Creative Thinking in Schools E-Book

Bill Lucas

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 204

Beschreibung

This leadership playbook has been published to coincide with the global release of the first PISA test results on creative thinking, the Creativity Collaboratives under way in England and the growing importance of creative thinking in countries across the world.Creative Thinking in Schoolsfocuses on how leaders can create capacity among their staff to embed creative thinking, both in their own lives and in the lives of their pupils. Itoffers a framework for improving creative thinking based on the widely used five creative habits framework developed by the Centre for Real-World Learning. The framework focuses on developing learners who are inquisitive, persistent, collaborative, disciplined and imaginative. Underpinned by research and analysis of practice in hundreds of schools across the world, and more recently by an in-depth study of fifty schools in England,Creative Thinking in Schoolsprovides a range of accessible resources, planning tools and practical examples. These support leaders to reflect on their core purposes, understand the changes needed to embed creative thinking, develop leaders across their staff, facilitate the development of their teachers, plan, teach and assess creative thinking, and work with external partners, all the while developing a vibrant professional learning community. Complemented by a dedicated website which contains additional downloadable materials and case studies,the playbook will allow leaders and teachers around the world to connect with each other and share their own experiences in order to develop, spread, extend and evaluate creative thinking within and across schools. Creative Thinking in Schoolswill support a professional learning community of leaders and teachers who see creative thinking as a core purpose of education and are interested in making it a priority in their school. It will encourage pupils to develop their creativity in the classroom, allowing future generations to thrive in a world that is increasingly complex. Creative Thinking in Schools: A Leadership Playbookhas been supported by the Mercers Company, Creativity, Culture and Education and the Arts Council of Wales. Suitable for school and system leaders, teacher leaders and policy makers who see creative thinking as a core purpose in education.

Leseprobe

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Praise for Creative Thinking in Schools

In schools we often know why something matters and what we should do about it. But when it comes to teaching creativity, we are less sure about when and how this can best be accomplished. This playbook clearly and thoughtfully translates cutting-edge research into practical creative leadership strategies that will make sustainable change accessible to leaders in schools.

Michael Anderson, Professor of Arts and Creativity Education and Co-Director of CREATE, University of Sydney

All children and young people should have the opportunity to express and channel their creativity throughout their schooling. Any practical resources – such as this exciting new playbook – that can help school leaders and teachers in enabling this to happen are to be warmly welcomed.

Sally Bacon, OBE, Co-Chair, Cultural Learning Alliance and co-author of The Arts in Schools: Foundations for the Future

Never was there a greater need for brave leadership to preserve and promote empowering creativity across the curriculum, as an entitlement for every child from every background. So now, in the age of the robots, let’s celebrate and teach the habits and discipline of creative thinking and of creative working. This excellent playbook will support courageous school leaders to put creative thinking back at the heart of education where it belongs.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary, Association of School and College Leaders

Creative Thinking in Schools: A Leadership Playbook serves as a roadmap to a series of experiences that leaders can use to reinvigorate their own creative muscles and those of their communities. The playbook includes activities designed to help leaders lead crucial conversations on the role creativity should play in their community as well as structures and facilitation guides that will support them in inculcating creativity into their classrooms, learning environments and communities. For school leaders looking to move the needle, embrace and lead change, this playbook will quickly become your go-to guide for leading professional development and designing the learning environment our students most desperately need and deserve.

Professor Laura McBain, Co-Interim Managing Director, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University

A superb resource for school leaders who wish to support and challenge their teams through active engagement. A unique blend of evidence and activities that promote creativity in action. This is definitely for schools that want to think differently about professional learning.

Dr Simon Camby, Group Chief Education Officer, Cognita Schools

The four purposes of Curriculum for Wales are the shared aspiration for every young person. They provide the opportunity for innovative systems, tools and creative thinking in the education system to create a better future. This playbook provides a practical resource and complements the Creative Leadership Programme that has been recognised and endorsed by the National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales as meeting the needs of leaders in Wales.

Tegwen Ellis, Chief Executive, National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales

This is an outstanding resource, founded on deep knowledge and bursting with provocative ideas and playful strategies for making teaching and leading more creative in your school. Here, seven great experts in creativity, professional learning, leadership and change, give you every reason for, and no excuse for not, livening up your staffrooms, classrooms and online meetings so that they are more creative in their processes and results. In the playbook’s own words, it will advance ‘creative thinking in all aspects of your school’s life’.

Professor Andy Hargreaves, Co-Director, Canadian Playful Schools Network, University of Ottawa

The authors of this magnificent playbook have created something truly amazing – a highly useable and practical resource for leaders. You will be able to transform your school, your network and your jurisdiction. We cannot wait to provide every network school with this book.

Dr Linda Kaser and Dr Judy Halbert, Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education, British Columbia B

Curriculum for Wales is designed with four core purposes. One of these highlights the importance of creativity; supporting learners to become enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work. If our learners are to become independent, creative, critical thinkers, then we need to support our school leaders to develop and enhance their skills as independent, creative, critical thinkers too.

This playbook is a wonderful resource that will further enhance and enrich the creative learning programme in Wales, inspiring and supporting leaders to explore new approaches to teaching and learning with creativity at its heart.

