your your platform is a very um, it's very organic and authentic.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is where you get resonance, and and there's a lot of uh there's a big movement here towards that, to be honest.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's happening in the UK in the same way, but it's certainly being discussed a lot here.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not as much as we'd like.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly, exactly, you know, because it paralyzes a lot of kids who get caught in a system.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, um whether it's public or private school, it's it's becoming a very big issue because you've got kids going through the tunnel.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the pandemic also made people go, wait, is this how I want to learn?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Is this how I want to be measured?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um and and that's a really interesting.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what education and this so I think your platform is a very um organic way to engage.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And let's hope there's more of that because it it helps kids who may not find this, you know, the system is not it's quite rigid, a lot of it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's I think the platform's very human, you know, it's driven by people.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly, that's right.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I love about it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the strengths they need, you know, and it it Yeah, we we've been talking a lot about um, you know, life beyond school and you know, young people sort of finding their way, you know, the careers, the paths that will will make them happy in the long run.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, when you look at you know, job descriptions, what what employers are looking for, yeah a lot of the stuff around you know, character strengths, being able to think creatively, you know, teamwork, um being empathetic, being adaptive, you know, those the sort of strengths.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And 100%.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's throughout amazing people's schools in a really um yeah, sort of an organic way.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: I like your use of the word organic.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I really sense that.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, in terms of its reach and in terms of, you know, I don't know if you have the the stats at hand, but have you got some some indication, um, either of you, of what sort of where you're being accessed, and you know, is it is it um UK focused?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is it you know what what are what's the where are you getting the most traction?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we we launched in the UK, so we work with schools um right right across the UK.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think one thing we're really excited about, I mean we're obviously still a relatively young organisation, but what we're really excited about is um is the way it travels.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: So we've worked with a lot of schools in in Australia as well, New Zealand too.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but actually I was just out in um in uh do in the UAE in Dubai and in Thailand, and I visited a number of schools, and there was character in all of them, you know.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this whole sort of um movement of character, it's it's almost always been there, but it's really, really gain momentum.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: As I said, I think COVID's really um added to that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, the potential for this to sort of be used globally.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, character's a real global language, and you know, obviously the stories are stories that are representative of the of the whole world.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, we're we're really excited to see where it can go.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um we're obviously doing um some early work on the uh the World Literacy Task Force, which is which is focused on America.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um we've just partnered up with um an educational platform up in Scandinavia, so yeah, we're we're looking globally, but um, but we did, I said, our sort of our our core market certainly in the UK, and um, and we're we're really keen to to keep pushing and growing and servicing our schools in the UK.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think what's really exciting is that um as Fran said, we're we're we we're still quite a new startup, but the schools that we that we are working in in the UK are are really different.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we've got you know the state uh state primary schools, we've got state secondary schools, we've got independent schools, we've got um special education provider schools, alternative provision schools.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that that really is incredibly encouraging um that actually the message is working on really quite incredibly different school educational settings.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I and I find that really yeah, really inspiring um that I can be talking to really quite a high achieving academic school, and they can absolutely see the sense of of of why they need to use, you know, to add us into what they're doing in schools.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can speak to just somebody from just an entirely different setup.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and for for for different reasons, or maybe for the same reasons, they can see sort of why why we can add real value.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that that's that's really encouraging.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that sort of links with the with the global reason that Fran was saying is that this really can work on a variety of different levels.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh yeah, it's it can work because as you said for all young people, this is the toolkit for life.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is the toolkit that exactly it's more flourish and to take forward.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it makes sense that it would work, it would work across the board.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just on a um a purely practical level, the funding model and how challenging is that?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And what sort of you know, like is that is it is there a combination of government support, private funding?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how is that is it something that is challenging to get traction on, or is it something that's you know it it is challenging.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think um, you know, financially the world is going through a really challenging time and still over into schools, you know, schools feeling it hugely, the energy crisis.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we talk frequently to schools who were like, we're struggling to pay our energy bills, you know.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: So trying to find a budget for this, um you know, as as you'll see with you know, so many prod uh products is is really difficult.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I think you know, we're sort of moving the conversation towards actually you know, you almost can't afford to not do this because actually young people you know really, really do need this.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we work with schools as far as we can to make this accessible and affordable and affordable, you know.