Latest / Let Them Fly - Heather Harries Ed Hub / Finding your niche in Fashion with Emma Ledger from Spark Academy

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Finding your niche in Fashion with Emma Ledger from Spark Academy · Let Them Fly - Heather Harries Ed Hub

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Let Them Fly with me, Heather Harris.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever wondered whether your child is on the right path, this podcast is for you.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we share conversations that inspire parents to trust the journey, embrace different paths of success, and believe in their children's potential.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm delighted to welcome Emma Ledger with more than 30 years of experience leading schools across the UK, Spain and the UAE.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Emma is now director of Spark Design Academy in Dubai, which helps young people turn creativity into meaningful careers.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about the future of education, why there isn't just one route to success, and how we can better prepare the next generation for the world they're growing into.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Emma, welcome to let them fly.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: 30 years as a school leader makes you feel a bit old, I'm sure.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: So old.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So old.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: And now you're in Spark Design Academy.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: What made you take that leap?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess the decision was ultimately because I was wanting more of a flexible life.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to, I guess, cast my net a little wider than just working in one school and felt after 16 years of being a school principal I had quite a lot to offer in terms of leadership and curriculum development.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I became a consultant a year ago now.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I can't believe it's a year already.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Spark Design Academy was one of the first connections that I had.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They had a great product, they had a fantastic programme, it'd been running for years, and their successful learners had suggested, can we go down an accreditation route?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so the company came to me and said, Emma, would you help us to get this accredited?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: What could that look like?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the more I got into it and the more I found, well, and the more I understood the course and really understood the vision of Spark Design Academy and the team there, I just thought, yeah, I really want to be part of this.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And what sort of age does Spark Academy appeal to?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we the courses that we have converted for accreditation are level two courses.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's children's sort of GCSE level, age 14, 15, 16, and beyond.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: People who have completed the course may have been in the fashion industry already and wanted a little steer down maybe the football kit route, which is predominantly the focus for the first three courses.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it really is a career in in design and creative arts.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Going to go back a bit, this online course.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And tell me where the football comes in.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um, Craig and Rob, the founders, they are both fashion designers in their own right.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: They have created World Cup winning football kits.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: They have on point at the moment.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Very on point at the moment, yes.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they do regular kit reviews, so they had a huge following anyway, and they recognize because they were both creative directors for Puma, I come on huge businesses, and they recognize there was a huge gap between the education, school levers, and the industry itself.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They both experienced it and they wanted to plug that gap.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um they will say that football kit design is probably 10% of their whole careers, but when you go into the design industry, um, they both have said that when you're when you cut your teeth in design, they tend to put you in the sportswear department first.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we've used football kits as the vehicle, but really it's more about the transferable skills that you can have to all creative industries.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And what does Spark Academy give children that a traditional school perhaps wouldn't, or traditional courses perhaps wouldn't?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we've designed the course, and it's on a teachable platform.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's um the direct programme would just be B2C.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: The learner would purchase the course, they'd access the course online, and they would have a workbook running alongside it.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: That workbook becomes their portfolio.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: We take the learners through the journey.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: They have a small amount of contact time with the industry leaders who are doing the teaching through the platform, and then it's up to them to delve into areas of research that they really enjoy and connect with.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess it's we're looking for independence and self-motivated learners.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But that's kind of where I came in and we've pivoted slightly because whilst the B2C course is available for anybody who wants to take it, I really saw the value in bringing it into the classroom, having a cohort of learners together.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: We know how much children learn from each other and just having that opportunity to bounce your ideas off someone to critique.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So facilitators who are delivering the course, they don't need to be experts in design, obviously, and interest helps, but they just need to be great pedagogical deliverers.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be able to develop those skills of problem solving, critical thinking, getting children to work together, etc.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to bring it to life in the classroom.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: If I just go on to where we are now, so my background is primary.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I saw this course as being a fantastic ECA for children.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we know that ECAs in the UEE vary.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So in the schools, they will deliver their own CA ECAs, but then they will also bring in specialists, and this is where I've been working on the specialist program.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we're at the point now where we have mini sparks and we've used a 10-year-old to do all of the filming and the delivering.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's about accessibility.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: We want children to connect and we want children to be able to demonstrate their learning however they prefer to articulate.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the course has been really, we've really focused on accessibility.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're an academic writer and you prefer to put your learning into writing, great.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you just would like to do a podcast, as long as you can show that you've understood the processes and met the assessment criteria, we don't mind how you articulate that learning.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: We will assess it based on however you present, which is amazing for so many learners.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a lovely idea.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got obviously you've got the primary ECAs, and has it started trickling the schools for perhaps the ASTAN children?