It is fair to say that the main demand on schools is to hit exam targets and one might therefore see Project Based Learning as a distraction, drawing time and resources away from a focus on student progress.  However an equal or greater danger for students is that they have no intrinsic motivation to learn, leading to disengagement, skipping school, poor behaviour or to compliance and dependency.   

So engagement is a primary reason for pursuing PBL.  If you offer students some choice and autonomy, and the chance to work collaboratively the great majority will respond.  They appreciate being treated as being capable and competent and they will learn to benefit from mistakes and critical feedback. 

PBL encourages schools to use the resources for education that exist in your community and locality.  Many of you will be familiar with the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, capturing the sense that we have a collective responsibility for the education and care of the next generation.  One can adapt this proverb for modern times and appreciate that it takes a community, a village, town or city to raise a child. It is heart-warming that so many individuals and organisations want to contribute to the education of future generations, but often they cannot find the most effective way to do this. 

Another vital reason to pursue PBL is that it is a means by which schools can address ‘closing the gap’ and school improvement.  The general picture across the country is that the gap between high and low attainers is stubbornly resistant to gap closing measures.  Some schools are more successful than others but it is a tough nut to crack.  PBL brings a fresh angle because it takes students to new places, allows them to meet new people and do more things than take them out of the confines of the classroom.  This gives them raw material from which to construct more positive identities, overcome stereotypes and prejudices and inform their aspirations. It also helps them connect their learning to real world contexts, which is a part of creating authentic learning.  It can also be seen as the basis for developing social and network capital.  In a sense it is a way of providing some of what private schools provide.