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: We we we go as far as we can to make that the case.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, but it is it is a challenging time, you know, these challenging times, and um yeah, we uh we work with schools as closely as we can.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in the longer term, we would love to sort of bring in partners and be able to make this.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's why we yeah, I was curious about that.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, logistically, because you know, whether it's uh I gather there's no government support at this point because you'd think that the government might jump on board, but but governments are always quite you know intractable anyway, but um as we know, but it it it is something that you're you know you're open to partnerships and certainly to because a lot of the people I'm interviewing, there are a lot of great startups and really interesting um opportunities, but obviously the more and more we can unite to foster these sort of organizations, and I suppose that's why I was curious.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's good for our listeners to to hear that so that they, you know, they understand maybe what opportunities might be there, and certainly um whether you have the investment you need, and if so, to grow what's you know, what's required.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think the the potential for where we could take amazing people schools is is huge.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we're looking at sort of the possibility of of apps, you know.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was about to say that, yeah.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very natural place for us to go.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um we we're actually just in the process of launching um a shop, you know, so we'll have um you know products that that kids can hold in their hands, they can work there, which will allow them to um, you know, shout about the amazing people that inspire them.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, we we we love collaborating with organizations.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um and you know, we work with some some quite interesting ones.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: We did a really brilliant um uh collaboration with Getty last year around um their new uh black photography collection that that just launched.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we that's interesting.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that was an absolutely brilliant thing to be part of.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um I said we've done stuff with the BBC.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the Getty one, well, how did that so how did that collaboration work?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: What can you just elaborate a little bit on that?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: So they were launching um a new collection of imagery that had never been really seen.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um and they had actually, I think, seen some of our resources online, and yeah, so we we basically collaborate with them on a couple of resources and we were part of launching this collection.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, we were part of kind of really trying to bring visibility to it because um it's a non-commercial collection, um, but they're really keen to to get these these images into education, sort of shared more widely just to um yeah, to to bring more visibility.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it's sort of this the the images, you know, behind those images, the stories.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a really, really important part, obviously, of an unlocking history, you know, some of it really difficult, sort of that we we need to be talking about more widely.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we were really keen to lend our support to that.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we can share a link to it after this, maybe in the yeah, that would be great.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, excellent.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there was also the um the the ambassadors program, wasn't there?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, the um, you know, which started our link with the the World Literature Forum was the uh their ambassadors program.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um we were able to sort of put together a resource for their young ambassadors worldwide.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, one of their young ambassadors features on our Today's Amazing Person feature, Lucy in York.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um yeah, we we were able to sort of put something together that they could do for their because literacy obviously isn't is you know is what they do, uh their literacy ambassadors.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they were able to use the site uh for that.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the thing that sort of you know sprung sprung board our partnership with uh with the WLLF.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the world, so you're basically linked with the World Literacy Foundation through the Ambassador Programme and with the also you're getting involved with the World Literacy Task Force, which is very exciting what they're doing.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'd like to thank you so much, both of you, for joining me on the Beyond Words Global Literacy Podcast.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I've learned a lot actually about your entire platform, but I think maybe Selena, do you want to just share with us um just for our listeners, a little um resource link?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I would like to say that everybody who's interested at all uh can can log in and can can ask for for some free access details.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um so if you'd like to look at the site, the site is AmazingPeopleschools.com and you will see the uh the free access button then if you just send us the name uh of of yourself and your school or your organisation, then we can send you some free login details and keep in touch and and we're very happy to give you a more detailed look around the site, show you all the literacy resources that are on there or the RC resources because that's a lot of spoken uh word uh support documents on there as well.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, very much up to uh to see people.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've certainly enjoyed my little tour of the site and and thank you for that.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I've learned a lot through the podcast and I love meeting you both, and I'm sure you're going to um enjoy the World Literacy Summit uh next week and hope to see you soon.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your time.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for inviting us.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well at the World Literacy Foundation we believe in literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and education.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: People who cannot read or write experience difficulties with simple everyday tasks, such as reading the label of a medicine model, filling in a job application, or understanding a traffic sign.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: When we help someone to acquire literacy skills, we are empowering them to access to better opportunities to break the property up.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So please head to my website to see what is happening with the real life that we've seen light.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: So see if you can contribute and make a difference.