Defence CommitteeWritten evidence from Fiona Cuthbertson, Keystone Consulting
Just as a bit of background I used to work in the Commons (for Laurence Robertson) and was a parliamentary candidate and councillor (under my maiden name Bryce). I have therefore been involved with politics for over 10 years and I now run Keystone Consulting which helps people to understand Parliament and how to get involved and my speciality is education and social inclusion.
As we all know the education of children of army personnel is often taken on by boarding schools at great expense and also facilitates the separation of parent and child. However, it occurs to me that there may be another—and cheaper way—of dealing with this problem effectively.
Education can be provided to those who are disenfranchised from the education system through online live lessons facilitated by technology, and therefore this could surely be seen as a possible solution for those students that find themselves unable to be educated locally because of where their parents are stationed abroad ie: in the Falklands.
An example of such technology is the Nisai Virtual Academy (NVA), an award winning online learning community created and maintained by the Nisai Group (http://www.nisai.com/) that is internationally recognised as a world leader in personalised learning. This is because they can provide an education in almost all possible subjects online meaning that they can source their students from anywhere therefore providing all with the opportunity of an effective education no matter where their location. In addition, the NVA technology is more cost effective. For the 10 students in the class who would otherwise need boarding school education, the equivalent of only one teaching salary would be being paid using this type of technology.
It would be great if you could put some time in your diary to discuss this further, or agree to allowing the Nisai Group the opportunity to give oral evidence to the Committee so they can explain how this type of technology can help your current review. Please let me know if either of these may be possible.
December 2012