The All-Party Design and Innovation Group is delighted to have had their 2017 inquiry on creative education after Brexit cited extensively in the final report of the Durham Commission on Creativity in Education, launched in October 2019.

Published in September 2017 in response to the aftermath of the Brexit Referendum and General Election, the APDIG’s inquiry set out an ambitious set of recommendations aimed at setting out the importance of creative education as a public and social good. The Commission report sets out the key issues raised by the inquiry, which:

• Prioritises creative thinking as a policy
• Places design and creative thinking at the heart of Government to spread best practice across the public sector
• Advocates changing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to STEAM (with addition of art) in the acronym.
• Advises that the government should reconsider and fully incorporate art and design into the English Baccalaureate.

The Commission was led by Sir Nicholas Serota, CH, Chair of Arts Council England, and was considered creativity and creative thinking in relation to three themes that underpin an individual’s life:

• Identity and community: what contribution does creativity make to the development of the individual and what impact does it have on our collective social engagement?
• Mobility: how does creativity offer opportunities for individual growth and the development of skills that can respond to the challenges of rapid technological development and automation?
• Wellbeing: does creativity contribute to our wellbeing; does it support young people’s mental health, and help young people have a positive relationship with technology?

A full list of recommendations can be found here.

The APDIG look forward to working with the Durham Commission, Arts Council England and other organisations in the coming months to promote this valuable and timely work.