Reasoning behind my Dissertation
I want to talk about how the education system is note my dissertation on this specific subject on-beneficial to non-academic students, who would benefit more from performing arts such as dance, drama, art etc. But Schools only provide ‘the best’ for students who are naturally smart, as the schools want their records/data base to have the highest grades possible, coming from subjects such as maths, Science, History etc. There are many young people who aren’t the smartest, that prefer or benefit from creative subjects. But the education system doesn’t believe these creative subjects should be an important part of school which in my opinion is wrong. Everyone should be able to flourish in a subject they feel strong in whether its maths or art for example, but there shouldn’t be one better than the other. A lot of young people don’t learn from sitting in front of a screen and reading books, many learn from creative tasks, movement, drawings etc. so why shouldn’t this be prioritized?
When I worked at dance united I had a long conversation with the founder of Dance United Duncan Bedson, all about the young people we were working with, and he explained that one of the reasons young people mis behave in school is because they aren’t academically smart, and instead of looking dumb in front of the class and feeling embarrassed that they aren’t smart enough, the only other way to get out of feeling that way is to mis behave and cause trouble in class, to distract them away from failing subjects, and that’s how these young people end up getting referred to organisations such as Dance United, as it takes them away from the education system, and it gives these young people a chance to learn and become a better person through movement and creativity, something that these young people may or may not experience before. But it shouldn’t have to get to the point where children are being referred, the education system should cater for all individuals. The only way to stop this from happening is giving the students a chance in school to choose and learn through creativity and make performing arts as important or even more important than academic subjects, as this will then encourage non-academic students to put their skills and knowledge into something worth doing, and something they feel is important. If the students feel as though the teachers don’t think it’s important then of course the students will feel the same. I agree that maths and sciences or history etc are important subjects to have depending in what career you are look for, but I honestly believe that having experienced creativity through dance, drama, art, textiles etc, does open more doors. Look at all these inventors they all must have some sort of creative bone in their body, can you imagine how good it would be if everyone experienced creative tasks, it would broaden the mind hugely.
How the company ‘Dance United’ fosters learning and creativity in vulnerable young people beyond the school environment
Learning and creativity should be fostered within challenging young people through the education system, as well as beyond the school environment. For Ken Robinson, one of the most important writers on creativity in schooling, “the system thus divides people into ‘smart people’ and ‘non-smart people’ and while this has been great for some, most people have not benefited from this system.” Furthermore, Robinson argues that the main effect of this division is “chaos” (Robinson, 2001, p. 81). Young people in secondary education perceived of low academic ability are often not engaged in their school environment. As a result, these young people often misbehave which can lead to them becoming marginalised by the mainstream school system through special measures such as suspension and expulsion. Students whose behaviours are not corrected in their school environment are deliberately engaged with, however, by a creative community organisation ‘Dance United’, these young people are enabled another chance at creating something for themselves.
Dance United
‘Dance United’ are an organisation who lead bespoke projects across the west Yorkshire region. They work with people from prisons, young offenders’ units, and pupil referral units. ‘Dance United’ state that “They enable people to have an opportunity to help themselves progress in life and become a better individual” (Dance United, 2010). They specialise in kinaesthetic learning, “Kinaesthetic learning occurs as students engage a physical activity: learning by doing, exploring, discovering” (Fleming, N.D., and Mills, C. 1992) enabling them to thrive through their preferred learning ability, that main stream school may not fulfil for the young people. “We will not succeed in navigating the complex environment of the future by peering relentlessly into a rear-view mirror. To do so we would be out of our minds” (Robinson, 2001, p. 1). The education system is working in a way that was made for society 30 years ago, today the system is not suitable for how the world is revolving.
This dissertation will argue the importance of creative subjects in schools, to make people aware that having creative skills is something the environment needs. “The more complex the world becomes, the more creative we need to be to meet its challenges” (Robinson, 2001, p. 1). Moreover, based on Robinson’s philosophy that separating children through a judgment of ability, creating young people to feel failed and incompetent. I will argue that some learning preferences focusing on movement, hands on learning are vacant and through this, children lose interest in learning or being in school, which result in the organisation “Dance United” to become involved in young people’s lives.
The brilliance of the organisation ‘Dance United’ is it gives these great opportunities, and a second chance at learning to young people nonetheless there should be easier routes of accessibility in schools, instead of separating the young people. “If you atomise people and separate them and judge them separately, we form a kind of disjunction between them and their natural learning environment” (Robinson, 2001). Affecting the young people through separation, often spirals a sense of diversity, and often can lead to further issues. “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand” (Franklin, 1746). Shouldn’t It be something that the school education system already has in place, rather than separate organisations? I understand that mainstream schools have a system in place that deal with constant challenging behaviour, however if it was successful throughout, we wouldn’t have organisations such as Dance United offering intense programmes to change young people for the better.
