30 Sep 2026
A year ago, Cambridge published a major report offering a unique view of how teachers and students in 150 countries are experiencing education today – and where more action is needed to prepare students for a changing world. Today, we are sharing an update of what’s happened since then and how Cambridge is working with schools globally to deliver meaningful change in education.
Our Preparing Learners to Thrive in a Changing World report identified five clear priorities for education:
- Increase skills awareness so students can recognise the ways they are prepared for the future.
- Reframe subject knowledge as a critical foundation for advanced cognitive skills in age of AI.
- Support self-management to help students adapt to new opportunities and thrive in a time of change.
- Strengthen oracy to help students build positive relationships and communication skills.
- Strengthen the role of school as the place to foster connections, supporting students’ wellbeing.
We have made progress in all areas, working closely with schools to explore the report findings at our events and shape our future direction. We’ve had nearly 50,000 conversations and interactions with school leaders and teachers around the world, sharing ideas and working together on practical outcomes.
Marking the first anniversary Rod Smith, Group Managing Director for International Education said: 'We have always viewed this research as a collaboration with our community, shaping new initiatives to prepare students for a changing world. As we reflect on the first year and the progress we have made, I want to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us. We have explored the findings with school leaders and teachers at events around the world, and the response has been fantastic. We will keep taking forward the priorities we identified to help more young people thrive in their education and beyond.'
Progress on priorities
More than 4000 students contributed to our research, sharing their perspectives on future-readiness. We pledged to give students a permanent platform to share their views, and this month we delivered on that promise by launching a Cambridge Student Advisory Council. We also committed to holding an Education Summit to take forward our research findings, and the first event exploring self-management skills took place on 14 September. As we mark one year on, progress is not slowing.
Other new initiatives include:
- a new skills framework to give students and families a deeper understanding of our approach
- our relaunched Cambridge International Project Qualification (IPQ) and a new Cambridge Advanced Skills Award in Entrepreneurial Mindset to support readiness for university and careers
- our partnership with Education Ventures Research to help teachers and learners get the best out of AI in education
- development of a Wellbeing curriculum for older learners.
Read the progress update
Go to the One year on section of the report for full details of the progress we have made.
We also invite you to join our Cambridge Schools Conference Online from 19 to 22 October to continue conversations around future-readiness. Sign up for our online sessions.