Conferences can be large, impersonal affairs and rather hit-and-miss with their programming and session topics. However, this week I had the pleasure of two days at the annual Choir Schools' Association conference, which was held in Windsor Castle and hosted fantastically well by St George’s School, which sits within the grounds. It had the wonderful advantages of both being a small conference, and of all the schools having a clear and common interest. The theme was ‘Embracing Change’; set – quite clearly – long before Rishi surprised us with his ‘early’ General Election. (It’s an unfortunate challenge none of us were anticipating, I’m sure, as to how to ensure an opportunity to vote amidst the busyness and celebration of the last day of the Pilgrims’ year.)
The first keynote talk at the conference was given by a consultant who, having been a long-time recruiter and head-hunter, had taken this experience and had flipped it around to focus upon coaching CV writing and interview preparation for school / university leavers. In other words, she focusses upon trying to bridge the education and employment worlds. Her focus, therefore, was on what employers need from the education sector; what it is we are actually preparing our children for, both parents and educators. And this is a landscape changing at break-neck speed in the wake of AI.
She identified a concerning chasm currently growing between university and employers, with large numbers of companies concluding that many of the current under 25s are often academically able but unemployable. The Amazon Generation (as some have called it) of want-it-today, get-it-tomorrow (or earlier) is losing stickability, resilience, patience and a sense of hard work being necessary to gain reward, ‘success’, promotion. If indeed, with all those factors, reward, ‘success’ and/or promotion ever arrive, which of course they might not. The Amazon Generation risk focusing upon near-instant end result, with limited understanding of process.
Her conclusion was salutary and something which schools in the independent sector (and, arguably, particularly choir schools) have long worked hard to realise: education should focus upon the broader field of what makes a young person highly employable, with well-rounded character preparation being key, rather than on academic success alone. (Many colleagues in the maintained sector hold this position dear too, but with a government funding model that rewards academic results first and foremost, it is harder.) Such development of broader character and qualities is intimately linked to the extra-curricular and – this consultant pointed out – pupil achievement beyond the academic world has a proven link to reduced anxiety and stress levels.
But she also argued that the skills set required for high academic results is very different to the skills set that will lead to successful employment. Here I think a more nuanced angle is required. A restrictive approach to achieving academic success (high levels of individual learning, hours with tutors 1-to-1, a pressurised focus upon output as the only key indicator) can absolutely be said to have this outcome. However, academic success achieved through a willingness to problem-solve (through engagement with process, through individual application and resilience, and through collaborative effort); to enter discourse and engage with the thoughts and opinions of others (so widening your own perspective); to lead with curiosity and be prepared to ask ‘why?’… well, this is a different kettle of fish entirely. And to return to the extra-curricular, it must be held as centrally complementary to academic success: a happy child is one who learns best.
What is true and certainly well acknowledged by all, I should hope, is that academic success is no guarantor of success later in life. But things that will greatly enhance the prospect of success later in life sit front and centre in that more rounded and informed approach to academic success, and in high worth being placed on the extra-curricular. A boy who has practised hard for hours to develop his instrumental playing to a level that allows him to collaborate in high-level ensemble music-making; a boy who has developed a life-long enjoyment of singing together; a boy who has learned to be a true team player in sports, applying process to progress; a boy who – as in this week’s wonderful Speech Finals – prepares and delivers a well-constructed, beautifully engaging speech to an audience of peers and parents… these are those who maximise the chances of successful outcomes in life.
I am incredibly proud of how the staff and the boys work to create a community whose ethos is centred around these approaches to academic and extra-curricular success. It sits at the very heart of who we are. And I am incredibly proud to lead a choir school. I truly believe it gives us something timeless in laying the foundations for success in a world of change. And that really is something we should embrace.
May I wish you all a very restful half-term break. For those who have a little exam revision to do, remember to take enough time to recharge your batteries too!
Tim Butcher
Headmaster