Last week I sent off my new book to the House of Lords Select Committee on 11–16-year-olds education. They have been sitting for some time now taking the thoughts of many different people. Secondary education certainly needs a shakeup.
They have already decided that it is time to:
Abandon EBacc and Progress 8.
Reduce assessment, particularly written assessments.
Review KS3 and stop schools from making KS4 courses three years long.
Trust teachers and give them back their professionalism.
Include more creativity, arts and imaginative experiences.
Create partnerships between theatres and schools.
Reject the notion of the failed ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum
That’s quite a list.
As someone who has been in the education field for a long time, I recognise the return of new ideas that are old ideas. It often feels like we are reinventing the wheel yet again. Of course, schools should be places of creativity – that’s how you learn by discovering. How are we going to prepare our young people to play a part in the world of the future with its background in climate change and artificial intelligence?
When I went to school it was a matter of learning facts and then writing them out in a way that made you pass the exam. At a higher level, you learnt to make an argument and back it up with evidence. That’s not what the world needs in the future especially as you can pick up your phone and know facts in seconds. The world of the future needs curious, enquiring minds who can work in teams and come up with ideas – often ideas that might at first seem crazy.
Schools are still obsessed it seems to me in measurement, in grading everything and labelling schools with single-word statements – and we’ve all seen where that has led. The creative arts are huge money-makers for this country. Last year it brought in £108 billion and it employed 2.3 million people in every corner of the country.
I think a lot of Theatretrain parents understand that their child’s school isn’t able to give enough time to the arts. I think many of these parents know the good that it does and they put their money where their mouth is. After all don’t we want our kids to be alive, sparky, interested, committed, going for it and enjoying themselves in their learning? We know what we teach leads them off into so many avenues in life but most of all we take energy and enthusiasm and channel them into heightened moments of theatre. Those moments stay with them and deep down they learn something about themselves and they fit in with the people around them.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this future plays out because as far as I am concerned it is badly needed.
