Acadamisation: bad for creativity

I am writing to implore you not to support the governments plans for academisation. I cannot understand how the evidence provided by the existing acadamies can be taken to suggest that this is a sensible or desirable option.

I set up The Children’s Art School as a response to the under-valuing of art education and to champion and promote arts experiences as a crucial part of a our children’s education in terms of child development and well-being, in terms of developing innovative and original thinkers who have the skills to tackle whatever the future has in store for them and in terms of the future of our creative industries.

Through various roles within art education I have become increasingly worried about the lack of focus, at both primary and secondary level, on creative thinking.

I cannot understand why this government continues to place no value in teaching children to be creative. The creative sector of this country has been globally admired for decades and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport itself published  figures revealing that our creative industries are now worth £84.1 billion per year to the UK economy and generate nearly £9.6million per hour. As the creative industries continue to grow, we need to nurture the future generations of talent that this industry will need.

Teaching children and young people to be creative however is not just about creating artists and designers for the creative industries. All industries, from medicine, to computers to banking need innovators and original thinkers.

A good place to start when trying to explain the value of art education is by asking ‘what does art do that maths doesn’t?’  Here are some answers:

art teaches you to make your own decisions
art teaches you to consider alternative solutions
art teaches you that mistakes can be opportunities
art teaches you to take risks
art promotes curiosity
art teaches reflective thinking
art develops problem-solving skills
art allows you to be yourself
art facilitates a sense of achievement and well-being

Creativity is crucial for our childrens futures. In order to meet the challenges that they will be faced with they will need to be INNOVATIVE. They will need to be good at PROBLEM-SOLVING and at looking for ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS. They will need to have the confidence to think their own thoughts and make their own decisions.
Art Education is not about encouraging all children to become artists or designers (although the creative industries do generate £8 million per hour and is the fastest growing sector of the British economy) It is about equiping children with skills that will enable them to be successful in all areas of their lives.

We are also faced with the challenge of an increasingly digital world. And yet, for young children, the opportunity to explore the physicality of the world around them is understood to be crucial. Art education for young children offers:
engagement with the physical world
exploration of materials
learning through doing
development of fine motor skills
development of communication skills
development of problem solving.

Art education allows children to experiment, to find things out for themselves, to make their own decisions and to have the confidence to take risks. Quite simply art can teach children to be  innovative.