Fancy a Christmas thought . . .
“It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s. Mine occupies me constantly.”
-Ebenezer Scrooge, ‘A Christmas Carol’.
The educational systems based on our own childhood needs to change to deliver the next generation of creative digital professionals.
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, but if we look through the lens of someone in their 50’s, ‘a fix’ seems more than reasonable. Growing up, as many of us did, without the internet or mobile communications, the thought of making a video call to colleagues in Australia and the Middle East simultaneously was the stuff of James Bond. We have already surpassed Marty McFly’s journey into the future. Yet our education norms mirror that created by Bismarck.
When we founded boomsatsuma over a decade ago we knew that the education system simply wasn’t working for a significant number of young people . . . or employers. We have spent the last decade ploughing a different furrow, one that is constantly evolving to meet the shifting sands of our times.
The UK’s traditional education system has been fact-based, with this predominant in mainstream institutions and for many of us the ideal paradigm. This works for students who are good at remembering facts and is easy or low cost to mark. “we’ve told you a fact – can you repeat it?” This system was designed to meet the needs of industry more than century ago – learn how to repeat a process in a particular way and find yourself a role in the factory systems that benefit from blind adherence.
This approach is no longer what society needs, we really need people who can take an active role in our society and economies of the future. Emotionally aware, resilient, adaptable, agile, and empathetic are the skills I feel are required to cope with a more diverse and fast-moving landscape. We have surely realised it is impossible to predict the future. So are we confident that remembering the impact of Turnip Townsend will serve us as well as it has.
Creating a new educational blueprint isn’t easy and we don’t always get it right – that’s what happens when you try something disruptive! I’m particularly proud of the fabulous outcomes that many of the students who have attended boomsatsuma have achieved. Especially given that many young people are feeling increasingly disengaged. Our children live in the most exciting and stimulating time in history, with multichannel communication vying for their attention from every direction and sense.
Our primary focus has always been to give students from all socio-economic backgrounds an opportunity to flourish and find their own voices, by developing their inner self-worth and giving them the skillset the need to progress into higher education or Creative/Digital Industry careers. To achieve that we have close partnerships with many of the West Country’s Creative Industry providers, so we give our students insight and experiences encompassing the needs of employers and the reality of professional workplaces.
I have read headlines across recent weeks hailing the expansion of the Creative Industry Sector. The BFI referenced over £4Bn being spent on TV production in the UK over the past year, The Guardian referred to ‘Bristolywood’, referencing the number of TV and Film productions being attracted to the West Country and we recently joined Netflix at their event in Bath, highlighting the importance of the West Country’s Creative Sector.
We are expanding. with the launch of new creative and digital degrees to open in September 2022 to meet the skills requirements identified by Government papers, Business West, WECA, ScreenSkills and our many industry partners.
Times are very challenging at the moment, but these are also times of great opportunity. To optimise these opportunities the education system needs to pivot its mainstream focus towards free thinking and be open to diversity in the way we teach and inclusive with the students we reach. I believe, as a nimble, responsive independent education provider, boomsatsuma has an important role to play to give the young people of the West Country, and beyond, exciting pathways into the creative and digital sectors and it’s also fun.
To go back to the Christmas Carol . . .
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
Happy Christmas.
Mark & the team @boomsatsuma
- Log in to post comments