Teach Secondary Issue 14.8

Acoalition ofmore than 60 education experts and organisations fromacross the UK’s creative and digital industries is calling for the introduction of a newGCSE in ‘digital creativity’. As detailed in an open letter toEducationMinister Bridget Phillipson andCulture Secretary LisaNandy (see tinyurl.com/ts148-LL5 ), the group envisage the newGCSE as being “ Designed to provide young people with the skills they need to pursue a career in the creative and digital industries. ” In practice, themooted qualificationwould be offered alongside a ‘reformed’ computer scienceGCSE, and look to give students a choice between amore technically- oriented computing route, and onemore focused on learning how to use digital technology for creativework. As such, therewould be an emphasis on applied skills in relation to visual design, audioproduction, the prototyping of games and apps, creative problemsolving, digital storytelling and user interface design. The letter goes on to note that theUK’s creative industries currently contribute approximately £126 billion to the national economy and employ around 2.4million people, while at the same time, school-based digital education has remained inconsistent, with many students finishingKS4 having not acquired the technological, creative, and problem-solving skills employers in those industries are looking for. The proponents of the new qualification have also suggested itmay help to overcome the long-running gender disparity inGCSE entries for computer science, where girls currently account for just 20%of candidates. According to Sir Ian Livingstone CBE, co-founder of the tabletop games producer and retailer GamesWorkshop, and one of the signatories to the letter, “ If theUK is to stay at the forefront of the global digital economy, wemust equip and empower the next generationwith the skills needed to navigate and innovate in aworld being transformed byAI and robotics. ” TRENDING Our pick of the recent resources and launches teachers might find useful... BRUSHESATTHE READY... Registrations are nowopen for the annual competition organised theArt Bytes inclusive national art programme for Y5-Y9.Open to all schools in the country, the contest will see regional and national winners chosen by a judging panel of educators and professional artists,withwinners getting the chance to see theirwork exhibited in London’s Saatchi Gallery,TheHenryMoore Institute in Leeds and elsewhere. The closing date for submissions will be February2026. artbytes.co.uk TALKING ITTHROUGH CrownHouse Publishing, the independent bookpublisher known for its education titles, has launched EduTalk – a new podcast aimed at supporting teachers’practice and professional development.The first episode features academic and government education advisor,AndyHargreaves. tinyurl.com/ts148-LL8 Time for a new GCSE? On the radar Got a great learning idea? Email editor@teachsecondary.com or tweet us at @teachsecondary 1 MINUTE STUDENT CPD ZEPH BENNETT IS A PE TEACHER AND SCHOOLACHIEVEMENT LEADERWITH 25 YEARS’ TEACHING EXPERIENCE; YOU CAN FINDMORE OF HIS EDUCATIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY FOLLOWING@ZEPHBENNETT.BSKY.SOCIAL 5WAYS TO HOOK STUDENTS’ ATTENTION ZEPH BENNETT OFFERS SOME PRACTICAL POINTERS FOR ADDING CLARITY TO YOUR NEXT CLASSROOM PRESENTATION 1 BE PROVOCATIVE Ignite curiosity by posing a thought-provoking question, or presenting a startling statistic or fact related to the topic 2 INCORPORATE MULTIMEDIA Utilisemedia that students are already familiar with and enjoy, such as short-formvideo, interactive simulations, educational apps or even relevant podcasts 3 CONNECTTHE LEARNINGTO STUDENTS’ LIVES Make the subject matter more relevant by linking it to students’ personal experiences, hobbies or future aspirations 4 CREATE A SENSE OFMYSTERY Humans are drawn to stories, so start the lesson byweaving a narrative, presenting a historical anecdote or setting up a problemthat needs solving 5 TURN LEARNING INTOAGAME Introduce an element of friendly competition or collaborative challenge to increase engagement – quizzes can be an effective way of doing this 93 teachwire.net/secondary L E A R N I N G L A B