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Every Child's Future: leading the way

Preparing children and young people for the future has always been at the heart of our education and children's services system and, by extension, at the heart of our leadership.

But, as we as all know, the future is not as secure as it used to be. It stands in the balance - with technology, knowledge and population growth increasing more rapidly than ever before, and the physical, economic and social resources that sustain us being rapidly depleted.

As educators and leaders, we are uniquely placed to tackle the legacy we have inherited - the future generation that will make a difference is in our hands right now. The question we must therefore ask ourselves is: if we are not leading for a sustainable future, what are we leading for?

This think-piece has been commissioned by the National College from leading thinkers and researchers in the fields of leadership and sustainability, and co-ordinated by Forum for the Future. It is intended as an independent perspective to stimulate debate and offer ideas on the way forward. Jonathon Porritt and Professor David Hopkins and their colleagues challenge us all to think about our responsibilities and choices as leaders working with children.

Jonathon makes explicit the moral imperative for education and calls for radical action. David makes the crucial point that healthy organisations are essential for high quality education and, from this, argues that we must put sustainability and learning at the heart of wider thinking about school effectiveness and improvement, not see it as something that can be added as an afterthought.

Together, they call on leaders of schools and children's centres to take responsibility for moving this agenda forward in their own spheres and for working with their peers to change the system from within, acting as true system leaders.