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as so far, we've got um in the UK, because it is a UK learning provider, we're an accredited NCFE centre in the UK.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: We've been working in colleges, so we've had uh in a school where children predominantly attend who have autism, so they have been accessing the course incredible.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Children who don't normally relate, they've been given a tutor to work alongside, and the outcomes have been amazing.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we've really we're working with a centre in in in Dubai as well, looking at neurodiverse learners, so it's definitely the pathway that we're gonna do.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Fashion can have that sort of slightly feminine, you know, females for girls only, but actually, when you bring sports kit in, it makes it so much transgender, it's just amazing.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know, and then when we think about the primary sparks, the mini sparks, we've we've done that through um create your own t-shirt.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So um, Amelia, our superstar, she's created one for her horse riding club, so it's not just about your football team.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if it's granddad's birthday and everybody's going to the party and you want to design a t-shirt for that, you can do that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not always trying to connect just with the football design.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I absolutely think it's lovely, and I just anything that teaches children outside the classroom at the moment and they come out with a skill that they can really use.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I think it's fantastic.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and part, a huge part of fashion design is the storytelling and the presentation skills.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That goes for any industry, doesn't it?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we take the learners through that journey, whether they're seven, eight, or they're 23, 24, and the the end of the ECA, the culmination, is a fashion show.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But you don't just display your t-shirt for your families, you talk about your journey of learning, what worked, what didn't work, why you adapted it, if you were going to do it differently.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: All of these skills have been probably the main fundamentals of the course and was my main focus as we were we were putting it together.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, I think it's an amazing.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked we talked about it, I think, when you first got involved, maybe it must be a year ago now.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: I can't believe it was that long ago.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's it was such an interesting story, but it's just you've taken it so much further now.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So much further.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So affiliating with um with a third-party provider who already delivers art clubs in school.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got our vehicle, we're looking for other partners who are working in schools as third-party providers who would be interested because it's simple, all of the resources are there.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's so simple.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: We provide the t-shirts, we provide the transfer paper, and the children can create a design, bring it to life by the end of the 10 weeks.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's amazing.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: You've obviously, I mean, you worked in schools all your life.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a particular moment within education where you've kind of thought, not so sure education is what it used to be and whether it's right for children anymore?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I've always been a little bit of a maverick in that sense as a school leader.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: My school in the UK, um, we were, I was head teacher for eight years there in a really um challenging socio-economic area, and we needed to think outside the box to engage the learners.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: We needed to do something differently.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to say, I have a little bugbear when I hear people in education saying the national curriculum is so prescriptive, it's it's really narrow.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, it isn't.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's really open and it's open to interpretation, and you can deliver that however you want if you have the time and the passion and the creativity to make your curriculum amazing.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it was at that point when I've when I got my first headship, gosh, 16 years ago, and we knew we needed to make a difference in this school that we started looking at creative pathways, and that's when we brought project-based learning in.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: We went and visited other schools across the country who were doing this so well.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Our classrooms were immersive learning environments.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: If we were doing World War II, we had the dining table in the middle of the room with all of the uh artifacts around the classroom.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It it was just a game changer in how to engage children.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I've always been thinking very creative about curriculum delivery.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think um I think the danger with UK curriculum is when it's single subject, cross-curricular, yes, it is literally a game changer.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to parents who would perhaps say, Well, I'm not going to do design because I don't want children to get a design, it's not really a safe career.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to them?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you access the courses that we've we've put together, it opens your mind to so many possibilities.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about marketing, we talk about branding, we talk about enterprise and entrepreneurship, we we offer skills of presentation for interview.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think I think it also opens their mind to opportunities within the career, within the whole scope of the fashion industry.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of our courses has been filmed in a factory in Turkey and it shows how you go from a pellet to a t-shirt, and just thinking, oh, I didn't even know that job existed.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's opening the hearts and minds to the I think the children these days, they know lawyer, um, dentist, doctor, accountant, but actually, we know now there are jobs that won't exist right now that our children will be doing in 10, 5 years' time.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just arm them with the tools that they need, those transferable skills to be able to adapt to all kinds of industries.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I don't even, I wouldn't even say this is about fashion.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's not my background, it's about learning, developing, and career pathways.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and learning alternative skills, I think.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the children have gone through the course so far.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: What have you seen them get out of it?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um, when the the team first came together in in Spark Design Academy when we became accredited, um, the guys were filming some video actually in a podcast studio, and it was the team in the podcast studio who were so interested and they loved football.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Can we look into this?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So they started contacting the learners who'd completed the course who now are our ambassadors.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a really thriving ambassador group.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the first phone call was actually since doing the course, I'm now designing kits for Adidas.