13 February 2011

CRAFT APPRENTICES: A RETHINK NEEDED

On this anniversary of the Arts and Crafts Movement, craft has been given a boost by the UK government. Last October, John Hayes, the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning gave a talk to the Royal Society of Arts on "Skills and their Place in Modern Britain" saying that ours must be the age of the craftsman. Parts of his speech could have been written by William Morris (left).

"In most of Britain," he said, "the hard-won skills of individuals have been subsumed by brutal, impersonal ubiquity. Butchers, bakers and others reduced to anonymous shop assistants in soulless megastores." John Hayes praised the humanising influence of the crafts and said he wanted to raise the status of hands-on education in schools and colleges. Craft skills are essential to manufacturing industry, he said, and the government will continue to promote apprenticeships. It's encouraging to hear this, but the way the government is going about it will not help ceramists.