WHAT IS WORTH LEARNING IN SCHOOL?

(Published in ABC Magazine, Winter 2014)

There is currently a debate in educational circles about whether it is more important for children to learn facts or to learn skills. This either/or thinking – where it has to be one or the other – does not make sense to me. So it will be worth considering what is important to learn in education.

The first issue, then, is – is education aimed at learning about things (facts) or learning how to do things (skills). It is linked to ideas about the difference between education and training. A simple distinction is exemplified by the following;

You are a parent and your daughter comes home and says ‘We had sex education today at school’.  You are likely, if you are a liberal modern parent, to be very approving of this. However if she comes home and says ‘We had sex training at school today’ your response is likely to be different. It is a crude way of distinguishing education and training. And some would argue therefore that just learning about things without learning how to do things is fine as employers will do the training.

But this cannot be the answer. If a child is to learn art or dance or drama or music or sports then it is about doing things. It is about skills. One problem is that such activity can get labelled as extra-curricular – meaning that it is not part of the proper curriculum – it is outside it and therefore of less value. We know, for instance, that what is assessed (via SATs) at the end of primary education is largely knowledge and fact-based featuring only English, maths and science. Nothing else counts in judging a child within this system.

A major problem seems to be the lack of joined-up thinking and action at a national level with the narrow thinking of the Department for Education not being linked to the work of other Government departments. For instance the Office of National Statistics is tasked with looking at well-being among young people and the worrying statistics about obesity are now well-known. However other factors are less well known. One example is that in 2012 suicide overtook traffic accidents as the major cause of death in 16-24 year olds in England and Wales. The Office of National Statistics comments that ‘Suicide rates can be used as an indicator of acute mental health problems’. Acute (and also less acute) mental health problems have clearly increased among children.

These wider problems should be recognised and addressed by schools.

Let’s take another example from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s statistics of June 2014.

“Total Creative Economy employment across the UK has increased from 2.4 million in 2011, to 2.6 million jobs in 2013, an 8.8 per cent increase. This increase compares with a 2.4 per cent increase in the total number of jobs in the wider UK economy over the same period.”

The relevance of this for education is that the creative economy is the major area of economic growth and of jobs. So it should be a priority of schools to support creative learning. But we have seen the opposite trend with artists, musicians and others complaining bitterly of the increasing neglect of this aspect of education.

And creativity is not just an issue in the apparently creative subjects. For instance successful scientists show how a creative approach to their work is crucial.  An example of this can be found in studies of Nobel Prize winners going back to the 1920s. A psychologist called Terman selected thousands of high IQ young people for a major study in the USA. He hoped to identify successful people such as potential Nobel Prize winners. Interestingly none of his very carefully selected children made it to that level in adulthood. However two children he rejected did gain Nobel Prizes in science; they were the creative ones.

In suggesting the importance of creativity I am not arguing for neglecting other kinds of learning. Learning needs to be holistic and integrated. For instance if someone wants to be good at something they will learn facts and skills but they will also need the motivation to learn. The major research studies have been in areas such as music where 10,000 hours of good practice has been found to be necessary to be good at playing an instrument. This research has been replicated in other areas such as sport.

What can be missed from this is an exploration of why children might not undertake such practice. A couple of examples from our College might help here. We have had children come to us having been told that they are no good at music. Our approach is not to take such negative assessments at face value. One boy had tried the cello and been told to give up by his teacher as he had no aptitude for music. On coming to us we gave him the chance just to mess about with instruments like the guitar and then learn some basis chords as he showed interest. By the time he left us he had learned (to vary degrees) to play five instruments and is now doing a music degree.

Another example would be in the visual arts. Tim came to us aged 14 after four years out of school and doubts about his future. We noticed that he was drawing a lot and encouraged him to develop a portfolio of work. Having done this he gained a place at a local further education college. The college recognised that he had learned how to manage his own learning so was likely to flourish in their environment. This proved true as he gained the prize for the best student.

Tim went on to university taking a degree in illustrating. After leaving in 2010 he was awarded ‘Best New Blood’ in the National Design Awards and his work for Guys Hospital won the award for ‘Best Use of Visual Art in Healthcare’. His current work is as a self-employed illustrator where his clients included New Scientist, Nike, Vodaphone and many other household names.

My case, then, is that education needs to be about supporting children in the breadth of their learning. They need to learn to take charge of their own lives (as this is linked to good mental health) and to take their learning wherever it leads them. The division of school learning into subject compartments hinders real inclusive holistic learning and the fact/skills divide makes no sense at all.

 

Dr Ian Cunningham

Self Managed Learning College, Brighton

www.smlcollege.org.uk

September 2014