Martin Robinson

Martin Robinson had an atrocious schooling, which saw him leave school by ‘mutual consent’. An experience that informs his desire to find a school providing the type of education he would like to see for his daughter. Drawing on the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle Hume and others Martin tries to draw together the two sides of the great education divide: the progressives and the traditionalists. Seeing no hope in bridging this very real dichotomy he finally finds inspiration in a song by Leonard Cohen and sees hope in the ‘liberal arts’. Martin’s best selling book, Trivium 21c – Preparing Young People for the Future with Lessons from the Past, was published in 2013 to critical acclaim, described by Melissa Benn as ‘Wise, well informed, provocative… A terrific feat.’ The book draws lessons from the ancient arts of the trivium: grammar, dialectic and rhetoric to examine how a progressive traditional pedagogies to see if either are relevant to today’s educational needs. Martin worked in east London as a teacher, head of department, head of faculty, Advanced Skills Teacher and assistant head-teacher for twenty years. He has spoken in the USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, and across the UK.