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An analysis of the educational, financial and social benefits of nursery education and other forms of early learning

The Design Section involved itself from time to time with other societies in the promotion of Design, often to encourage different Design bodies to co-operate with each other.

The Thomas Cubitt Trust worked with the Society for a short period to develop a series of annual lectures on architecture and building. These lectures were published in the Journal. Thomas Cubitt had been a member of the Society. He, along with Henry Cole, Francis Fuller and Scott Russell attended the historic meeting with Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace on 30 June 1848 at which the Great Exhibition was born. The RSA-Cubitt Trust Panel was a sub-committee of the Committee for the Environment. It met three or four times a year and convened one conference or seminar annually as well as the Cubitt Lecture.

The Design section's governing body, the Design Advisory Group (previously the Design Committee, the Design Board and initially the Design Bursaries Board) acts as an advisor to the RSA's Programme Committee, is a source of ideas for RSA future programme, reviews current design projects and evaluates the quality of the RSA Programme work in design.\nRecords comprise administrative correspondence and files

A series of events was arranged to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Society. A new history of the Society was commissioned and written by Kenneth Luckhurst, the Secretary, and Derek Hudson

The Society is generally credited with the idea of an international exhibition. However the exhibition was administered by a Royal Commission and the Society had no role in the exhibition itself.\nRecords include general administrative correspondence about the setting up and financing of the exhibition, printed reports, lists of subscribers and synopses of letters from John Scott Russell to Prince Albert, among others. Also includes a series of copy photographs of some of the exhibits and copies of contemporary illustrations. Catalogues and jury reports are included within the exhibition publications section at SC/EX/

Records include administrative correspondence and files, minutes of committees, printed matter and publicity materials and photographs

The Fourth Plinth project was initiated by RSA past Chairman Prue Leith. The RSA's central aims in this initiative were to: use the plinth to display works of art after the 150 year deadlock; raise the level of debate about the nature of public art today; and inform decisions about the plinth's permanent use. The project was co-ordinated by the RSA.\n\nAll files were appraised and routine correspondence removed.\n\nThe series consists of the administrative records from the initiation of discussions about the empty plinth to the the display of the scupltures: Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger, Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow and Monument by Rachel Whiteread.

The RSA's Education for Capability movement was initiated in 1978 with a manifesto signed by some leading figures in education, industry and public life. It aimed to counteract the academic bias of British education and to promote the value of the practical, organising and co-operative skills too often underrated in the existing system. It encouraged creativity in its widest sense, believed that learners should share the responsibility for their own learning and emphasised the need for teaching and learning processes which themselves develop and use capability. The initiative was felt to be successful in promoting change in learning methods. A databank of good 'Capability' practise in all sectors was established from which networks were identified and developed.\n\nIn 1988 the project was directed towards higher education, to continue work in further education and to consolidate work in secondary schools and extend this to teacher training. [Adapted from Education for Capability literature]\nRecords include administrative correspondence and files and printed material

Portraits by Justin Mortimer

The Society was more closely connected with the management of this exhibition than with that of 1851. In both cases the initial organisation was due to the Society, and in both cases the early preparations were made by and at the risk of the Society. However, the 1862 Exhibition was managed by a Commission appointed by the Society, while in 1851 the Managing Commission had been entirely independent. Although 1851 was a profitable exhibition, receipts in 1862 were insufficient to cover expenses. \nThis series includes general correspondence to the Society about plans for the exhibition and about funding, as well as a series of images of the exhibition. There are no details of exhibits. These are included in the exhibition catalogues at SC/EX/1.\n\nRecords include general administrative correspondence to the Society, press cuttings and copy photographs of illustrations

The RSA has had an interest in Home-School links and the use of written agreements since 1988 when it worked with the National Association of Head Teachers on a project 'Home-School Contract of Partnership'. It has published regularly on the topic since then, some of these publication being part of the Education for Capability (PR/ED/107) and Parents in a Learning Society(PR/ED/104) projects

In 1949 the Society began to produce a Christmas card to sell to Fellows. Various artists were commissioned to design a card annually. The subject usually related to the Society's history. Postcards of some of the Society's works of art were also published as postcards at various times.The series includes sample of cards produced and photographs used in their production.

The RSA's New Curriculum project is a mainstream contribution to the strategic development of compulsory school education in Britain. At its heart is the development of a curriculum that places as much emphasis on the learning of critical thinking skills or 'competences' as it does on the traditional transmission of facts from teacher to pupil.\n\nOpening Minds: Education for the 21st century was published in June 1999, was the final report of the 'Redefining the Curriculum' consultative stage. Subsequently, the RSA has been working with a number of schools to make a reality of the ideas in the report. It recommended a competence-based curriculum framed around five sets of competences: for learning, managing information, managing people, managing situations, and citizenship. Project schools have developed a number of innovative curriculum initiatives, which they are now putting into practice.\n\nRecords comprise the main published reports of the project

A forum comprising representatives from business and education to promote a national strategy for restructuring education and training, based on the RSA projects Learning Pays (1991) and Profitable Learning (1992)