The Academy of Ideas Education Forum is a discussion group for anyone interested in education. It stands for free thinking, free speech and lively but good-natured debate in the belief that understanding is reached through the friendly contestation of ideas. At a time when educational groupthink is rife, the Forum gives voice to a diverse range of views which rarely get heard.

Since the Forum was launched in 2004 it has often been the first to spot and explore important trends in education, and its discussions have generated fresh insights into many issues, such as whether exams get in the way of a good education, the relationship between genetics and intelligence, the role of the scripted teacher, the changing aims of sex education, and the rights and wrongs of school dress codes.

The Forum meets regularly in Central London and also hosts online events bringing together educators from across the globe. It organises the education strand at the annual Battle of Ideas, as well as seminars, reading groups and study days, which provide opportunities to examine the big ideas that underpin current education thinking.

The Forum has a monthly column in Teach Secondary magazine. Forum members also write regularly for publications such as Times Educational Supplement, Schools Week and Spiked Online, and have edited or contributed to books such as What Should Schools Teach? (UCL Press, 2nd ed, 2021), The Role of the Teacher Today (SCETT, 2016) and History of Education (Routledge, forthcoming).

To keep up with our events and other news, register for our mailing list using the form below or join our Facebook group. For general enquiries, please contact the forum administrator, Gareth Sturdy, via email at garethsturdy@academyofideas.org.uk.

Forum Committee members have a wide variety of interests and experience. See Who are we? for biographies and contact details.

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