FutureLearn Schools to give students aged 13-18 free access to online courses in collaboration with Tes and Pearson
FutureLearn.com, the leading social learning platform, is announcing the launch of FutureLearn Schools, a new initiative that gives millions of students aged 13+ free upgraded access to over a hundred relevant short courses on the platform, in order to support their learning and expand their horizons.*
FutureLearn Schools will be available free from May until September 2020 to every eligible student in the UK and Ireland, and will be rolled out globally in due course. Launched in collaboration with Pearson and Tes, teachers, parents and students will also be able to access additional guidance and support for free through the initiative, such as Coronavirus support hub from Tes and support for parents and learners during Coronavirus (COVID-19) from Pearson.
Over 40 world-renowned universities and institutions, including the University of Leeds, The Open University, Coventry University, King’s College London and the University of Sheffield, are among the founding partners. Collectively, partners aim to offer more than 130 relevant and engaging short courses to students such as: The Open University’s ‘Introduction to Cyber Security’ and ‘Start Writing Fiction’ courses, The University of Leeds’ ‘Discovering Science’ courses, and Accenture’s ‘Digital Skills’ courses, as well as a range of digital skills courses from the Institute of Coding, a consortium of 35 universities and over 100 industry and outreach partners, supported by the UK government via the Office for Students, that works to increase the volume of learners taking digital skills courses. [1]
Students will be able to learn from expert educators as well as in a peer-to-peer setting with other learners, access tests, gain certificates upon successful completion of course assessments, and keep access to the course content. Teachers will be able to use the platform’s features to track the progress and engagement of their students.
Through FutureLearn Schools, teachers will also be able to create and publish their own private short courses on the platform in order to support curricular learning.
The Rt Hon Jim Knight, Chief Education & External Officer at Tes said: “I am really pleased to be involved with the FutureLearn Schools Initiative. There’s never been a more important time to help teachers and to help learners.. This initiative is making available hundreds of short high quality online courses from Tes, Future Learn and some of the most renowned Universities in the world. Tes are proud to be partnering with Future Learn and other providers to bring quality education into the home through technology and hope that it brings support and encouragement to many learners at this time.”
You can also find a video of Lord Jim Knight speaking about FutureLearn Schools here.
Justin Cooke, Chief Content and Partnerships Officer at FutureLearn said: “At FutureLearn we have been working to respond as quickly as possible to the needs of our partners and of the wider education sector. We are now proud to launch our latest offering, FutureLearn Schools, as a practical and accessible resource that students, teachers and parents across the country can make use of in this current climate. As ever we are grateful to our partners for their fantastic response in putting this resource together.”
Justin continued: “We are continuously developing the platform in order to give our global community of learners and partners the best possible experience, and we hope to make FutureLearn Schools more widely available to students worldwide.”
Sharon Hague, Senior Vice President UK Schools at Pearson said: “We are delighted to be working with FutureLearn as they launch the FutureLearn Schools initiative. We know that COVID-19 is having a real impact on teachers and learners across the UK, and that this is causing a lot of stress and anxiety. It is vital that teaching and learning can continue during this unprecedented situation, and we are proud to be offering many of our most effective resources to teachers for free while schools and colleges remain closed. By drawing on our online learning expertise, we believe this partnership will offer support and continuity to learners, and empower teachers, parents and carers to support children’s learning during this period of uncertainty.”
*Schools that sign up for FutureLearn Schools will be able to give their students aged 13-18 free upgraded access to relevant courses for their study.
[1] Partners offering courses on FutureLearn Schools:
- Accenture
- Amnesty International
- Anglia Ruskin University
- British Heart Foundation
- British Sub Aqua Club
- Cancer Research UK
- Chartered College of Teaching
- Chartered Institute of Building Academy
- Coventry University
- Deakin University
- Dublin City University
- Edinburgh Napier University
- European University Institute (EUI)
- Film Distributors’ Association
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Jindal Centre for Social Innovation + Entrepreneurship
- Johns Hopkins University
- Keio University
- King’s College London
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Monash University
- Nankai University
- National Chiao Tung University
- Purdue University
- Royal Holloway, University of London
- SOAS University of London
- Taipei Medical University
- Tes Global
- The British Film Institute (BFI)
- The Open University
- The University of Manchester
- University of Aberdeen
- University of California, Irvine
- University of Kent
- University of Leeds
- University of Leicester
- University of Malaya
- University of Michigan
- University of Padova
- University of Reading
- University of Surrey
- University of Twente
- University of Wollongong
- University of York
- Wellcome Genome Campus
About FutureLearn
Here at FutureLearn, our purpose is to transform access to education. We do that by partnering with over a quarter of the world’s top universities to support over 11 million learners across the globe to develop skills and achieve their personal and professional goals. We’re a leading social learning platform founded in December 2012 by The Open University and are now jointly owned by The Open University and The SEEK Group. We use design, technology and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible and flexible short online courses and microcredentials, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. In addition to top universities, we also partner with leading organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, CIPD, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (HEE), as well as being involved in government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps such as The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education.
About Tes Global
Tes Global is an international provider of software enabled education services to schools and teachers, including news and information, recruitment, online tools and resources, support and professional development. Its mission is to support schools in their work to improve children’s lives through education.
Tes helps schools find the teachers they need, brings new teachers into the profession through initial teacher training and provides continuous professional development. More than 13m teachers are part of our online community and we work with more than 25,000 schools in over 100 countries. Tes operates across 20 offices, including London, Sheffield, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Dubai and currently employs over 600 people.
About Pearson
We are the world’s learning company with more than 22,500 employees operating in 70 countries. We provide content, assessment and digital services to learners, educational institutions, employers, governments and other partners globally. We are committed to helping equip learners with the skills they need to enhance their employability prospects and to succeed in the changing world of work. We believe that wherever learning flourishes so do people. For more information, visit www.pearson.com.
