Persona Education shortlisted for the 2023/24 Tools Competition
Press Release
Bristol, UK, 8th December 2023
Persona Education has today been shortlisted for Phase II of the 2023-24 Learning Engineering Tools Competition, in the 'Preparing for the 21st Century World' track. Persona was selected from a pool of more than 1,700 from around the globe. The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar competition for edtech innovation, organised by The Learning Agency, that leverages digital technology, big data, and learning science to meet the urgent needs of learners worldwide.
Image: Persona Education
The Learning Engineering Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar competition for edtech innovation, organised by The Learning Agency and sponsored by Open AI, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, Griffin Catalyst, Walton Family Foundation, Siegel Family Endowment, Ballmer Group, Calbright College, Axim Collaborative, Jacobs Foundation, and Endless. The fund leverages digital technology, big data, and learning science to meet the urgent needs of learners worldwide.
The Tools Competition funds edtech tools and technologies that support learning outcomes and can contribute to learning science research. Eligible tools have the potential to generate novel learning data that researchers can study to better understand learning at scale. This may include an app, software, algorithm, or other digital technology that facilitates or supports continuous data collection and has the potential to scale at minimal cost.
The 2023-24 Tools Competition introduced a focus on artificial intelligence, including through a new partnership with OpenAI to launch the OpenAI Learning Impact Prize. The aim is to increase interest in and understanding of the possibilities of advanced computational methods in learning platforms. With global attention on ChatGPT and the other latest technologies, concentrated and coordinated efforts in bringing innovative solutions to all learners are timely.
Persona Education has been shortlisted for Phase II of the 2023/24 'Preparing for the 21st Century World' track, selected from a pool of more than 1,700 applications from around the globe. The 21st Century World track focuses on tools that increase the relevance of instruction to build 21st century skills and prepare students to navigate the changing world. The track aims to support students in getting “life-ready,” with the skills that are in demand by the changing world and competencies necessary to achieve big goals.
This achievement recognises the potential of AI to further enhance Persona Life Skills, the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) platform built around a unique 'Self/Friends' personality insights framework developed for and with young people. This is the only personality insights platform designed specifically for young people, and the only SEL platform built around personality insights. The software incorporates intellectual property developed with funding from highly sought-after UK government R&D grants.
Over 500 schools in 44 countries have registered to use the Persona Life Skills platform with 139,000 students, the geographies showing most interest being the UK, US, Middle East and India. It is being taken to market by an experienced team with a strong >20 year track record, supported by a high quality advisory panel.
Pete Read, CEO & Co-founder of Persona Education, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for the Tools Competition. One of the biggest challenges in education currently is the effective delivery of Social-Emotional Learning to secondary students, to address the crisis of wellbeing, academic engagement and employability among our teenagers. With generative AI on the scene, the urgency of developing social-emotional skills alongside academic knowledge and technical skills has taken an order of magnitude leap. As today's teenagers get older there will be a negative cascade into society as a whole if we don't go beyond simply monitoring the problems, to address them in a preventative way, at scale. Persona Life Skills is already part of that solution for thousands of young people around the world, and this support from the Tools Competition for our AI driven product innovation is a welcome validation.”
To find out more about the Learning Engineering Tools Competition, visit the programme website.
ENDS
About Persona Education Ltd
Persona Education is a UK based edtech start-up developing life skills solutions for secondary students and educational institutions. Its web and mobile online learning platforms are built around a scientifically proven personality insights framework, that is social, practical and memorable. For further information contact info@persona-life.com or +44 (0)117 313 2897.
About Persona Life Skills
Persona Life Skills is an online Social-Emotional Learning platform for schools and colleges that uses personality insights to help teenagers navigate their life journey. The scaffolded, age appropriate curriculum guides students in building 22 life skills that map to GL PASS, IB Learner Profile, Unicef, Ofsted, ISI, Skills Builder, Gatsby benchmarks and more. For further information contact info@persona-life.com or +44 (0)117 313 2897.
