Mic-Drop Moment: Extra is now Critical Curriculum

A school's purpose is to help prepare a child for their future. In doing so, school activities are normally segregated into curriculum and extracurricular activities. The latter normally include sports, student bodies, community service, work experience, arts, hobbies, and educational clubs.??

This segmentation exists because schools are constantly navigating the immense societal demands for how to best prepare young people for a rapidly evolving world. The distinction between ‘curriculum’ and ‘extra’ is based on how each of these two areas is rooted in academic subjects and activities that must slot into a rigid, timetabled world.

The challenge with this is that we predominantly still judge schools by their academic performance. The 'extras' can sometimes fall down the pecking order – not deliberately or out of want – but because of society's 20th-century myth of what educational success looks like: exam results. This must change.?

?The world is moving quicker than any of us can cope with. With the advance of technology in the last two years (meaning the rise of the virtual meeting), I believe I now do a month's worth of work in a week, and a week's work in a day. That’s just compared to a few years ago. Before lunchtime, I have engaged with partners and clients across the world, starting in Asia, the Middle East, and then closer to home in the UK. That's even before a sandwich.?

My body and mind are still learning to manage this. But I believe I've only coped well over the last couple of years because of the core skills that are in my DNA, such as being a problem-solver, a creative person, and a good decision-maker. These are no doubt skills that I developed as a young person on the sports field, in my first part-time work, and by grasping leadership opportunities when I could. Without this in my DNA, I would have crumbled as an entrepreneur during the pandemic.?

Sports, student bodies, community service, work experience, arts, hobbies, and educational clubs – these aren't ‘extra’. These are critical educational experiences for a child to develop core skills that will be the foundation for their decision-making, confidence, creativity under pressure, ability to communicate, and courage to follow a passion-led career.?

Why do the so-called 'extras' provide so much? All of these activities consistently provide students with two fundamental opportunities: the chance to solve problems and to be creative. Two of the core skills that have been identified by the World Economic Forum as most in-demand in the coming years, and that will likely be there in 100 years' time.?

Whether you’re losing a game of sports and trying to change your approach; or whether you're not making as much money on a social enterprise initiative as you wanted and changing tactics; or you are nervous about your first line in a school play, but found a way to speak – it’s these extras that constantly provide children with the opportunity to nurture the skills they really need.??

A 2014 study showed that UK schools only allocated one hour per week to sports-related extracurricular activities (compared to six in Switzerland). Given this, UK parents are reported to pay up to ￡28,000 per year for after-school pursuits. As you can imagine, this results in the poorest children being three times more likely to miss out on these activities.

As we move into the most exciting decade for education that there has ever been (and I really mean that!), it's time we drop the word 'extra'. It de-priorities the activity in a child's – or indeed a parent's – mind. We should all start comfortably talking about schools’ 'Critical Curriculum' approach.?

Where possible, we protect time for this and find even more time to allow children to explore these core areas. Having students take fewer exams could certainly help. Maybe, just maybe, we stop judging schools by a metric that is, of course important, but not the real true indicator that a school is doing what it's meant to be doing.?

Let’s imagine I could ask children 10, 20, or 30 years after leaving school what they remembered as most helpful to their life's work and happiness. I have a feeling it would be linked back to something they learned or experienced outside of the classroom, in what has been called 'extra-curriculum'. Because of this, I now propose we collectively call it 'critical curriculum', and that we fight for it on a daily basis around the world.?

At 8billionideas, we're proud to be leading the charge on the critical curriculum world and it's amazing to see young people from different cultures, countries, schools and indeed ages flourish when given the opportunity to do so.?

Mic-drop moment everyone – extra is now critical! Let's put it top of the list.