Latest thinking

The problem with fines is that they can turn into fees

Blog

24 Jan 2014

Nathalie Spencer

If you are late, you have to pay a price. Normally it's the social price of mild shame, but what happens when you are asked to pay an economic price instead?

Creative solutions to climate change

Blog

21 Jan 2014

Jonathan Rowson

When it comes to climate change, creativity is not optional. To retain a resilient and livable planet, we need to do things differently, better, and quickly. In light of our competing commitments to energy security and fuel prices, that means rethinking our ends, our means, and our conception of ourselves.

Climate Change: My Beef with the Collective Action Problem

Blog

20 Jan 2014

Most of us recognise that climate change is both serious and caused by human activity, but few of us are managing to turn that recognition into behaviour change to reduce our impact.  While this is a multi-dimensional issue, I suggest two crucial factors are that:

Can you have too much creativity?

Blog

09 Jan 2014

Jonathan Rowson

Adam Lent's rallying cry for creativity met with strong tacit approval from the echo-chamber, and rightly so. What's not to like? Creativity is a feel-good concept, tapping into to the value of human freedom, with pleasant undertones of productivity, individuality, and style.

A New Agenda on Climate Change

Blog

17 Dec 2013

Jonathan Rowson

‘To know and not to act, is not to know.’ *

Climate change message should be ‘less green’ to overcome Britain’s stealth denial says research

Press release

17 Dec 2013

Mischaracterising climate change as an exclusively environmental issue, rather than a broader systemic threat to public health, national security and the global financial system, has led to the majority of the British public failing to take global warming seriously, an RSA report has found.

Chess and Education Conference in London this weekend!

Blog

06 Dec 2013

Jonathan Rowson

Earlier this year I played a small part in helping Chess in Schools and communities raise almost £700,000 from the Educational Endowment foundation for a randomised control trial on the impact of chess  on attainment in Maths and English (and a few other measures) in about 50 primary schools.  The scheme is being evaluated by the Institute of Education in London and represents a big breakthrough for chess, and potentially for educational research too.

A New Agenda on Climate Change

Report

01 Dec 2013

Acting on climate change is a moral imperative, but effective action depends on a fuller grasp of the complexity of the problem.

On Being Touched and Moved

Video

26 Nov 2013

Guy Claxton is Co-Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning, and Professor of the Learning Sciences, University of Winchester.