Young people who get referred to ‘Dance United’ often have factors in common such as, non-academic ability, kinaesthetic learners, minor mental health problems, poor upbringing, and low in self-confidence. All in which can be helped and supported through several ways. Working with ‘Dance United’ I witnessed on a first-hand account young people, that for them had been let down by the education system, whether that was not enough support in general, or due to lack of academic ability were pushed to the side making them feel worthless, and uncapable of learning, this then causing them to miss behave and show signs of challenging behaviour because of embarrassment due to lack of knowledge, or loss in self-worth, so the young person feels as though there is no point in engaging in school. “We must recognise that most great learning, happens in groups, through collaboration, not in an atomised way, and we must change the culture and mindset in our education” (Robinson, 2001). Dance United, bring sense of group and team work throughout, creativity, freedom in movement, and exploring, a chance to learn in groups, duo’s, or individually, A chance to find yourself and become the person you want to be. “We enable participants to broaden their horizons, embrace ambition, and open themselves up to leading more productive lives” (Dance United, 2010).
Ken Robinson’s Philosophy
Ken Robinson’s philosophy is one that sticks closely to me as he argues that “Creativity is the greatest gift of human intelligence” (Robinson, 2001, p. 1). and believes that creativity can call radical changes in the way we think about intelligence, education and human resources. This in relation to Dance United releases evidence to support that creativity in young people is crucial. “Individual creativity is almost always stimulated by the work, ideas and achievements of other people” (Robinson, 2011, p. 197). Dance United are an example of this, as they are an organisation that try and achieve change in young people for the better. Feeding ideas, challenges, and different works to broaden minds. Robinsons view on the education system is somewhat like my own, the model of the system only benefits some people and suffers others.
Non-academic and Academic terms are used frequently that it almost becomes two categories and each student is placed in one, there is no in-between. No wonder young people are doubting themselves and feeling worthless, resulting in their attitude becoming negative towards school itself. He states, “Why is there this assumption that the most important thing kids have in common is how old they are?” (Robinson, 2011, p. 64). This line mentality is biased to students in full time education. What’s to say that an 11-year-old is not smarter than a 14-year-old? The system does not bring the best out in our young people today. The only factor the education system feel is important in making sure the school’s look good on paper, not focusing on individual’s learning process. “If you are interested in the model of learning you don’t start from this production line mentality” (Robinson, 2011, p. 135).
Referrals
Further reasoning to why students are referred to ‘Dance United’ mostly consist around the education system not benefitting all young people. In some circumstances causing young people to suffer, due to their lack of academic ability, and unfortunately students in this position are being jeopardised. “If they worried about their test scores and want way to get them higher, they need to give kids more arts not less” (Smith. F, 2009). Careers currently always require functional literacy and numeracy, which are known as academic subjects. “There’s no excuse for such top-down, one-size-fits-all education system that does not enable all children to thrive in their own way” (Teachingtimes.com, 2018). Most young people do not know what they want to proceed a career in when they leave school. Having creative subjects could open so many doors and pathways for them to explore. Employer’s look for people who are creative in their work, can bring up new ideas, and new strategies, it is something that makes you unique to many people in the working world. Why wouldn’t the education system want that for young people? “There’s lots of evidence that kids immersed in the arts do better on their academic tests” (Smith. F, 2009).
The arts are growing in schools, becoming a lot more accessible and are receiving more funding, for example arts week each year, and having exhibitions for the student’s art work, however that doesn’t resolve how our students portray performing arts. It’s all about creating an importance around these subjects, and making students aware they are not worthless, forgotten about subjects. Creativity broadens the mind, makes you think outside the box. “When people find their medium, they discover their real creative strengths and come into their own. Helping people to connect with their personal creative capacities is the surest way to release the best they have to offer” (Robinson, 2011, p. 139). Creativity is something that people do not realise they have until they explore it. A lot of the time academic subjects consist of one answer, nothing that leads you to your imagination. Look at all the amazing inventors, for example Leonardo de Vinci credited for the inventions of parachutes and helicopters. All starting from his love for painting and sculpting, He could not have done it without creativity running through his mind, you cannot just have one answer, one idea, or one thought, there needs to be a lot of imagination flowing to create something that can change society. Everyone should be able to flourish in a subject they feel strong in whether its maths, art or sports, but there shouldn’t be one more superior. Creativity is the wave length for students to express their emotions, feelings and thoughts which you cannot do in subjects such as Maths or Science.
