CRAFT skills should be added to the curriculum to give Scots pupils hands-on learning, it is claimed.
A new drive seeks to teach youngsters how to make and mend in order to create the artisans of the future.
Proponents say that giving children the skills to drive the circular economy is a vital step in tackling climate change, boosting mental health and wellbeing and overcoming the income gap that prices some pupils out of simple activities.
Research for Craft Scotland and MAKE Learn found young people from better-off areas are 50% more likely to have taken part in craft. And almost 90% of teachers surveyed said access to materials and tools is a barrier to lessons.
A campaign will launch at Glendale Gaelic Primary School in Glasgow’s Pollokshields area today.
Its head teacher Elspeth McCoull said: “When children are spending increasing amounts of time on screens, particularly as a result of home schooling during the pandemic, it is hugely valuable for schools to have space in the curriculum to explore physical, tactile materials. Craft learning is also a wonderful way to give pupils a context for wider discussions about our culture, history and sustainability of resources.”
More than 400 children at six schools were included in a pilot project earlier this year. Maker Deirdre Nelson was amongst the craftswomen delivering the sessions.
She said: “The world’s resources are finite and need to be protected. By employing craft skills in the classroom, we can teach Scotland’s young people not only about transferable and practical hand-skills, but also about how to think about waste as a resource that can be repaired, redesigned and reused into new products.”
Craft Scotland director Irene Kernan said wider take-up would help teach “problem-solving and decision-making skills, which are fundamental life skills”.
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