EPISODE NOTES
In this episode, Claire talks with Clem Studholme: National Creative Manager at One Day Creative Education.
Clem comes from a performing arts background and, after spending some time teaching English in Italy, he developed his appreciation of using performance to provide a purpose for learning. Clem went on to work for a charity involved in youth work and explored social inclusion and bringing different communities together.
Further work involved social action projects and outdoor education, whilst a period in recruitment enabled Clem to gain an insight into how social enterprises and larger businesses can support creative education.
Clem talks about his firm belief that creativity in education is important for children’s wellbeing and academic abilities. Now, as national creative manager, he delivers drama, music and movement workshops in schools, supports teachers in their CPD and, in more recent times, has been developing the company’s digital learning platform.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Creativity, not just performing, is important in all subjects.The curriculum, as a whole, can be delivered in a creative way. It may involve a cultural change: a whole-school approach where everyone is involved. Creativity can happen in history, maths, science, geography - in all the subjects at primary and secondary level.
The impact of drama on individual pupils.Drama, dance, music and art can reach out to pupils in a way other subjects can’t. Clem discusses feedback from the settings he works in and it often relates to individual pupils. The way some children, who perhaps have been less confident and shy, or reluctant to work in a group, or who haven’t actively contributed much in the past, can become so much more involved in sessions that focus on the arts. These pupils learn that it’s okay to participate, to speak, and to make mistakes.
A more creative curriculum can contribute to societal changes.Clem discusses how the culture shaped within a school doesn’t just affect the staff, but the wider school community and the local area. He shares his belief that the arts are important for learning how to get along with others, learning how to problem solve, and to create and innovate. Clem also outlines that the importance of ‘play’, even for older children, should not be underestimated. Playfulness, he says, breeds empathetic humans, encourages teamwork and it’s learning different things in different ways.

 
BEST MOMENTS
“I really believe that creativity in schools and performing arts and the way we teach, not just at One Day but across the sector, is immensely important and I feel strongly about that. It’s what I love to do.”
“If we look at education systems in [other countries] where the focus, especially in the early years up until the age of seven, is how to get along with each other and how to work together… where their education system is focused on the human being. We need to be focusing on what can we do to support our children and ourselves and the wider community to become happier.”
“This idea of performing isn’t just about a performance at the end of high-quality art, drama, dance [and] music. It weaves its way into our life. We are becoming a society where a lot of things are becoming mechanised and computerised and a lot of the facts can be regurgitated. But, actually, how we get along with each other, how we empathise with each other, how we solve problems and morals, spiritual, creative problems, how we innovate… this is becoming much more important not just in work but in our lives, in our personal development. So I think that performing and creativity, and learning how to do that… is immensely important, especially as the world changes.”
“That idea of being able to make mistakes and it being okay; it’s alright. Sometimes we do need facts and we do need figures and we do need to learn what has happened. We need to learn context. But making mistakes is alright and, in drama, we’re allowed to make mistakes and that’s qu