AWARDS SUPPLEMENT
THE EDUCATION TODAY OUTSTANDING
CONTRIBUTION AWARD TONY CANN of Learning by Questions
At our glittering Awards dinner last month, TONY CANN of Learning by Questions won the Outstanding Contribution Award. A true pioneer in the field of education, we were delighted to sit down with Tony to discuss his thoughts on the award itself, his long and distinguished career, and what comes next, both for him and the wider education sector of which he is such an important part.
What does winning this award mean to you? For the past 15 years, the team at Learning by Questions and I have been on a quest to deliver a pedagogy to schools that helps teachers and enables students from all backgrounds and abilities to better reach their potential. Developing an app within an existing pedagogy is one thing, but delivering a different pedagogy is much more difficult. However, if we continue to do the same things in the same way, we will get similar results, so we must be open to new ideas. LbQ is beginning to be very successful - monitoring students’ progress in lessons and at home. Winning this award acknowledges that this new pedagogy has legs, and what confirmed that absolutely was that the school that won Best Use of Technology was one of our LbQ Ambassador schools!
How did you get started in the education sector? Since I was 15, I have been driven to help those less fortunate than myself. I was educated privately but involved with youth clubs in deprived areas. I also learned that I could nurture successful teams from ordinary people not yet at their potential. At University, I helped place students to help in Moss Side youth clubs and later I taught physics at a night school. I also met my future wife at this time, who was training as a social worker! Later in my career, I was invited to chair the local Training and Enterprise Council. I saw first-hand that the skills of the workforce were based on the results of the school system, and I became determined to help. Promethean Interactive Whiteboards was the result.
What is the key to your success? I have a burning desire to improve the lives of the most
deprived parts of our society by improving the education they have access to. I want them to be able to realise their full potential. Poverty masks ability. I often say to myself that if I can help improve the life chances of one child, then it will have been worthwhile. If I can help improve the life chances of millions of children…well, just imagine! My business successes afford me the financial ability to support and pursue pedagogies that make a real difference in schools, but it’s my colleagues at LbQ and the teachers we work with who are the real key. It is, in fact, not my success, but theirs.
What challenges do you think the sector faces? We need to improve the job of teaching, and attract the best talent to the task. Teachers under stress cannot do the best for their students. Teachers under pressure will not be able to try new ideas. Teachers need space to experiment. Teachers need technology in the classroom to help them in their task, which means the challenge is SUPPORTING TEACHERS.
What is your greatest achievement to date? No doubt, persuading a wonderful non-materialist social worker to marry me. More recently though it has to be the development of Promethean. We sold 2.5 million interactive whiteboards worldwide and I think of the millions of children and teachers who they have helped. But not by enough! The development of LbQ by this wonderful team may well be ahead of its time, but it’s surely the pinnacle of my achievement.
What next? Well, I am 85, so you can work out what comes next! I will move to the next stage a happy man if we can introduce this amazing new technology and help teachers to use it and improve the lives of many more millions of teachers and children. Greater skills and knowledge in our society will improve the economy, as well as the material and mental wellbeing of the population. I am a dreamer, but your award acknowledges that it is a dream worth dreaming.
6 EDUCATION TODAY AWARDS SUPPLEMENT 2023
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