DEBUNKING THE MYTHS!

"One of the reasons why we get stuck in education is that our thinking is framed by so many myths.

MYTH ONE: The poor will always do badly in school. That’s not true: the 10% most disadvantaged kids in Shanghai did better on an earlier PISA math test than the 10% most advantaged students in large American urban areas.

MYTH TWO: Immigrants will lower the performance of a country on international comparisons. That’s not true: PISA shows no relationship between the share of immigrants and the quality of an education system, and the school systems where immigrant students settle matters a lot more than the country where they came from.

MYTH THREE: Smaller classes always mean better results. That’s not true: in fact, whenever high-performing education systems have to make a choice between a smaller class and a better teacher, they go for the latter.

MYTH FOUR: More time spent learning always means better results. That’s not true: study hours in Finland are little more than half of what students in the UAE spend, but in Finland students learn a lot in little time while in the UAE they learn very little in a lot of time."

OECD Education and Skills Today

THE SKILLS THAT MATTER ARE THE SKILLS OF CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS!

”Work is important to help us reach our targets and goals in life, our dignity, and our happiness and well-being. We know that work helps us meet our most basic and complex needs, providing a path towards financial security, securing our mental and physical health, and giving our lives meaning. The prospect of a good job that pays a fair wage should be part of our promise to all our young people.”

The world of work is changing and employers are increasingly looking for people with the right skills, behaviours and attributes to succeed in the workplace. We need young people to develop the skills that matter in the world of work: skills that help improve productivity, that create great teams and that generate the ideas that every business needs to be successful. We all know that the keys to success in school, at work and in life are creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, learning, and good judgment. These skills lie at the heart of the arts!

These are the skills that employers across industries consistently report seeking in job candidates and our capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than our qualifications. In addition, employers are seeking candidates who have other sorts of “soft skills,” such as being able to be adaptable, to make good decisions and be good team players. These sought-after abilities, of course, fit perfectly with the sorts of things that people can do well, but are and will continue to be difficult for machines and technology to do.

All of this suggests that our educational systems should concentrate not simply on how people interact with technology, but also how they can do the things that technology can't do. Developing these skills in our young people is critically important, but we know what works and the latest research on education and employer engagement suggests that we should:

• Do a lot of things… the more the better!
• Do a lot of different things… business mentoring, coaching, employer talks, work place visits, enterprise challenges, work experience, project work, team building etc. 
• Start young… the younger the better!
• Be coercive… “young people don’t know what they don’t know”!
• Be professional… quality matters!
• Ask the students what they think!

YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT REMEMBER...

 

REMEMBER...

 

REMEMBER TO...

 

IF I'VE LEARNED ANYTHING FROM LIFE...

 

ALWAYS REMEMBER...

 

HOW TO LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

I have said for a long time we simply need stay connected with friends and colleagues and volunteer and give to others whenever and whatever we can. Interestingly, some research gathered on more than 1,500 children who were about 10 years old when they were first studied in 1921 reinforces the point. This study provides the most comprehensive longitudinal evidence for how to live long and prosper.

SMILE OFTEN, DREAM BIG, LAUGH A LOT AND REALISE HOW BLESSED YOU ARE!

The Sunday Times published its latest Rich List a couple of weeks ago, and if like me you are fed up, with the vacuous celebrity culture that dominates everything in this country and the way the media and the rich and famous take advantage of the rest of us, you probably need encouragement to get you through the dark days and the long weekends.

GREAT NEWS: REACH 'Bags of Creativity'

Frances Postlethwaite and the Explore team have done an amazing job and we now have 800 REACH ‘Bags of Creativity‘ ready for delivery! 

The wonderful REACH Postcards were designed by a brilliant team of local artists, creatives and organisations and have been finished by Eloise and Mat at LazenbyBrown and printed and included in the Bags of Creativity! This has been an extraordinary effort from an amazing group of people determined to make a difference and bring the magic of creativity and the arts to some very special children and young people across the City of York over the Summer.

THE THINGS THAT MATTER!

The arts, creativity and culture are essential to our future and what we learn from history is that the arts, creativity and culture matter and make life worth living. 

The arts, creativity and culture enhance and enrich our lives, they tell us where we came from and help us to understand where we are going. What is encouraging in these extraordinary times, is that young people are creative, imaginative and passionate about the arts and sports and culture and many are developing the skills that matter; the creative skills that will give them the edge.  And increasingly, if our work is routine and systematic and organised, a computer can do our work faster, cheaper and better than we can. 

While almost every industrial process can now be automated, the arts, creativity and culture cannot. And, the future will belong to a different kind of young person with a different kind of mind. It will belong to designers, inventors, creators, writers, musicians, performers, artists, carers, teachers and storytellers. 

WHAT IS RESILIENCE?

ALWAYS FOCUS ON BELIEFS, VALUES, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS!