Why we’re joining the Uprising: A conversation with Edufuturists
Author: Amber Lovell
Forget the white polysatin tablecloths, snazzy tuxedos, and notions of traditional education awards, because The Uprising is coming, and it’s about to turn everything you know about celebrating educational success completely on its head… (for all the right reasons!)
We sat down with Steve, one of the passionate forces behind Edufuturists, to talk about their decade-long journey to break down the walls of status quo schooling, and why their upcoming awards ceremony, certified for CPD might we add, is less of a formal gala and more of a high-energy movement.
Breaking the status quo: What is an “Uprising” School?
As a former journalist, I wanted to dig straight into the core philosophy of the Edufuturists’ mission. Looking at this year’s list of nominees, I asked Steve what common trait separates a traditional “status quo” school from an “uprising” school.
For Steve, the answer isn’t found in paperwork, but importantly, in culture.
“Ultimately, it’s about culture,” Steve explains.
“And that might be psychological safety, or risk-taking; the ability to start with culture first rather than just a great AI policy. I don’t think anybody’s won anything or been nominated for a policy or a document. It’s actually that commonality of transcending beyond just the paperwork, process, and documentation.”
During our chat, Steve stressed that real innovation cannot be standardised.
Steve’s stance on true innovation isn’t just a passing or poetic sentiment, research shows it’s a hard, psychological matter of fact. In education, there is a constant systemic push to create a “standardised curriculum” or a blueprint for success.
However, standardisation isn’t all sunshine and daisies as data from a 2011 study pointed to a devastating trend: due to the said increase in standardisation of our education systems, children’s capacity for divergent thinking has plummeted.
But an uprising school resists that mould, bringing a refreshing sense of unique honesty, dissatisfaction with the status quo, and a refusal to believe that a child’s educational worth is defined solely by a grade on a piece of paper.
2016 vs. 2026: The decade-long evolution
Edufuturists launched ten years ago, originally starting out as “The EdTech Project.”
When Steve joined the founders, the focus quickly shifted from purely looking at educational technology to thinking bigger and looking at the entire future of education. Technology is a vital tool, but crucially, it isn’t the final destination.
When looking at how their organisation has evolved over the last decade, Steve points to a shift from individual giants to a collective “wolf pack”:
From “Me” to “We”
The early days were about standing on the shoulders of previous giants. Today, it’s about a collective groundswell. “It’s the we over me,” Steve says, referencing Rudyard Kipling’s famous law of the wolf pack. “The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”
Expanding the net
What started as a simple podcast has expanded into an entire ecosystem over ten years. Eight years of awards, regional roadshows, books, events, Bett, and a newsletter that consistently reaches over 4,000 community members.
The Rebel Alliance
“Ten years on, we are seeing a greater strength in the Rebel Alliance,” Steve notes, joking about the Star Wars reference. “I would love for us to no longer be the outlier, to no longer be the Rebel Alliance, to actually be the alliance… where this becomes just successful education, rather than rebels fighting against it.”
The infinite end goal
When asked about the ultimate end goal for Edufuturists, Steve smiles and references a classic 1977 Nike advert: “There is no finish line.”
Education, much like innovation, is an infinite game. It is a gruelling, endless pursuit of progress over perfection.
“You get to the end of a 26-mile marathon and you go, ‘Right, off we go next.’ The end goal, I’ll be honest, is a better education. How do we get 75,000 to 100,000 people treating the future of education as a conversation like a music festival, or the best gig they’ve ever been to?”
Steve envisions a future where stadiums like Wembley or the Millennium Stadium are packed to the brim with parents, learners, educators, leaders, and policymakers all collaborating to build a cross-party educational strategy that outlasts whatever political government happens to be in power.
Amplifying the quiet innovators
One of the most beautiful aspects of the Uprising awards is its dedication to uncovering the “quiet genius” happening in classrooms every day.
In standard British fashion, many of the best educators are far too modest to shout about their own achievements.
“We have this thing of: ‘don’t be proud of yourself… queue up in rows and sit quietly.’ Why do we have to do it that way?” Steve asks.
The Uprising awards actively seeks to create an inclusive environment that celebrates and champions those who work silently in the background. Steve reminds us that leadership at all levels definitely does not mean being the loudest voice in the room:
“One of the things that we stand by is: speak somebody else’s name in a room that they might not be in. You are advocating for somebody that is doing great work, rather than sitting silently… We are missing some wonderful ideas because we are missing some of the quiet voices that maybe just don’t feel that they’re enough. Let me tell you, you 100% are enough.”
And for those attending the awards for the first time, Steve promises a welcoming environment. “We will make sure that we tuck our elbows in. There is a space in every circle, in every little gap. If somebody comes and says, ‘I felt like an outlier and I didn’t get to speak to anyone,’ then we have failed in our mission.”
Clunky tech and the power of one-click access
Our team at Skolon is incredibly proud to partner with Edufuturists, specifically sponsoring the Education Leader of the Year award. Our mission is simple and has always been about making digital tools accessible with a single click, which fits perfectly into Steve’s philosophy on technology.
