SecEd | News | ‘A baffling detour to the 19th century’

SecEd | News | ‘A baffling detour to the 19th century’ SecEd is the only independent weekly publication dedicated solely to secondary education. 

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A BAFFLING DETOUR TO THE 19TH CENTURY’ - 24 MAR 2011

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Leading academic slams an education system which ‘prohibits’ teachers and promotes a fear of mistakes

Pete Henshaw
An internationally renowned academic this week criticised the government’s “19th century” approach to education and the curriculum, warning of a system that “prohibits” teachers.

Sir Ken Robinson, an international expert in developing creativity and innovation, also labelled the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) as “baffling” during an address to teachers and heads in London.

“Some people want to go straight to work, some people want to take vocational programmes – university was always intended for a particular type of activity. It sends the signal to kids that if you do not go to these places that you are the also-rans of education. It leads to a catastrophic waste of talent.

“It’s about differentiation. There’s an assumption that everybody has to go down the same route and that if you do then everything will be fine. It’s not a guarantee anymore and a lot of people are being diverted from what they would prefer to do because of well intentioned advice that they should get a degree first.”

Furthermore, he slammed our obsession with university, which he said leads to a “catastrophic waste of talent”.

Sir Ken is Professor Emeritus at the University of Warwick and now works with governments and education systems across the world helping them to develop creativity and innovation.