David Cameron loves innovation?

Speaking a short while before the election that propelled him to be Prime Minister, David Cameron said: “Innovation must be at the heart of public policy.” Did I miss something since then? Enterprise and entrepreneurship are now rightly central to government rhetoric and policy if the British economy is to move into real growth. But creativity and innovation? Scarcely to be seen or heard of. Yet critical to enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Arts in the classroom

School students who are exposed to the arts – dance, drama, media arts, music, visual arts etc - get better academic results, stay at school longer, are more motivated in class and have higher self-esteem.

So says University of Sydney academic, Professor Robyn Ewing, in a paper that draws together research findings from around the world.

“If we don’t empower kids to think creatively and to be imaginative and also to see things from different perspectives, which is what the arts do,” she says, “we’re selling them short.”

“Policymakers need to change the way they think about the arts,” she concludes, “and treat it as a priority.”

Not really a surprise, but certainly food for thought.