Wealden Times | WT200 | October 2018 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Education
Why STEM subjects need
some art to make STEAM
Andrew Vaughan, Head of Visual Arts, at ACS Egham International Schools
For several years now official government education
policy has focused on the study of STEM subjects
– science, technology, engineering, maths. But at
ACS International Schools, we believe that the study of
art is just as important and should in fact be combined
with them. This is why we talk about STEAM in our
schools, adding art to the well-known acronym.
Focusing on STEAM provides a better education
and preparation for the future for all our youngsters.
It can also help address the widely reported gender
imbalance in the study of science subjects.
So why is art such an important complement to
science? In its Future of Jobs report the World Economic
Forum estimates ‘two thirds of children entering
primary school today will ultimately end up working
in completely new job types that don’t yet exist’.
Traditional teaching methods where STEM subjects
are taught in ‘subject silos’ are no longer enough for
this fast-changing world. Subjects like science and
maths cannot be taught in a stand-alone way if students
are to develop the skills they need to thrive. Young
people need transferable skills they can apply to think
beyond the classroom or text-based learning.
We often invite parents and business leaders in to give talks
at school. At one such talk at ACS Egham, the CEO of a
global bank said that they are just as likely to recruit someone
who has an arts degree as one in maths, because their business
is looking for innovators; people who can come up with new
options and synthesise ideas.
Equally, a speaker from one of the top four management
accountancy firms giving a presentation at ACS Cobham
recently, told us that an analysis of staff appraisal scores and
qualifications revealed that the best performing employees
had degrees in arts subjects rather than maths or science. The
company changed its recruitment policy as a consequence.
This is not to suggest that we don’t need maths or science,
but to show that art is an essential complement to science
subjects. It can be the spark that brings these subjects to
life, at school, at university and in later working life.
The study of the arts ensures students develop life skills such
as creativity, problem solving and communication abilities
which are increasingly in demand across all industries. Art
also plays a vital role in equipping students with an innovative
mindset, needed to be successful in engineering and business.
A former pupil at ACS Cobham, Candace Rubenstein, a
lead material lab analyst at Under Armour – luxury sportswear
brand, says: “Without
exposure to arts subjects
you can become a human
calculator essentially, but by
adding an artistic lens, you
can look at STEM from a
unique angle – thus coming
up with solutions the human
calculator could never dream of.”
Her views are echoed by Gwen Musial who also went
to ACS and has just completed a Ph.D in biomedical
engineering: “In research and development, creativity is
a useful tool for thinking of unique solutions to difficult
problems. By having a balanced and well-rounded
background, a student has a broad base of experience
to draw upon when faced with challenges,” she said.
How do we inspire more of our youngsters, especially girls,
to maintain and deepen their interest in STEAM subjects?
By giving them options and choices and allowing them to
develop their creativity through studying arts subjects, while
also maintaining contact with traditional science subjects.
Art is being increasingly side-lined at many schools.
According to figures from the Education Policy Institute,
the proportion of 15 and 16-year-olds studying arts subjects
such as art, music and drama has fallen to the lowest level in a
decade as a result of government policies and education cuts.
Many schools streamline their curriculum so that children
have to make a binary choice between arts or science when
they make A level or other exam choices at age 16/17.
This is desperately sad because art can be such a balm
or counterbalance in life, and provides a different way
“The world no longer rewards people for
what they know – Google knows everything
– but for what they can do with what they
know. Global education today needs to be
much more about ways of thinking, involving
creativity, critical thinking, problem solving
and decision-making; about ways of working,
including communication and collaboration.”
Andreas Schleicher, Director for
Edcuation and Skills at OECD