Too often, EdTech features solutions trying to find problems that never existed.
Steve points out that technology should fundamentally be about simplification:
Technology for all
Much like an architectural ramp is necessary for some but useful for everyone who doesn’t want to take the stairs, digital tools should make the learning experience easier for everyone.
Death to the password book
Steve rails against the administrative madness of modern logins. “My parents have a password book for every account they’ve got. Why is that still a thing? Imagine if lifelong learners just had one password for everything because it was single sign-on.”
Tools that allow single sign-on put the learner front and center, ensuring that access to learning can happen quickly, simply, any place, and at any time.
What to expect at the Uprising Awards
If you are heading to the Uprising, prepare for a completely different kind of evening – in the best possible way.
It’s high-energy, highly engaging, and entirely unpretentious.
“If you want to wear a tuxedo, wear your tuxedo! That’d be brilliant,” Steve laughs. “But if you want to come in a pair of board shorts and some flip-flops, or you want to come in your running gear because you just went for a run, just come. Come in whatever you feel comfortable in.”
The goal is to create a community gathering so fun, supportive, and electrifying that people look forward to putting it in their diaries every year.
It’s a space where competitors become partners, and where everyone from EdTech providers to first-time attendees is part of the same supportive “wolf pack.”
A quick teaser on the upcoming book…
Before we wrapped up, Steve gave us a tiny, exclusive teaser about the upcoming Edufuturists book, set to drop in June:
It features 10 deeply researched case studies of real organisations doing wonderful things outside of linear education, spanning private sectors, public sectors, and charities.
Moving away from purely traditional media, the book features an integrated QR code system linking to a live website. This ensures that the educational resources, URLs, and tools stay updated, live, and relevant for years to come.
While staying true to its roots, the book is designed for a global audience, with plans already in motion to take the Edufuturists roadshow across the Atlantic to America.
The Uprising Awards are fully certified for CPD, ensuring that schools can easily validate budgets and open up access for any educator who wants to attend. We’ll see you in the playground!
To get 50% off your ticket to the event, use the button below, or click here!
This is Skolon – we gather the best digital educational tools and make them work in the classroom.
Skolon is an independent platform for digital educational tools and learning resources, created for both teachers and students. With Skolon, accessing and using your digital educational tools is easy – security increases, administration decreases, and there’s more time for learning.
The digital educational tools come from both small and large providers, all of whom have one thing in common – they create digital educational tools that are beneficial for the school environment.
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Author: Amber Lovell
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Forget the white polysatin tablecloths, snazzy tuxedos, and notions of traditional education awards, because The Uprising is coming, and it’s about to turn everything you know about celebrating educational success completely on its head… (for all the right reasons!)
We sat down with Steve, one of the passionate forces behind Edufuturists, to talk about their decade-long journey to break down the walls of status quo schooling, and why their upcoming awards ceremony, certified for CPD might we add, is less of a formal gala and more of a high-energy movement.
Breaking the status quo: What is an “Uprising” School?
As a former journalist, I wanted to dig straight into the core philosophy of the Edufuturists’ mission. Looking at this year’s list of nominees, I asked Steve what common trait separates a traditional “status quo” school from an “uprising” school.
For Steve, the answer isn’t found in paperwork, but importantly, in culture.
“Ultimately, it’s about culture,” Steve explains.
“And that might be psychological safety, or risk-taking; the ability to start with culture first rather than just a great AI policy. I don’t think anybody’s won anything or been nominated for a policy or a document. It’s actually that commonality of transcending beyond just the paperwork, process, and documentation.”
During our chat, Steve stressed that real innovation cannot be standardised.
Steve’s stance on true innovation isn’t just a passing or poetic sentiment, research shows it’s a hard, psychological matter of fact. In education, there is a constant systemic push to create a “standardised curriculum” or a blueprint for success.
However, standardisation isn’t all sunshine and daisies as data from a 2011 study pointed to a devastating trend: due to the said increase in standardisation of our education systems, children’s capacity for divergent thinking has plummeted.
But an uprising school resists that mould, bringing a refreshing sense of unique honesty, dissatisfaction with the status quo, and a refusal to believe that a child’s educational worth is defined solely by a grade on a piece of paper.
2016 vs. 2026: The decade-long evolution
Edufuturists launched ten years ago, originally starting out as “The EdTech Project.”
When Steve joined the founders, the focus quickly shifted from purely looking at educational technology to thinking bigger and looking at the entire future of education. Technology is a vital tool, but crucially, it isn’t the final destination.
When looking at how their organisation has evolved over the last decade, Steve points to a shift from individual giants to a collective “wolf pack”:
From “Me” to “We”
The early days were about standing on the shoulders of previous giants. Today, it’s about a collective groundswell. “It’s the we over me,” Steve says, referencing Rudyard Kipling’s famous law of the wolf pack. “The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”
Expanding the net
What started as a simple podcast has expanded into an entire ecosystem over ten years. Eight years of awards, regional roadshows, books, events, Bett, and a newsletter that consistently reaches over 4,000 community members.
