Mr Gradgrind's infamous paean to facts (above) in Dickens' Hard Times is often used to highlight a form of soulless Victorian indoctrination that is, quite rightly, meant to horrify readers.
Don’t get me wrong, I love facts and, much to the chagrin of my husband, I am intensively competitive when it comes to quizzes, to the extent that he now refuses to accompany me to any such events. A situation where I was vociferously incredulous that a marker did not know that Prince William and the Duke of Cambridge were one and the same is often held in evidence against me
However, as a Headteacher and someone who has been a passionate teacher of English over many years, I am concerned how our facts-bound, content – laden exam specifications may be stifling the creative spirit amongst our students. Professor Bill Lucas, Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning at the University of Winchester, gave a lecture at Durham University in May, in which he set out some of the concerns that he has about modern education. He works for PISA – Programme for International Student Assessment – and he mentioned how Singapore – one of PISA’s highest-ranking countries – is now emphasising the importance of creative and critical thinking in their curriculum throughout all age ranges; they have recognised that they want critically-aware, creative and expressive people across all disciplines.
It is of note that recently, the Russell Group Universities ie the top Higher Education institutions in the UK, have abandoned the concept of ‘facilitating’ subjects at A Level for its courses, as critics claim it has resulted in a narrowing of the school curriculum, squeezing out Arts and creative subjects in favour of the more traditionally academic subjects. It seems that there has been a dawning realisation that a lack of Expressive and Performing Arts being studied in the UK could be deleterious not just to the future workplace, but to the essence of our culture and humanity per se. After all, as the Swedish songsmiths Ulvaeus and Andersson once penned: “Without a song or a dance, what are we?”