The aim of the Educational Wealth Fund is to give schools in the UK the resources and ideas required to provide a range of beautiful, creative and imaginative educational spaces that will engage, inspire and challenge children and the communities in which they live.
A National Endowment Fund
The EWF is in the process of building the very first national endowment fund in the UK, which will be used to create exceptional learning environments.
The EWF and its members – including Sir Peter Birkett, who is founding Chairman – believe that designing beautiful and engaging places of education will make it easier to attract and retain the best teaching talent that the country has to offer.
The Vision of the EWF
For the EWF, creating inspiring, beautiful libraries is a key concern, as is giving schools the resources they would need to exhibit world-class art on their premises. The Fund believes that the latter will help to break down the demographic divide, thereby opening up the potential for a greater number of children to experience and appreciate art in later life.
Providing facilities to schools such as climbing walls is also an aim of the EWF, as is giving schools the means to set up kitchen gardens so that children can better connect with their food and where it comes from.
Take a look at the embedded PDF for more information about the many different types of ideas and innovations that form the Education Wealth Fund’s vision.
Benefits to Teaching Staff
The EWF believes that there are many benefits to providing teaching staff with a comfortable working environment. The Fund endorses the view that, in this, the education sector should follow the pattern of successful corporate environments to promote high levels of recruitment and retention.
New Ways of Funding
The EWF seeks to develop and promote a market philosophy when it comes to funding education, with the overarching goal of addressing issues of inequality and mental wellbeing and promoting the retention of teaching staff.
The Fund points to the success of schemes such as the Texas Permanent School Fund in the US, which began with an initial endowment of $2 million and today is valued at over $36 billion, with the investment profits being used as the sole means of funding the primary and secondary schools in the state.