Factors influencing challenging behaviour
Quite a lot of studies have been conducted to try and identify other factors that influence challenging behaviour in young people (JRF, 2018). The education system plays a part in young people’s behaviour, as well factors such as a bad upbringing or hanging around with the wrong people. Most commonly it’s mental health issues for the young people such as ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression and PTSD. Which can be a result of bad upbringings, certain life events that have happened etc. “70% of children and young people who experience a mental health problem have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). Many young people I have worked with during my time at Dance United showed signs of mental health issues whether that was autism, or depression etc, that had not yet been diagnosed, yet it was quite clear that there were signs to prove otherwise. Frustration from the young people who know there is something different about themselves but doesn’t know what and why, creates this unusual behaviour that factually is not their fault. This however does not deter the lack of interest the education system seems to have when approaching young people’s interest in creativity, even so that young people with or without mental health issues may not get the help they need.
Each school must have a support network for students suffering with mental health problems. “secondary schools were well-placed to play a central role in improving children’s mental health because, while children might only see their GP once or twice each year, they were in school for 200 days a year” (Weal, 2018). Is there enough creativity when helping young people with mental health issues? Or are they just given the same STEM subjects that the education system has provided? Despite having a support network for these young people suffering with mental health issues, creativity, exploring movement etc in ‘Dance United’ is something that can push and challenge young people suffering mentally, it gives them another space to meet new people, experiment with their own skills and even explore their minds. It helps these young people develop creativity in ways they have not before. It creates new strategies for those suffering mentally, which can improve their quality of life hugely.
Dance United’s Strategies
Having plenty of strategies when working with vulnerable young people, many with challenging behaviour is something that ‘Dance United’ are experts in, as I’ve myself witnessed and been trained in. “We have developed a distinctive methodology, modelled on professional contemporary dance training and the focus, discipline, strength, coordination and creativity that this develops in a person” (Dance United, 2010). Each young person is an individual, not every strategy is successful, sometimes it takes one strategy, and other times it takes 20 strategies. This is something you learn very quickly when working with this organisation. Examples of these strategies are offering rewards, positive/negative consequences, ignoring tactic, setting a challenge, spatial proximity, showing interest/distracting, identifying behaviour, asking what’s wrong, time out, and many more. As teacher’s, creativity occurs in the way we respond to young people as well as teaching them creativity. The importance of this is creativity comes in different forms, for example the strategies Dance United use are all created for a purpose through experimenting and practise, which is all linked to creativity.
Mainstream schools have one teacher to 30 young people, it’s physically impossible to spend time using all these strategies for one misbehaving young person, when you are responsible for the rest of the class. In Dance United they have at least 6 members of staff/volunteers to around 20 young people which makes a huge difference when it comes to improving and challenging the young people’s behaviour. Each member of staff has been fully trained to deal with situations they may come across with these vulnerable young people. You can give a young person 1 on 1 time to reflect and seek the issue rather than sending them out the classroom for the rest of lesson, which is exactly what happens in mainstream schools. Dance united end up with these vulnerable challenged young people due to mainstream schools not having the right strategies to deal with young people today.
Unfortunately, teachers are being overcrowded and cannot deal with the challenging behaviour, the only solution for them is to send them out of the learning environment, but how is that helping the young person? Missing out on vital education and being isolated. With Dance United they give the young people the attention they need, and try get to the bottom of the issue, without having to overlook them. Dance United have set ways of working with young vulnerable people to receive the best outcome’s possible. Whether that’s a young person achieving as little as not leaning on the windowsill without being told, or whether that’s a young person achieving a solo in front of 200 people when they’ve never danced before. Each young person has their own challenges whether small or large but each little step to achieving that must be rewarded, little of this achieved by mainstream schools.
The education system does not believe that creative subjects should be an obligation. The national curriculum states that performing arts is not accountable for the STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There is nothing creative about any of the STEM subjects, which is mind blowing. “Creativity is the greatest gift of human intelligence. The more complex the world becomes, the more creative we need to be to meet its challenges” (Robinson, 2011). Subjects shouldn’t be narrowed down into Stem subjects. Each individual student should be able to choose the subjects they want to specialise in, not have the education system choose them for them. “We all have unique talents and passions, and our own personal creative potential” (Robinson, 2011, p. 162). Some may find it easier than others to be creative, but that’s our own individuality. Individuality again occurs when picking subjects, we want to do, but not every decision is precisely picked by ourselves. “Dramatic fall in numbers of pupils taking GCSE’s in design, drama, and other craft related subjects” (Anewdirection.org.uk, 2018). Why? The analysis behind this, is the subjects are not prioritised in school, and unfortunately if students witness their teachers not creating passion or not showing importance around these areas such as, dance, performing arts, art, drama etc, then the students will feel the same, and not think they are worth doing.
Ken Robinsons states an interesting thought “How many uses can you think of for a paperclip? Most would say 10/15, people who are good at this might say 200 and they do that by saying “well could the paperclip be 200-foot-tall and be made out of rubber?” (Robinson, 2008, p. 39) Thinking about this carefully, the people who say 10/15 uses I would say have not explored their creative minds fully. For me this is the majority of students in mainstream schools all over the world. Thinking outside the box and coming up with what the paperclip may look like or what it might be made out of it is what creativity is all about.
