Can schools teach creativity" The question has been hotly debated for many years. ?Creativity? is now the new educational buzzword, perhaps even overtaking ?resilience? in the semantic repertoire of every reflective teacher. Dr Stephen Burley, Head Master King?s High School, Warwick and Dr Philip Seal, Deputy Head (Academic) King?s High, Warwick explore this topic
The late Ken Robinson?s 2006 TED talk, ?Do Schools Kill Creativity"?, with its 65 million views and inspiring call to change, established a new framework for reconsidering the educational priorities of our time. More recent voices have added more weight to the groundswell for new thinking about how schools nurture or indeed negate, the natural creativity of young people. Bill Lucas and Ellen Spencer?s book Teaching Creative Thinking makes the case for creativity being ?at the heart of the formal and informal experiences of school?. Yet, amidst the flurry of excitement and the rush of new initiatives to prioritise creativity in the classroom, George Coles? recent TES article, ?We?re Wrong to Teach Creativity, Here?s Why?, sounded a resounding note of caution: ?teaching for creativity?s sake is futile.? Instead, Coles champions ?foundational knowledge, structure and routine? as the solid basis for high-quality learning: ?lightbulb moments don?t come out of thin air.?
The debate centres on an important crux: creativity as a spontaneous artistic endeavour (in the Romantic tradition of Wordsworth et al...