That was perhaps the best quote from a day packed with creating ideas that will ensure that education is not going to kill creativity and enterprise. It’s a challenge to sum up the energy and vitality of the day,
but here are some of the highlights!
Jamie Cooke from RSA provided an eloquent and
thought-provoking account of the RSA’s tradition of funding enterprise and
innovation through a focus on disruption and creativity, giving the resurgence
of the premium (a public prize for innovation) as one it’s recent endeavours. He gave a clear context for the RSA’s
interest in creativity – 53,000 young people not in work or education – we need
to encourage ‘the power to create’ as creativity is without a doubt our most
important resource. For Jamie it was clearly a move from employability to
enterprise.
Brian Humphrey, Innovation Manager, Skills Development
Scotland
provided with us a fascinating
overview of what is happening elsewhere in Europe, where unemployment figures
for young people have not hit the dizzying heights of the UK. He focussed on
comparisons with Switzerland, Germany and Norway where there is a greater
emphasis on vocation education and being able to make greater choices of where
you study at an earlier age. There
appears to be greater fluidity in the other European models and more parity of
esteem between academic and vocational routes with employers much more engaged in the curriculum design as
well as delivery.
Brian also talked about the focus on STEM subjects and of
course made reference to the Wood Report and the Government’s focus on
encouraging growth in the sciences.
There was a sense that we need to consider what jobs there are going to
be for young people on leaving education, and perhaps guide young people
earlier into potential growth areas.
However, this immediately raises a conflict with encouraging young
people to ‘find their passion’ and develop their creativity. One participant wrote “STEM is important but it is not the only growth sector. To write off
the creative industries is to wrote off £54 billion into the economy. How about
expending energy into linking STEM with
the creative industries?”
If Jamie and Brian provided a wider context for the day,
perhaps illustrating the struggle between agendas on creativity, enterprise and
employability, the next two speakers illustrated incredible enterprising and
creative approaches to education that would certainly result in learners
becoming both employable and with the ability to start and maintain their own
business.
Alison Fletcher and the Teampreneurs from Team Academy Bristol really challenged
what we mean by an enterprising curriculum. The four teampreneurs exemplified
learner centred learning assisted by no formal classes and a team coaching
approach. They had all set up
businesses, made loads of mistakes, reflected on the learning and used theory
and knowledge to support their endeavours. It seems an ideal model, and not one
that should be restricted to higher education.
They engaged us completely with a well-focused activity, turning our varied table of participants
into entrepreneurs. Is this the way forward.
Don’t wait to be employed, use your passions and built your skills and knowledge
to support your ventures. Certainly some
of the teampreneurs saw themselves as being self-emplyed but two wanted to work
in an organisation, putting their varied skills and knowledge into an
established practice for a few years.
Working in an enterprising way with established micros and
SMEs was at the heart of Dundee and Angus College’s Fiona Mushin and Dawn Ritchie’s presentation.
Fiona described how she had gone from lecturer in a classroom to project
manager, ripping up the timetable along the way. She described a changing role for lecturers,
again with more emphasis on coaching, and teaching through webinars designed
around learners’ needs. All of this was fascinating,
providing models for what can be done if we approach the curriculum creatively,
enter into dialogue with awarding bodies like SQA and engage businesses in the design
of the curriculum. Moreover, from
learner Dawn’s perspective it’s engaged her in real, challenging work, where she has had to think for herself, use the
lecturer as a resource, and view herself in a business relationship.
By the end of the day, participants from across the
educational landscape were willing to commit to taking many of the ideas generated
and shared from the day forward. Small networks sprung up keen to take forward
both Fiona’s model and team Academy’s approach.
Jamie Cooke from RSA was also committing to providing a space for
further dialogue bringing the silos of education, employers, enterprise and
creativity together.
This wasn’t an event for just sharing dangerous ideas, this was
definitely the springboard for action that ensures that education does not kill
creativity and enterprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment