Duncan O'Leary
Duncan works on projects looking at public services, skills and work.
- It's all academic So i've been doing some reading for our project on Organisational litercy. Having been handed Our of Our Minds by Ken Robinson (i wasn't handed it by Ken Robinson, he wrote it) i started there. He makes an interesting point: that we often dismiss ideas as being 'purely academic' when we think they're out of touch with reality, but yet we have always placed such cudos on academic study in the way in which we educate people.It reminded me a bit of the point made by Charlie Leadbeater in Living... continue reading on 5th December 2005
- 'Organisational Literacy' project - We?ll be looking beyond literacy and numeracy (though of course not dismissing them), to things like organisational savviness, communication, teamworking, problem-solving, creativity, and the ability to pick up new skills or new ideas quickly. - We?ll be having a look at Enterprise education in its first year in schools. - We?re looking for some case studies of organisations that help prepare people for the workplace, through things like working with schools, setting up training programmes... continue reading on 30th November 2005
- The Politics of Community I've just had a read of David Miliband's speech this week on 'The Politics of Community', and it touches on a lot of the things we've been talking about at Demos over the last year or so. This passage...The key is for all citizens to feel they have the power to make a difference to their local institutions in a direct way should they choose to exercise it, as well as through the ballot box every 4 years...picks up the point made in Everyday Democracy about the need for renewal of our Democracy... continue reading on 27th October 2005
- Beckham for PM George Weah, footballing legend, is one of 20 candidates standing for President in the Liberian elections today. And according to the Guardian there's, ahem, all to play for.My only hope is that his command of public policy has moved on since his time at Chelsea. When interviewed in the match-day programme he was asked if he had ever used public transport in England. His response: "Yes, i took a taxi two weeks ago". continue reading on 11th October 2005
- NFER change for Children Site Just come across what looks a useful resource for anyone interested in Children's Services - The National Foundation for Educational Research has just launched it's Change for Children site. continue reading on 11th October 2005
- I've been inspecting you Five steps to better inspectionWe expect a lot of our leaders. In education, we expect them to motivate, to innovate, to hold and be held to account, to combine competition collaboration and ? increasingly ? to align ?school standards? with the needs of the ?whole child?. Yet we often forget exactly who all the leaders in an education system really are. Headteachers have formal responsibility for their schools, and Chief Executives for their local areas, but there is another cadre of leaders... continue reading on 7th October 2005
- Risking it Yep, you guessed it. According to this bit of research, you might well be safer choosing Hospital 1. The researchers involved found that the best hospitals actually tended to report more mistakes, which of course allowed them to learn from those mistakes and steadily improve. By contrast, when people didn't feel able to be open when things went wrong, they were less able to learn from each other, which in turn led to more mistakes.So, apart from lots of platitudes, how do you set systems in... continue reading on 26th September 2005
- The Backlash England won the ashes yesterday. The contest has captured the nation's imagination all summer, and it clearly hasn't gone unnoticed. To read about how the coach had already been granted citzenship by the Home Office, after trying for 15 years, click here. And to read the thoughts of The Prime Minister, The Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, and the President of the Liberal Democrats click here. For countless receptions, photo opportunities and granting of... continue reading on 13th September 2005
- Who are ya..? Despite all the cliche's about 'lame ducks', i'd say Michael Howard has successfully prompted a genuine debate about the direction of the Tory party. He hasn't given his party the opportunity to simply adopt a default position, meaning that it really has to think through what it's all about.So, public spending - is the question what you spend or how you spend it? What role for the market in public services? Are foundation hospitals such a bad idea after all? What about top-up fees? ID cards -... continue reading on 1st September 2005
- Ten lessons on leadership... 1. Failure is often a precondition for innovation and learning. Leaders must balance organisational learning and the need for accountability.2. Leaders of organisations must be prepared to identify creative ways to determine and manage risk, while continuing to push the boundaries of what can be achieved.3. Audit and inspection is active not passive. Inspectors should therefore be recognised as potential leaders in any system.4. We look to leaders for technical solutions when they often do... continue reading on 15th August 2005