Re-Imagining Schools Now: Action and Change with Integrity and Imagination

This exclusive module-based training programme offers you the opportunity to apply imaginative and practical strategies to accelerate imaginative change in your school, shifting the focus from problem-solving and crisis interventions to imagination and integrity.

With Education Scholar, Elke Van dermijnsbrugge

Speakers

Multiple dates. Starting on Saturday 21 November 2026.

In-person sessions held at the University of Birmingham

Educators, Leaders, Primary, Secondary and FE

£499 plus VAT

We accept all major credit/debit cards.

About

How can your school face and respond to the enormous challenges of our current moment with integrity and imagination? How can your school community be positioned and imagined as a space where alternative futures emerge, starting here and now?

Elke will be delivering a session at the 2026 UK Festival of Education which will tackle the questions ‘How can educators respond to a world in crisis and create alternative futures in the present?’ and ‘How can the imagination be put to work in educational spaces as a catalyst for change in the present?’ providing an in-sight into this module-based training programme which runs throughout the 2026-2027 academic year.

This module-based training programme offers you the opportunity to apply imaginative and practical strategies to accelerate imaginative change in your school, shifting the focus from problem-solving and crisis interventions to imagination and integrity. Over the course of 12 months, you will participate in two in-person and three online sessions, including coaching and ample opportunities for interaction and discussion throughout. All participants will have access to a dedicated space on the EduScape collaborative platform to ensure you stay connected throughout the programme. You will be invited to work on a school topic of choice and co-design an imaginative, actionable plan which can be rolled out in your school. The opportunity will be available to share your reflections on your project at the 2027 edition of the Festival of Education.

Sessions Overview

Session 1: Introducing and Experimenting

November 21, 2026

University of Birmingham

Start 10:00 am

End 4:00 pm

The session starts with an introduction to the concepts of the imagination and utopia from a sociological and historical perspective. We then turn our attention to Utopia as Method, building on the work of sociologist Ruth Levitas. Utopia as Method, consisting of three ‘modes’ or phases, offers imaginative and practical strategies to thinking and taking action in the present, with alternative futures in mind. Alongside the theoretical introduction, you will participate in a range of different imaginative activities, speculative experiments and small-scale applications of the different phases of Utopia as Method. You will be asked to choose a topic of change related to your school context that you will be working on throughout the following sessions. Recommended texts, resources and course materials will be provided.

Session 2: Excavating School Histories

January 16, 2027

Online

Start 10:00 am

End 12:00 pm

In this session we will focus on the first phase of Utopia as Method, called ‘archaeology’: an excavation of conditions and circumstances that have resulted in the current moment. We will look at examples of archeological work relating to school contexts, and we will reflect on what archeological work might entail for those examples. You will tackle questions such as: What is the history of a particular situation? Who is involved? How is it put into practice? You will receive guidelines on how to start the archaeological investigation for your school topic.

Session 3: Online, Identifying School Absences

February 27, 2026

Online

Start 10:00 am

End 12:00 pm

In this session, we will build on the archeological investigations of your school topics by identifying gaps and absences. First, we will look more generally at whose ideas, voices and perspectives are not addressed (enough) in schools and education today before zooming in on your specific school contexts. You will tackle questions such as: Which voices are not heard? What are unfavourable side effects of the current situation? Who is silenced? You will receive guidelines on how to finalise the full archaeological investigation for your school topic.

Session 4: Online, Investigating Values, Principles and Ways of Being in Schools and Beyond

April 24, 2027

Online

Start 10:00 am

End 12:00 pm

In this session, we tune in to the second phase of Utopia as Method called ‘ontology’, focusing on questions such as: What are our values? What does it mean to be human, to be an educator, a student, a school? In the group discussions, you will share general reflections before turning the focus to your specific school contexts. You will be invited to reflect on your school’s values, principles, its mission and vision and the alignment with your own values and principles. You will receive guidelines on how to conduct this specific phase in relation to your school topic.

Session 5: Designing Imaginative Actions

June 20, 2027

University of Birmingham

Start 10:00 am

End 4:00 pm

This session focuses on the third phase of Utopia as Method called ‘architecture’: designing imaginative actions that support change with integrity in the short, medium and long term, building on and taking into consideration the work done in the first two phases. You will experiment with four different types of (school) futures: possible, plausible, probable and preferable futures and look at different examples. You will co-design actions for your school topics and create an imaginative actionable plan that can be integrated in your school context.

Contact

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