Teaching the Whole Child

At this time of year school halls are normally filled with the sound of pens scribbling, frantically, across blank pages. That odd rhythmic sound, punctuated by the tick of a clock, marks the culmination of years of learning through the sitting of examinations, which at the time, seem so important in one’s life. This year things will be different for teenagers and their teachers alike, with internal assessments replacing national tests as the method to grade educational attainment. All because of the impact of a word, many of us learnt for the first time only eighteen months ago: coronavirus.

In some instances, as many as 180 days teaching have been lost during the time young people have spent away from school. As pupils have returned from their makeshift classrooms in living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens to their more familiar ones, there has been much discussion of how they can ‘catch-up’.

But what does catching-up mean? Does it solely apply to academic achievement? Or does it have a more nuanced meaning? Should children and young people also be helped to catch-up with their creative and cultural development, by inspiring them and improving their well-being through the joy and solace that expressions of creativity can bring? I believe they should. 

Giving children the gift of a creative life should not be viewed as an extra to their education, something dispensed with if times are tough. Independent schools do not view it in that way and make the arts and a broader curriculum part of their offer to parents. Why should it be different for the 93 per cent of children who attend state schools? We know it helps them with other subjects - just look at the leading scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, who are musicians, painters, writers, and performers. We also know engagement with the arts can lead to a career in the fastest growing sector of the economy: the creative industries. And we know exercising that creative muscle inside us all makes us more fulfilled and happier. Why would anyone want to deprive an entire generation of these advantages?  

Giving young people a good creative grounding at school supports them throughout their lives 

At Arts Council England, we advocate the value of teaching for creativity in all subjects including maths and the sciences and, alongside that, a rich curriculum which incorporates music, dance, drama, and art and design. It is a point reiterated and fully integrated into our ten-year strategy, Let’s Create, launched just before the pandemic took hold. As the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education reported in 2019, giving young people a good creative grounding at school supports them throughout their lives: not only in terms of their future economic success but also in their relationships with others, in their own sense of identity, and in their health and wellbeing.  

That innate desire to be creative has been evident among younger children during their time away from school. Painting rainbows to fill the window of their homes or making drawings of their grandparents whose hugs they missed. Spending time making and dressing up in World Book Day costumes, or playing an instrument during a virtual rehearsal with friends in their county or town Music Education Hub. 

In its recently published second report older pupils from across England told the Durham Commission’s researchers how creativity had played a huge role in helping them to remain mentally positive during these unusual times, be that through producing music or song writing, painting or - as in the case of one teenage girl from Nottingham – creating her own character and “modding” a game she enjoys. But there was also a longing to share creative experiences. As another teenage girl from Leeds who plays the trumpet explained that, because of the restrictions, her school were not allowing band practice. As she said: “I can still play but it’s not the same as playing with everyone else.”  

Encouraging creativity should be a key part of a teaching process that nurtures the whole child 

As the rules that prevented our trumpeter playing alongside her bandmates relax and life begins once more to resemble normality, it is not just schools that need to help children and young people express their creativity. During the first lockdown we worked with schools, charities and foodbanks to distribute almost 45,000 Let’s Create packs. Each one contained art materials and a sheet of creative ideas devised by Global Teacher Prize winner, Andria Zafirakou.  As we emerge from the pandemic, we are committed to look at how we help all children and young people fulfil their creative potential, no matter where they live, through shared experiences outside of school. We are looking at how we can build on existing programmes such as the Saturday Clubs, which offer free art and design lessons to teenagers, and how we can support other youth sector organisations and out-of-school projects to provide creative opportunities that will enrich children’s lives.  

The full impact of how children and young people have been affected by the global crisis of coronavirus is still being examined. Schools are at the heart of helping their students recover. I believe, along with many school leaders and parents, that encouraging creativity should be a key part of a teaching process that nurtures the whole child. Or, to put it another way, the arts should form part of the core in every pupil’s recovery curriculum.