THE NEED FOR HUMANITIES

It won’t take you long to find something in the media to outline the issue that humanities are taking a dip. In recent years, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian and BBC have reported on the declining uptake and prestige of the humanities. However, Hurst College believes that they play a hugely significant role, and their power must not be undervalued.

With worldwide current affairs seeing a rise of right wing and centralised politics in Europe; abortion laws resurfacing in the US; climate, energy and cost of living crises; war and conflict in Europe and beyond; the study of the humanities is ultimately more important now than ever before.

Hurst College created a Humanities Faculty in September 2022, to include the departments of geography, history, religious studies, politics, business, economics, sociology and classical civilisation from Year 6 in the Junior Prep School through to Upper Sixth in the Senior School. A fantastically diverse set of subjects and key stages all working together collaboratively, to share love for the humanities, instil passion and enthusiasm in pupils and make them acutely aware of the world around them.

The role of humanities is a vital one. From Key Stage 2, pupils are taught about a range of cultures, traditions, norms and values, social skills, how to show empathy for others. At a young age they foster justice and equality from humanities teaching. Throughout Key Stage 3 and beyond, pupils learn to deal critically and logically with subjective, complete, imperfect information and weigh evidence sceptically, to consider more than one side of every question. hppc.co.uk

Members of the new faculty will structure, linearise and design an effective curriculum which interlinks topics between subjects and key stages. They will effectively outline skills, topic areas and cross-overs which pupils can apply to real life contemporary examples. This allows for scaffolding of the key skills, especially higher order logic and thinking, and improvement of writing styles. Plus, a focus on teaching the harder components of the humanities world - powers of analysis, discursive writing and evaluation skills. The humanities are vital for developing important life skills which pupils can use beyond their school years. It encourages them to debate, challenge ideas, reflect upon their own personal experiences and empathise with those of others who are very different. The faculty also promotes a range of super-curricular options and believes these are vital for preparing pupils for life and society. These include lectures, guest speaker events, workshops and trips.

Ultimately, the goal is to facilitate a love and excitement for the humanities and to show their relevance. Currently, the faculty is buzzingnumbers of pupils opting for these subjects are incredibly high. The robust set of departments are paving the way for creating well-rounded, thoughtful, inquisitive, passionate students who will go on to be successful global citizens in the world beyond school.