In schools’ student’s around you are very influential when it comes to making important decisions, following their friends’ pathways is a huge problem in school’s as each student does not want to come across as unintelligent or ‘not cool’ so to speak, therefor will pick subjects that their friends pick and not what they want to study or are interested in. Performing arts especially, now becoming more of a gender-neutral subject with society encouraging more boys to dance and perform, yet still comes with a bullying aspect. “The boy who would go on to become one of his generation’s greatest dancers endured teasing, name-calling, ostracism and physical abuse at the hands of classmates — all because he was a boy who danced” (HuffPost UK, 2018). In life you need a mix of skills and abilities to become successful in the working world and young people currently don’t have accessibility or don’t allow themselves to learn these vital skills. There needs to be more promotion in creative subjects, not even just in mainstream schools, colleges, universities, the working world, there is not enough. Unfortunately, in society today especially in young people social media plays a huge part in people’s lives, having to look a certain way, act a certain way to impress their friends and practically become someone they don’t want to be. “A recent study has shown that 48% of youths now get their news from Facebook” (WesternEye, 2012). Whether this is positive or negative, we are losing our young people in a never-ending circle, which contributes to lack in creativity. Using social media is a tunnel vision for young people. What happened to the days when young people would play on the streets, ride bikes, create things using nature, climb up trees, and create new games to play?
Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is a key aspect in young people during school years, as it indicates how they are going to tackle social environment’s in the future. Habitus, one of Bourdieu’s most influential concept refers to symbolic elements such as skills and mannerisms, linking to young people coming from different social classes by relating to academic success. “In the right situations our habitus allows us to successfully navigate in social environments” (Bourdieu, 1986). You do get a mix of young people who haven’t been taught social skills, and usually these young people come from poorer backgrounds, however, not always. Which is one thing I noticed from working with the organisation ‘Dance United’, a lack of mannerisms, skills, and creativity. This links back to my point that the education system doesn’t benefit all young people, whether they bring social skills, or physical embodiment from their upbringing, the education system, should either encourage more of these skills, or give the young people accessibility to learn the social skills they need to be successful. Habitus is often shaped by past events, which for the young people I have worked, is so important to remember. Many have had events in their life that have made them who they are today. Unfortunately, many of the events that could have occurred aren’t ones they want to remember. Many young people have been in and out of care, many haven’t been brought up with both parents etc. Situations like these shapes a young person and has lasting effects even though their adulthood. “Habitus ‘is not fixed or permanent and can be changed under unexpected situations or over a long historical period” (Powercube.net, 2019). This is where Dance United takes place. Most of the young people Dance United takes in have never done anything like this in life before: for a lot of them it is daunting, and they do not know what to expect. It can change a person vastly, as they learn new skills, meet new people, and learn to express themselves and who they really are as an individual. It becomes an event in their life that hopefully will have a lasting effect into adulthood.
Conclusion
‘Dance United’ fosters learning and creativity in vulnerable young people otherwise neglected and belittled in a mainstream school setting. Taking into consideration Robinson’s theory of why young people are being separated due to their academic ability, and that “Creativity is the greatest gift of human intelligence” (Robinson, 2011, p. 1), to me suggests there is an area missing in the school system. Not every young person learns and thrives in the same way. There are creative subjects out there, but they are not classed as an obligation in the education system. Young people perceived of a low academic ability or thrive in subjects such as art, dance, performing arts often don’t become well engaged in their school environment. This blaming on the education system set in place. Unfortunately, teacher’s themselves lose interest in subjects that are not seen as important as they would rather focus on STEM subjects, students then imitate the lack of passionate about the subject’s that are insignificant. Resulting in disruptive behaviour and negative thoughts towards school itself. Mainstream school is not beneficial to everyone, in fact Robinson states, “the system thus divides people into ‘smart people’ and ‘non-smart people’ and while this has been great for some, most people have not benefited from this system” (Robinson, 2011, p. 82). This linking to Bourdieu’s theory, Habitus focusing on symbolic elements such as skills and mannerisms, linking to young people coming from different social classes by relating to academic success, which is vital when focusing on vulnerable young people with challenging behaviour. Finding out the association between behaviour and young people’s upbringings. Dance United give young people a second chance at education, a chance to reinvent themselves, learn new skills, and experience something new. Creativity needs to be fostered in every young person, it’s something they can use to their advantage in other subjects, and other career plan’s. The education system needs to realise how influential ‘Dance United’ are to young people and create mainstream schools into something similar. With the company Dance United it gives one more opportunity, one more step further to a brighter future.
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