…a further communication with our MP about creativity in education
I believe it is disingenuous to suggest that schools/teachers/parents actively want academisation. Academisation ultimately will allow business to run education with no involvement from parents: how can this ever be in our children’s best interests? I have not met any parents who support this (both personally and in my role as Director of The Children’s Art School).
The line ‘driving up standards’ is misleading. I can tell you that the standard of children’s ability and confidence in being creative and of hands on making and manipulating materials is going down. I can tell you as a parent that I don’t care what ‘level’ my child is at. I want to know that they are confident, can problem solve for themselves and that they are enthusiastic about learning. There are far too many children struggling with all of those things because the classroom environment and the emphasis on passive learning to pass tests is not conducive to meaningful learning. And there are too many children being made to feel as though they are failing because their strengths do not lie in academic subjects.
You say you want what’s best for our children so I would also ask you to consider the need for our children to learn to be creative. Perhaps you could answer these questions:
- Why is your party actively pushing arts out of our education system?
- Why do its policies not take into account and look to embracing our children’s differences?
- Why do the policies not support diverse learning experiences?
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How do you defend the way your government has actively undermined the value of creativity in our education system?
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How do you respond to what I have said about the need for creativity in education and the need to give our children the ability to think for themselves?
I hope you will reconsider the importance of creativity in our children’s lives and education as a vital ingredient for their successful futures.