Sir Richard Branson doesn’t think schools have changed much since the Victorian era as he recalls his own struggles in the classroom.
Sir Richard Branson doesn’t think schools have changed much since the Victorian era.
The 74-year-old businessman has admitted to achieving low grades in his education because of his struggles with dyslexia – which affects the ability to read and write – and now that he is working with the with the Open University on a series of courses designed to help those with similar problems, has insisted that the approach to schooling today is not too different from what it was almost 200 years ago.
He told The Times: “I used to get lots of big red Us when I was at school so we’re going to reclaim the U. The idea is to make it a bit more of a school of life and encourage a different type of thinking.
“If teachers from the Victorian era came into a classroom today, they wouldn’t notice much of a difference so I think a lot of kids will find this useful.
“The education system caters for about 20 per cent of people in classrooms; for the other 80 per cent it’s fairly irrelevant. This will be more relevant.”
The Virgin boss – who is now worth an estimated £2.4 billion – will offer interviews with neurodiverse business leaders and campaigners to students as part of two new courses at the virtual university, and he teased that that is just the start of his plans.
He added: “This is the beginning and we hope it will grow. In time the courses will go on to cover everything from intelligence to banking. There won’t be any testing. The UK does more testing than any other country in the world. We don’t believe in that. We want people to be inspired.”
Sir Richard Branson: ‘Schools haven’t changed much since Victorian times…’
