UK Needs To Focus More On Teaching Creativity In Schools

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The Education Secretary Nicky Morgan recently spoke at the education campaign launch that aims to encourage STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. During her speech, Morgan commented that when students opt to study conventionally creative subjects like arts and humanities, it limits their career options and prospects. She is the latest addition in the long list of politicians who completely misunderstand the significance and value of creativity. 

Importance of Creativity in Education

 

Studying creativity is not only limited to pursuing “creative” subjects, like English and art, in the classroom. The fact is the basic definition of creative subjects is an inaccurate explanation of what creativity actually means. 

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Here is an example of creativity in schools: Sir Ken Robinson once interviewed Oscar award winning Hans Zimmer. According to the interview, Zimmer was a disorderly child and was repudiated from 8 different schools. In the 9^th school, the head teacher, who tried to get him more engaged in his studied, spoke to him and found out that Zimmer liked music. So the teacher helped him to study music which improved his performance in other academic areas and eventually built his winning career. 

Hollywood composer

This instance goes on to show the importance of creativity in school. The head teacher had an open mind and modified the teaching process to enable Zimmer learn better. Unfortunately, this has now become highly difficult due to strictly regulated teaching methods. 

Need for Making Education Engaging 

 

Localism is a recent popular political trend for bottom-up politics. You can observe it in the support for better devolution, especially among the advocates of constitutional conventions, and also in attempt to propagate patient-led services. Creativity can help to support this trend in education. Educators who have the ability to establish teaching methods in accordance to what our students need and want to learn. The truth is schools offer a rather disruptive experience to many learners, with most students feeling disengaged with the current educational system. 

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This concept focuses on self-determination, which is the basic belief of creativity. It is only with the help of creativity, an individual finds the ability to voice their opinions, whether through creating music like Hans Zimmer or by writing a story or song or through developing some useful software. Moreover, creativity also significantly adds to our economy, contrary to popular belief. 

Creativity and Politics

 

The view of Nicky Morgan on arts and humanities depicts what kind of a large problem the government has with teaching creativity in schools. Michael Gove, former Secretary of State for Education, was rather vocal about how creativity can be achieved only by pursuing formal education. David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has also said that we would prefer to develop a UK film industry which produces blockbuster films like Harry Potter, instead of independent movies. Our beloved politicians have made it clear that the government does not understand what creativity is actually is. 

Creativity is not about compelling students to learn and write grammatically correct paragraphs or producing blockbusters; creativity is about self-determination, innovation and expression. The government should start to see the social, political and economic benefits offered by creative learning as only then they can so some creative thinking. 

What do you think about teaching creativity in schools? Share your concerns and opinions with us by commenting below.