The Rebel Alliance
“Ten years on, we are seeing a greater strength in the Rebel Alliance,” Steve notes, joking about the Star Wars reference. “I would love for us to no longer be the outlier, to no longer be the Rebel Alliance, to actually be the alliance… where this becomes just successful education, rather than rebels fighting against it.”
The infinite end goal
When asked about the ultimate end goal for Edufuturists, Steve smiles and references a classic 1977 Nike advert: “There is no finish line.”
Education, much like innovation, is an infinite game. It is a gruelling, endless pursuit of progress over perfection.
“You get to the end of a 26-mile marathon and you go, ‘Right, off we go next.’ The end goal, I’ll be honest, is a better education. How do we get 75,000 to 100,000 people treating the future of education as a conversation like a music festival, or the best gig they’ve ever been to?”
Steve envisions a future where stadiums like Wembley or the Millennium Stadium are packed to the brim with parents, learners, educators, leaders, and policymakers all collaborating to build a cross-party educational strategy that outlasts whatever political government happens to be in power.
Amplifying the quiet innovators
One of the most beautiful aspects of the Uprising awards is its dedication to uncovering the “quiet genius” happening in classrooms every day.
In standard British fashion, many of the best educators are far too modest to shout about their own achievements.
“We have this thing of: ‘don’t be proud of yourself… queue up in rows and sit quietly.’ Why do we have to do it that way?” Steve asks.
The Uprising awards actively seeks to create an inclusive environment that celebrates and champions those who work silently in the background. Steve reminds us that leadership at all levels definitely does not mean being the loudest voice in the room:
“One of the things that we stand by is: speak somebody else’s name in a room that they might not be in. You are advocating for somebody that is doing great work, rather than sitting silently… We are missing some wonderful ideas because we are missing some of the quiet voices that maybe just don’t feel that they’re enough. Let me tell you, you 100% are enough.”
And for those attending the awards for the first time, Steve promises a welcoming environment. “We will make sure that we tuck our elbows in. There is a space in every circle, in every little gap. If somebody comes and says, ‘I felt like an outlier and I didn’t get to speak to anyone,’ then we have failed in our mission.”
Clunky tech and the power of one-click access
Our team at Skolon is incredibly proud to partner with Edufuturists, specifically sponsoring the Education Leader of the Year award. Our mission is simple and has always been about making digital tools accessible with a single click, which fits perfectly into Steve’s philosophy on technology.
Too often, EdTech features solutions trying to find problems that never existed.
Steve points out that technology should fundamentally be about simplification:
Technology for all
Much like an architectural ramp is necessary for some but useful for everyone who doesn’t want to take the stairs, digital tools should make the learning experience easier for everyone.
Death to the password book
Steve rails against the administrative madness of modern logins. “My parents have a password book for every account they’ve got. Why is that still a thing? Imagine if lifelong learners just had one password for everything because it was single sign-on.”
Tools that allow single sign-on put the learner front and center, ensuring that access to learning can happen quickly, simply, any place, and at any time.
What to expect at the Uprising Awards
If you are heading to the Uprising, prepare for a completely different kind of evening – in the best possible way.
It’s high-energy, highly engaging, and entirely unpretentious.
“If you want to wear a tuxedo, wear your tuxedo! That’d be brilliant,” Steve laughs. “But if you want to come in a pair of board shorts and some flip-flops, or you want to come in your running gear because you just went for a run, just come. Come in whatever you feel comfortable in.”
The goal is to create a community gathering so fun, supportive, and electrifying that people look forward to putting it in their diaries every year.
It’s a space where competitors become partners, and where everyone from EdTech providers to first-time attendees is part of the same supportive “wolf pack.”
A quick teaser on the upcoming book…
Before we wrapped up, Steve gave us a tiny, exclusive teaser about the upcoming Edufuturists book, set to drop in June:
It features 10 deeply researched case studies of real organisations doing wonderful things outside of linear education, spanning private sectors, public sectors, and charities.
Moving away from purely traditional media, the book features an integrated QR code system linking to a live website. This ensures that the educational resources, URLs, and tools stay updated, live, and relevant for years to come.
While staying true to its roots, the book is designed for a global audience, with plans already in motion to take the Edufuturists roadshow across the Atlantic to America.
The Uprising Awards are fully certified for CPD, ensuring that schools can easily validate budgets and open up access for any educator who wants to attend. We’ll see you in the playground!
To get 50% off your ticket to the event, use the button below, or click here!
This is Skolon – we gather the best digital educational tools and make them work in the classroom.
Skolon is an independent platform for digital educational tools and learning resources, created for both teachers and students. With Skolon, accessing and using your digital educational tools is easy – security increases, administration decreases, and there’s more time for learning.
The digital educational tools come from both small and large providers, all of whom have one thing in common – they create digital educational tools that are beneficial for the school environment.
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