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Second phone call was um in Vietnam, um, difficulty in accessing any kind of quality courses, completed the courses, has now designed the the third kit for the Vietnamese national team.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then the other call was a girl, um a foot a goalkeeper who played for Arsenal, and she uh left the Academy at 24, which is standard, and she had no idea what to do.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: She did the course and now she's just designed the whole strip for her um team in Ireland, and she has involvement in the national team.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just three.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: That was like the first three.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: It other people have gone on and set up platforms, they have an interest in football transfer windows, platforms.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's so transferable.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, I think it just gives that drive, that motivation, that impetus to think differently and to go for it, you know.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, real success stories.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's so lovely when you hear that because I just think it's lacking, isn't it, to give um children sort of belief in themselves that they can do something really amazing.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know, and Craig, our our founding director, he does school assemblies and he brings along all of the kits that he's designed.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Rob also, Rob designed um Usain Boltz running kit, he's kind of more on the technology and the science side of things.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Craig's more the creative, the designer.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And Craig will talk about his journey of being dyslexic at school, nobody understanding, kicked out of the classroom on so many occasions.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: His father said, No son of mine will be a fashion designer.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And against all odds, he went to the Royal College of Arts and then became a creative director for Global Brands.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And him standing there telling that story from the North East of England, it just gives that message that any child can be whatever they want to be, and that's what we want from it.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: We want them to have aspiration and belief in themselves.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And this is probably drawing on all your experience, because I think creativity suffers against grades because I think parents get over focused on the grade is all that counts.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when you when you really drill down to the most successful schools where where the alumni are showing their pathways of are so broad and vast and they're doing extremely well, you will see that those schools offer creativity as standard alongside the academic.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a bolt-on, it's not an add-on, it's an expectation because of the transferable skills it offers.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say that we're not here to challenge the education system.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've lived and breathed it for 30 years, and I think it's incredible.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think teachers work so hard and they're so creative.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, there needs to be academic rigour, there absolutely does.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: However, what we do complements that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would say it's a complementary, it's not to go in instead, and it's niche, right?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with fashion design.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, if you strip away the football kits and you strip away the fashion side of it and you look at the process, it's the same for any industry.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, we should be delivering those skills alongside the the academic rigour.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would absolutely agree.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and picking up on on you know, Craig and um everything you said about dyslexia, and everything you know about children, what would you say for a child who lights up in a class where it's art and design and absolutely disappears into themselves when it's maths or English?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say, well, I would say to the parents, look for opportunities for the children to learn maths, English, science through creativity.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many schools out there doing this, there are so many offers where um they put that first and foremost, and the children don't realize they're learning maths, they don't realise they're learning science.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, look for creative pathways for your children to learn, is what I would be suggesting there.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would definitely, I would, I would echo that, and I just I always say if a child is happy, they learn.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, as soon as they're not happy, they just they stop learning altogether, they've become very resistant.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: How does a parent um help a young person turn a passion into a plan?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, believing in them?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, believing in them, absolutely.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think um you need to be very well um read about the landscape and the journey.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna give you an example of my daughter who is a singer, and when she was 16, she just wanted to be a singer and she was very good at it.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um we believed in her and we helped her to do little jobs on the side that allowed her to sing as a uh with you know in the in the Sunday lunch pubs and at weddings and things, uh, old people's homes.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was really supporting her and putting that network around her.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: We sought out opportunities for her to do it, we supported her to go to London to study.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't want to do a degree, but we did put her on a pathway because we knew she needed to connect with the right people, and we never had a plan B for her.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's risky, but we did it because we ultimately believed in her passion and we knew that she would be successful, and now she is Uber successful.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so lovely, and I think she's so lucky because I think so often parents go, mmm, yeah, we'll think about it, but let's do this.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think you know, children should be pushed to do what they're passionate, passionate.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's so important.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you so much, Emma.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have one last question.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's a curved board, I throw it everyone right at the end.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: If knowing everything you know about life and everything you've done to date, if you could go back and give your seven or eight-year-old self one piece of advice, what would that one piece of advice be?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, yeah, work really, really hard at what you love to do.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just really apply yourself.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think yeah, being a school principal is really, really hard and you work all of the time.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm no longer, I no longer have those responsibilities, but I still apply myself in the same way because I'm driven by success.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as long as you believe in yourself and you want to be successful, work really, really hard at that.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my thank you so much.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, Emma, thank you so much for joining us from Spark Academy.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Easy to get hold of you.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: The details are down below, and what an amazing course and what an amazing opportunity.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Heather.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your time today.