Add a Comment

Comment by Kelly Page on April 12, 2015 at 9:06

I think its important to make a distinction between learning as a cultural and creative practice and education as an institution. We participate in learning practices every moment of every day, and we share our learning through so many different ways. To rethink education, we need to rethink our language around it. We are all students of learning and all teachers of learning, and it is a social practice as much as learning is a practice of the mind. :-) Love love this group.  

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 9, 2015 at 23:24

This is why I take responsibility for educating my children, as Im sure every other parent does. Sending children to school is only a part of the process. I tell my 7yr old to listen and respect his teacher but that his teacher isnt always right. I tell him to try his best in tests, but that the result doesnt matter. And as both my boys grow I will continue to encourage them to question everything, that copying is OK, exams arent important (only to try their best) etc etc. Luckily my childrens school provide creative activities but again myself and my partners see it as our responsibility to nurture their creativity, critical thinking (what ever that means) and that theres more to education and life than 'getting a good job'.

Comment by Ruth Stringer on April 9, 2015 at 21:02

I think there's also a big danger of young people dismissing themselves as unsuccessful if they're not initially good at a certain skill; in workshops I often hear statements along the lines of 'I'm rubbish at drawing so I'm no good at art,' or 'I hate acting' - usually meaning the child will dismiss drama as a subject to pursue. This all feeds back into your points about statistically measuring creativity and not putting people off at a young age...allowing to explore themselves and develop creatively without making them feel unsuccessful if they are not yet advanced in a certain skill, skills which in my experience often come into their own later in life. How can we use the arts in schools in a way to that shows children its merits on their overall educational experience without alienating them?

Comment by Louise Suller on April 9, 2015 at 20:16

Martin, how brilliant you got to speak with Malorie Blackman. As a part time teacher, part time pretender, your comment about statistically measuring creativity really rings true. It becomes cyclical; there are lots of brilliant projects that have attempted to show the successes of creativity but we know the mightiest successes can appear small - the girl who finally stands up off the floor and takes her shoes off or the smile on someone's face when they think no one is looking. Why should we have to justify that?

Comment by Martin Daws on April 9, 2015 at 10:39

This is an extract from a blog I posted last week at youngpeopleslaureate.org:

At present my conversations with Malorie Blackman (UK Children's Laureate) seem to gravitate towards political discussions of her experience of speaking with Government Ministers about education policy, and my experience of Teachers telling me that creativity is being squeezed out of the curriculum by government. It’s hard to keep smiling when you’re talking about library closures; about teacher’s not having any curriculum time to teach creatively; speaking of children being educated in increasingly rigid and statistically driven ways. I guess it’s hard to statistically measure the success of creative activities, but I believe human’s have always defined, maintained and refined their communal and individual identities through creative cultural practice – so I wanna ask a minister

why are you rejecting all those millenia of wisdom when you create our communities of learning?

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 9, 2015 at 3:13

We asked Zoe to note the key points from our 1st #PeoplesThinkTank meeting. Come and join ourgroup and get involved 

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 9, 2015 at 0:50

Agreed Megan

Comment by Megan Roseblade on April 9, 2015 at 0:32

I watched the 'debate' last night too. Everyone agrees the arts are vital, but no one wants to commit a single policy to improving access, and at the end all but the Greens representative said that they never do any artistic activity so just proved how useless they all think the arts are. I'm not sure that Wales was mentioned once...

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 9, 2015 at 0:13

Well thats what I would call 'a dry ass debate'  

Comment by Gavin Porter on April 8, 2015 at 22:39

#CultureDebate

Pre-election debate featuring Ed Vaizey (Conservative), Harriet Harman (Labour), Baroness Bonham-Carter (Liberal Democrat), Peter Whittle (UKIP) and Martin Dobson (The Greens).

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• …
• 22
• Next ›
• Page