The Importance Of Spoken Word (mentioned in The House Of Lords by Baroness 'Maggie Jones')

Source - http://www.labourlords.org.uk/talent-shows

In Picture above : Peter Kahn, Holy Family Students, Baroness Maggie Jones & Spoken Word educators (Raymond Antrobus, Dean Atta, Indigo WIlliams, Keith Jarrett, Pete The Temp & Cat Brogan)   

Maggie Jones on the importance of spoken word skills to help young people realise their aspirations.

One of the joys of being in Labour’s Education team is the chance to get out and about, visiting schools and being inspired by the enthusiasm of pupils and teachers alike.

Last week, I attended Holy Family School in Waltham Forest – a multi-cultural secondary school experimenting with writing and performing poetry as a means of nurturing confidence, creativity and self expression. The result was outstanding – a room full of articulate, funny, thoughtful young people excited about what they had, and could, achieve. Sitting in the audience I had no doubt that any employer would be impressed by the skills these young people had learned.

I will be raising the importance of such skills in a Lords debate on the importance of preparing young people for the world of work. We already know that the CBI and Federation of Small Businesses are desperate for young people to have better ‘soft’ skills such as communication, collaboration and problem solving. Yet the government is driving education in the opposite direction, with an obsession on cramming facts, working in isolation and sitting traditional exams. As part of this move spoken word skills have been removed from the English curriculum.

We have previously warned Ministers about the dangers of giving schools responsibility for careers advice without any resources or expertise, and it would be interesting to understand whether they – and indeed the Department for Education – believe the changes to have been consequence free. A recent report from the Commons Education Select Committee on this issue paints a horror story of poor training and advice, with teachers pressurising young people to stay on in the Sixth Form at all costs to improve the school budget. In response, the government said that careers provision was a matter for individual schools – something that the Chair of the Committee rightly described as an abdication of responsibility.

The result of such inaction from Ministers is reflected in a recent report from Pearson which discovered that over a third of young people relied on TV programmes to help them decide on careers, with and one in ten girls looking to celebrities for inspiration.

With a dwindling job market, we must give young people the best preparation available to have any chance of success. The Coalition’s failed economic policies have resulted in youth unemployment rates of over 20%, with more than a million not in education, employment or training. We can help by realigning their aspiration to the types of jobs that will be generated over the next two decades, many of which may not even exist today. Some of these jobs will be in the creative, innovation and high tech industries. But the CBI has also identified a critical lack of skills in the manufacturing, construction and engineering sectors – all of which could be drivers for future growth in the economy. Yet our education system is failing to address these new demands.

This is why Labour is putting renewed emphasis on the importance of vocational education to match the best academic provision, supported by quality apprenticeships. The new technical exam announced today is welcome, but it is a belated gesture towards something we have long argued for. And we will continue to criticise the government’s backward looking curriculum changes, which fail to meet young people’s aspirations and provide the gold standard skills needed to create a modern, thriving economy. It is the least we can do for those talented pupils I met at Holy Family School.

Baroness Maggie Jones of Whitchurch is a member of Labour’s Shadow Education team in the Lords

Published 4th July 2013

Comments On BBC's Panorama - 'Why Young Black Boys Are Underachieving' / Spoken Word Education

Sol Campbell

I enjoyed the panorama programme, it was optimistic and the BBC (who have negatively played up to black stereotypes in the past) did a good job. It did not venture too deep into the background of the boys, so it avoided presumptions that could be made about young black boys.

Sol Campbell was a nice hook, him being there acknowledging that it is not enough for black boys just to have footballers and rappers as role models was spot on and a powerful thing to see. 

I don't want to come across as patronising but the media ought to depict more examples of black men taking responsibilities - I was in a year 8 class last week asking kids what they're listening to, most of them said "Kendrick Lemar", they said they like stories, they aren't into gangster rap at all... now, why did this surprise me so much? why did I expect them to be into gangster rap and impressed with that culture? - doesn't that comment on how even I (as a Hackney born, Anglo-Jamaican) bought into an idea of black kids wanting to be gangsters? most of them don't and this a fact. 

It was good to see a range of high and low achieving black British men, including one young man persevering after 400 rejections, testimony of his refusal to allow (what we should openly call institutional racism) get in his way. It makes me angry and frustrated that the statistics are acknowledged by Government but they continue with their lack of support for the people who are qualified to help. 

