“There is a perception from top to bottom that doing things on paper, doing conceptual thinking, is at the apex of everything, that this is where you want to be,” muses Trevor H J Marchand, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS London. “Working with your hands is seen as something for kids who did not quite make it in the classroom."

Speaking on this episode, he explains that this needs to change, urgently. 

“We need to broaden our understanding of what knowledge and what intelligence is,” argues Marchand. “Until we establish a new values system, we are going to struggle to get the hands on learning into the curriculum and have respect for it.”

He and Kester Brewin discuss why this is, taking in everything from building Minarets in Yemen to 2.6m tall people in the classroom.