Interviewed by Lucy Kennedy, Chief Executive, National Saturday Club 

For over a decade, Activate Learning has partnered with the National Saturday Club to open creative pathways, nurture young people’s confidence and wellbeing, and build a bridge between education, community and industry. In this conversation, recorded for the National Saturday Club’s 2024–25 Annual Review, Lucy Kennedy speaks with Jonathan Adams, Chief Strategy Officer at Activate Learning, about the vital role further education (FE) colleges play in creative education, community engagement, and the UK’s future talent pipeline, and how the National Saturday Club partnership is helping to make that happen. 

LK: I’m interested in role the FE sector is playing in young people’s progression within creative education. The sector is uniquely placed within communities to reach those may be at risk of being overlooked. How you see your role within this landscape? 

JA: Further education colleges have always been strong in the arts and creative subjects. Many began as art colleges of some description and retain that heritage. Compared to schools, we maintain quite a distinct position. A-Level art is ultimately an academic discipline and you’re studying it alongside other subjects. Whereas at college, young people can immerse themselves in their practical, hands-on creative work. Colleges tend to have better facilities, and the nature of the qualifications offered give young people the opportunity to express themselves and hone their crafts. 

From 2010 onwards, there was a 47% decline in young people choosing creative subjects at GCSE. Youth Service cuts reduced opportunities for young people to try their hand at some creative subjects. Within our creative faculties at Activate Learning, we noticed a real drop off in numbers coming through. 

We’ve been involved with the National Saturday Club for 10 years now and the initial motivation was triggered by the decline in creative opportunities for young people. We had the facilities and expertise but fewer young people using them. Initially, partnering with the National Saturday Club was a way to get young people into the colleges. The partnership allowed us to open our doors and re-engage local young people with the opportunities they were no longer getting elsewhere and showcase the kind of facilities, teachers and environments our organisation can offer.  

There are certainly many reasons why the number of young people studying creative subjects has declined. There’s still stigma, especially at higher education level, with parents worrying there aren’t enough jobs in the arts, which was understandable at the time. Yet the skills creative subjects foster are exactly what employers value: communication, problem-solving, collaboration and innovation. 

The FE sector’s aims align closely with the governments priorities on connecting young people with employment, particularly sectors of the economy that are important both locally and nationally. You may have thought that to mean science, technology or engineering, as for the last 10-20 years this is what people have interpreted this to mean. However, the creative sector, in which we are world leading, is now recognised as a priority area in the UK’s industrial strategy. It’s time to reframe creativity as a driver of the economy. 

We’ve got to get better at showing how creative and technical skills connect. Increasingly, creative jobs require a blend of both – software engineers need to understand what they’re trying to create and can communicate with those who are working on the creative and vice versa.  

What both FE and the National Saturday Club are good at doing is helping people articulate that. A performing arts student isn’t just learning performance; they’re developing confidence, teamwork, and presentation skills that make them highly employable. 

LK: Exactly. On one side, the Creative Industries Sector Plan highlights the richness of the future job market over the next twenty years, with its demand for imagination, resilience and collaboration. Yet on the other side, we continue to see a lack of emphasis on creative subjects within the core curriculum.  

At the National Saturday Club, we meet many young people, particularly those who are neurodivergent, whose skill sets are not fully recognised or given the space to flourish through the current curriculum. I would be interested to hear your reflections on what is needed to address this within the core curriculum for the future.  

JA: The curriculum assessment review that’s currently happening gives some cause for optimism. The reforms that happened 10-15 years ago have had some positive impact with positive improvements to literacy and numeracy rates. However, it has now been recognised that this may have come at the expense of broader creative and critical skills that employers highly value.  

School will always have a curriculum and it will always have a measure which will give you a grade – and that doesn’t always sit well with creativity and imagination. How do you measure creativity? How do you measure imagination? Notably, there’s the assessment burden in which the higher volume of assessment you have, the narrower you make the curriculum to maximise on teaching time. 

The school environment doesn’t work for everyone and there’s always been a need for other outlets that catch the people who don’t find they are able to flourish in this setting – and that’s where FE and the National Saturday Club steps in. We offer freedom, flexibility, and alternative ways to learn and express yourself. Traditional education can’t measure creativity easily but that doesn’t make it less valuable. 

LK: How do we create equity of access to ensure all young people, regardless of background, can find routes into further study and creative careers? What barriers are stopping these opportunities from being visible? 

JA: There is a bias in this country towards academic study routes. There’s a system that’s worked as it was supposed to for as long as A-Levels have existed. For decades, the majority of decision leaders within the education sector have most likely come through the A-Level to university pathway and that’s the route a vast amount of people would have followed. So, alternative pathways remain less visible. 

If you do well at school pre-16, you’ll be very clearly guided. You won’t have to make many decisions. If you’ve done well at GCSE level, why wouldn’t you stay on at that school to do your A-Levels? It’s a very smooth transition and you don’t have to leave the institution that you’ve come to know.  