People of the black community ought to be employed not just to mentor and campaign but to be the ones who influence the culture at the top in the boardrooms where policies and funding for supportive projects can get off the ground.

Spoken Word Education

The majority of kids I work with are black and mixed heritage (African / Caribbean) and many of them have taken to poetry, showing up after school for Spoken Word club, run and created by Peter Kahn and co-led by poets Indigo Williams, Dean Atta, Keith Jarrett, Cat Brogan, Pete The Temp and myself. We have high achieving students working alongside some lower achievers, including students who have a history of suspension - we have helped many kids find positivity in the sharing of their voice from the poetry community we have created in the school to the showcases - where parents and other students come to watch students perform their poetry, where they are applauded for being who they are. I have noticed that students consistent in reading and writing, generally have a heightened awareness of themselves and their identity, this awareness creates higher self-esteem and confidence in verbal and literary self expression.

Here's some footage from the first Spoken Word showcase with the students we've worked with.

Our next showcase is Wednesday 19th June 

http://www.paperlesspost.com/events/3882231-954e095e/replies/74188873-634fe511?utm_campaign=reminder&utm_medium=email&utm_source=event#paper/front/0

Also, Peter Kahn is going to be speaking about Spoken Word in Education at the London Literature Festival on 4th June.

More info - 
Peter Kahn, the co-founder of the London Teenage Poetry Slam has launched the first ever Spoken Word Education Training Programme as a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London.

He has been 'training up' six established Spoken Word poets, including winners of the Edinburgh Fringe Slam, the London Poetry Award and the UK Poetry Slam, to work in six new London schools.

This INSET session is aimed at secondary school teachers and offers a hands-on workshop using some of the lessons that have been used over the course of the school year.

Level 3 Function Room
12 noon - 4pm (lunch break included)

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/the-school-of-spoken-word-inset-73543

Following on from the INSET for teachers event in the afternoon, Peter Kahn, who has just has launched the first ever Spoken Word Education Training Programme introduces an evening of performances from the Spoken Word Educators involved in the programme. These include Dean Atta, Raymond Antrobus, Pete the Temp, Cat Brogan, Keith Jarrett and Indigo Williams, as well as Spoken Word Club members from Holy Family Catholic School.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/the-school-of-spoken-word-73552?dt=2013-06-04

Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall

6pm

How Spoken Word In Education Is Changing The Landscape For Modern Poets

This year Goldsmith University launched their first Spoken Word Education module as part of the Teacher / Writer MA program and I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the six London Spoken Word poets piloting it. The other five are Indigo Williams, Keith Jarrett, Dean Atta, Cat Brogan and Pete The Temp – If you know your Spoken Word poets you’ll be familiar with these names.

Since September we’ve been going into a secondary school in East London and leading lessons on poetry and performance as well as setting up a Spoken Word poetry after school club which had over eighty sign ups from years 7, 8 and 9.

Peter Kahn coordinates the program, a teacher at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Chicago. He runs the largest school-based spoken word club in the world and is featured in the award-winning documentary Louder Than a Bomb. 

The project is also partnered by some of the UK’s leading institutions and organisations such as Apples and Snakes, Avron and Spread the word. 

We challenge the idea that “poems are old fashioned and have to rhyme” and we get students talking and writing from their personal experiences to generate poetry in their own voices. Many teachers have already given positive feedback about the impact of having poets in their school. Some students really open up in their poetry and it can get emotional. This has been a good way to hear the kids that are calling for help. Ultimately we have a lot of fun with language, performance games and watching the kids develop as young poets. We’re all coming across more and more talented young poets and we call it our mission to nurture talent and give poets higher platforms to aspire to. This will change the landscape of Spoken Word and poetry for a new generation. 

I didn’t discover Spoken Word until I was twenty but if a quality poet came into my school when I was fourteen I definitely would have been hooked sooner.

Some of the top Spoken Word Educators in the country including Jacob Sam La Rose, Simon Mole, Polarbear, Charlie Dark and Hollie McNish all make a living mentoring young poets and improving the standards of Spoken Word poetry nationwide.

The more exposure top quality poets receive the more impact Spoken Word poetry will make as an art form.

If you know of any schools that would be interested in setting up a Spoken Word Club please contact : mrpkahn@hotmail.com