In Hidden talents: the overlooked children whose poor verbal skills mask potential GL Assessment  report that a large minority of children are failing to get good GCSEs because poor verbal reasoning skills are hiding their innate talents. Whilst they suggest that the country is wasting a large, untapped reserve of young scientists and engineers, there must be an implication that talent is being squandered across the board.

There are many findings and we suggest that you access the whole report here. However, this Maths finding is a stand-out:

Those with good spatial and verbal abilities achieving an A*–B: 89%

Those with high spatial skills but poor verbal skills getting A*-B: 52%

In the ‘What can you do?’ section there are many suggestions that will be challenging for hard-pressed teachers, but always worth considering. For example (directly copied from the report):

• Develop specific pedagogies for spatial learning which, in turn, will benefit all learners
• Offer differentiated learning so pupils can choose how they do a task and do not suggest there is only one approach that is ‘correct’

The Institute for Public Policy Research suggests that we live in a multi-dimensional world whist having a one- dimensional education system.

It recognises that while there is huge uncertainty about the future, the sorts of skills and attributes that are going to be in ever-greater demand are becoming clearer. Such as:

• communication and interpersonal skills,
• problem-solving and idea generation,
• collaboration and networking,
• analysis and synthesis,
• creativity and agility

It argues that the foundation of these skills should be built on:

• a strong moral compass in situations of greater complexity and ambiguity
• high levels of literacy and numeracy
• expertise in science, maths, computing and design
• greater flexibility within the UK schools system
• a broader curriculum
• a new vision of a 21st century teacher whose focus is on the growth of the whole child through a much broader curriculum

There will be a lot of teachers who say this is nothing new. But it will be for some.

The report is here:

Success In The 21st Century: The Education Of Head, Heart And Hand