tional schoolwork difficult, and couldn’t sit still or focus. Her parents sent her to a specialist as they felt she
might have had a learning disorder. After some observation the specialist told her parents that their daughter
did not have a learning disorder, but was a dancer and
they should send her to dance school. This young girl
went on to lead the Royal Ballet in England and work
on projects such as The Phantom of the Opera.
This delightful example demonstrates that each child is
unique, and has a unique set of skills, talents and passions. For our children to grow up to be successful they
will need opportunities to explore who they are, and
they should be able to tap into their strengths while
extending their talents and interests. The unique skills
of every child mean they must be given an opportunity
to draw on these in the real world, giving them a real
advantage. In developing a company, isn’t it important
to be unique and creative? As a doctor isn’t it essential
to think outside the box in order to provide the right
diagnosis? Aren’t we expected to make use of all of our
skills, creative and otherwise to deal with the issues of
the day?
Prof Robinson is one of a number of significant voices
that champion for educational change, and call for
the arts and creativity to be a significant and essential
part of any curriculum. However as is often the case in
times of educational crisis, where standardized testing
shows failings in mathematics or languages, the arts is
usually the first to be cut. Financial and funding issues
in schools take their toll on the arts first and foremost.
This decrease in time allocation in the classroom and
the withdrawal of funding is often seen as the solution.
This is a serious mistake and really works against the
development of the ‘whole child’.
THE IPC APPROACH
When the IPC was first developed over 25 years ago, it
was done so knowing that we had little idea of what the
future would hold. Despite this, the challenge was, and
remains to prepare students academically, creatively
and socially for whatever they have to deal with. The
IPC approaches creativity and the arts differently than
most standard curricula, and being a predominantly
humanities and arts curriculum it does seem to redress
the subject hierarchy Prof Robinson refers to. Also
while it may be easy in local or government schools
to cut back on the funding for the arts, reduce