Overwhelmingly, the majority of young people who don’t achieve five ‘good’ GCSEs go to FE college. 75% of young people who do achieve them stay in school sixth forms. This disparity means FE often serves learners who’ve had negative experiences at school and faced the most barriers to learning or employment. While that’s part of our function, we also want to attract students who might succeed even more through practical, applied learning — if only they knew the opportunities existed. 

LK: That really reflects what we see at the National Saturday Club — broadening awareness of what’s possible. Many parents and young people still don’t realise the breadth of careers available, or how rapidly the world of work is changing. 

At NSC we’re especially focused on reaching young people from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds that fit into the widening participation (WP) criteria. What are your observations about diversity in creative education, and how does the Saturday Club support that? 

JA: There are certainly communities that achieve very strongly academically but remain underrepresented in creative subjects. Overall, fewer learners who might be considered disadvantaged choose creative subjects at GCSE and therefore at higher levels of study.  

As discussed, reasons for this relate to opportunity and not getting enough time to explore creative subjects at school and creative subjects requiring access to extracurricular education to be able to hone a craft to a high standard. Add to that the cost of extracurricular activities, and you create barriers. 

There are other communities who push their children to study ‘safe’ subjects from a career progression perspective such as law, engineering or medicine and not the visual or performing arts because they feel like riskier bets.  

It’s this ‘risk’ perception that is argued against by FE and National Saturday Club who are striving to make the connection between creative skills and desirable employment skills.  

LK: I’m also interested in the work you are doing with young people who are at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The National Saturday Club can play a valuable role in supporting these young people to re-enter study or progress towards other career pathways, and I would welcome your reflections on your broader work in this area and on this growing challenge. 

JA: College can be a turning point for a lot of young people. It engages them in a way that’s very different to school.  

The young people are more independent, they’re not in 9am-3pm five days a week. They don’t have to be on premises the whole time and that environment certainly helps people. Though there is still significant structure, it’s less so. We can provide extensive support, including 1:1 interactions with ‘progress coaches’ and trauma-informed approaches for learners who are struggling to engage and at risk of dropping out. This aims to understand the behaviours and patterns of non-attendance.  

Even with that support in place, FE can still be something that they’re not engaging with. We’ve found that the Saturday Clubs play an important role in engaging these young people with something. Something even less structured where they can connect with learning on their own terms. For some, that’s the first step back towards education or employment. 

LK: National Saturday Club is a partnership network which is driven by the partners, such as the FE sector. With both the Saturday Clubs and as a collection of institutions, how do you see the model fitting into your broader mission? 

JA: FE colleges by their nature are enormously connected, in many ways they’re probably some of the most highly connected organisations in the community. We do higher education, we do apprenticeships, we’re connected into employment opportunities, we work with universities, schools, community organisations and the voluntary sector. The professionals that teach and support within our organisations are themselves connected with other communities and creative communities. 

The Saturday Club strengthens that ecosystem. It connects young people with a wider network of industry partners and creative professionals, opening doors that might otherwise stay closed while highlighting pathways to higher education, apprenticeship opportunities and employment.  

It’s an entry route for young people to connect them with the wider network and that’s probably the greatest thing we’ve got to offer them. 

There is a particular criticism of the creative sector, particularly of the media sector, that it’s all about ‘who you know’ and needing to have family or friend connections. Through National Saturday Club’s national programme including the cultural visits and Masterclasses, which we’re involved with every year, we’re helping young people make those industry connections for themselves. 

LK: Exactly – traditionally, sectors like film and TV have felt closed off, but through our partnership with the BFI, we know that the sector is keen to open its doors and to be diverse. It comes back to this partnership model of the more we work collectively, the more we can build the kind of networks that traditionally come through family or friends connections through the Saturday Club.  

Overall, how does the Saturday Club programme align with your broader educational and social mission? 

JA: Our beneficiaries include learners, employers and communities. In relation to our partnership with the National Saturday Club, all of those stakeholders are supported. 

In its purest sense, the National Saturday Club is getting young people to engage with activities just for the enjoyment of doing something creative and imaginative. We’re helping young people make a connection between the kind of skills they learn at the Club and what they could be doing for a living. What we’re doing is creating a pipeline of young people that have the skills and confidence for the businesses and employers that we also serve.  

LK: Activate Learning’s commitment to the National Saturday Club programme across all campuses and disciplines is inspiring. I’m interested in that drive. How has the partnership evolved for you over the decade? 

JA: At the start, it was about addressing declining numbers in creative subjects. But it’s become something much larger and a proven model for community engagement and talent development. 

Government priorities are again recognising the creative sector as vital to the UK economy. That’s encouraging. Yet beyond policy, the partnership with the National Saturday Club brings wider benefits: supporting wellbeing, tackling disengagement, and building future-ready skills. 

Ultimately, both outcomes of employability and wellbeing matter equally. Together, our organisations create environments where young people can rediscover their passion and potential. 

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This conversation was recorded before the Curriculum and Assessment Review was published.