Shrigley calls for the arts to be given greater priority in schools

The artist David Shrigley has said Stem subjects should be expanded to include the arts and children's creativity is being stymied by the narrow focus on maths and the sciences.

- Lanre Bakare

The Turner prize-nominated artist says "Stem" - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - should be changed to "Steam" to include the arts, which he believes are at the core of a rounded education.

He said: "I think it is really important because if you talk to anybody, any professional within engineering, for example, in order to be a good engineer, you need to have creativity in order to do that job. Creativity is part of learning...It's part of problem solving."

Yesterday Shrigley unveiled the Mantis Muse, a towering nine-metre sculpture that is at the centre of a two-week alternative curriculum he is bringing to his former comprehensive school in Leicestershire, which he hopes will start a national conversation about the importance of the arts in education.

"Art subjects are the only subjects that give kids agency to do something, because the way you learn to do maths, the way you learn to do science, is really just about...remembering information and being able to apply that information to problem solving," he said.