Diane Hebb, Director of Arts Engagement, Arts Council of Wales

This wonderful playbook captures the expertise, provocations, lessons learned and insights that a generous community of creative learning experts, researchers, educators and school leaders around the world have shared. Providing a wealth of practical activities and examples in words, diagrams and images, it is a vital resource for any school leader who wants to inspire and coach their team to embed and deliver creative learning strategies across their school.

Tabitha McMullan, Chief Executive Officer, FORM: Building a State of Creativity, Australia

In our ever-changing world, developing creative thinking is essential to help our young people thrive, not only in lessons but also through life. For those leaders with the ambition to build a learning organisation with creativity and achievement for all at its heart, this playbook brings a fantastic collection of information, ideas and practical resources to do just that. It’s a must for those with a wider view of education today.

Andy Moor, Chief Executive Officer, Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Trust

This playbook has universal appeal across countries. It provides insightful tools for school communities to develop creative thinking, unlocking potential and hidden leadership from everyone in schools. The playbook’s universal usability also makes it a perfect gift for anyone in the international community of creative thinking in schools.

Dr Kraiyos Patrawart, Managing Director, Equitable Education Fund, Thailand

The playbook deliberately places emphasis on the creative dimension of leadership, becoming comfortable with openness, offering greater trust, developing spaces for new thinking. I highly recommend it.

Dame Professor Alison Peacock, Chief Executive Officer, Chartered College of Teaching

We know that creative thinking is critical for our young people – but too often, our curricula and cultures don’t nurture these skills. This playbook gives practical tools to support all leaders to consider why this work is so important, and how to make it happen.

Liz Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, Big Education Multi-Academy Trust

I particularly like the way in which the playbook is both soundly rooted in research and also enjoyably creative and playful in the approach to professional learning.

Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

This leadership playbook is a really valuable resource for school leaders who want to cultivate the creativity of their students in all subjects by developing the confidence and skills of their staff. It very much mirrors the learning emerging from the eight pilot Creativity Collaboratives across England where early results suggest that teaching for creativity is a welcome and attainable goal for all schools.

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England

This playbook is an essential resource for anyone who cares about the place of creativity in education, providing accessible yet expert guidance to nurture and sustain creative thinking, creative teaching and creative learning.

Mags Walsh, Programme Director, Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools, Ireland

This playbook aligns with the key focus of the Curriculum for Wales on supporting creativity, as one of the skills integral to its four purposes. It will be a valuable resource to help school leaders develop their talents and skills.

Welsh Government Education Directorate

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Foreword by Andreas Schleicher

In a world in which the things that are easy to teach and test have also become easy to digitise and automate, the capacity of individuals to imagine, create and build things of intrinsic worth is rising in importance. Schools today need to prepare pupils for a period of extraordinarily rapid economic and social change, for jobs that haven’t yet been created, to use technologies that haven’t yet been invented and to solve social problems that we can’t yet imagine. People need to be able to imagine new solutions, connect the dots between things that previously seemed unconnected, see new possibilities and turn them into new products or ways of living.

All this makes creative thinking vital. And it presents a particular challenge to school leaders who need to inspire their teachers to ensure that their pupils achieve the best qualifications they can in whatever accountability regime they find themselves, but also to prepare their pupils for uncertain, challenging times.

In 2022, for the first time, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Assessment tested the creative thinking of 15-year-old pupils in an international comparative setting. In selecting creative thinking as the focus of its new test, the OECD is explicitly seeking to raise the status of this important human competence. When we publish the results of this groundbreaking test, I hope it will act as a spur to policymakers, leaders and teachers to embed creative thinking in every aspect of school life.

The Creative Thinking test, along with other advances in our understanding led by my colleagues at the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation and by Professor Bill Lucas and his research team, provides an opportunity for school leaders across the world to make a step change in their practices. We increasingly know about curriculum design, the selection of signature pedagogies and how best to evidence the progress of young people’s creative thinking skills, but for real change to happen we need to focus on building the knowledge, confidence and capabilities of the teaching profession to deliver these changes at scale.

Creative Thinking in Schools: A Leadership Playbook lays out a series of evidence-based activities that school leaders can use with their staff to consider what creativity is, how it can be taught and assessed, and what cultural and system changes need to be put in place to enable this to happen. I particularly like the way in which the playbook is both soundly rooted in research and also enjoyably creative and playful in the approach to professional learning that it offers.

Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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Foreword by Professor Dame Alison Peacock

Creativity has been lazily maligned by some influential educationalists for too long. The theory goes that children cannot be given space to imagine, to develop criticality or to think for themselves as this is inefficient compared with direct instruction. On the contrary, we need children critically to appraise the knowledge they are taught, learn to play with big ideas, forge connections and make sense of the world. These skills rarely flourish in a siloed curriculum.

By the same token, it has been assumed that creativity is the unique preserve of the arts. It is not. While the arts provide many opportunities to cultivate creativity, you can be creative in any and every aspect of the school curriculum and in the wider community. Scientists need to think creatively to make advances in understanding. Mathematicians need to challenge assumptions and use their imagination to make new connections and see problems with fresh eyes. Creativity is ubiquitous.

This playbook offers a wide range of activities and resources aimed at scaffolding professional creative thinking among teaching colleagues. As core purposes are reviewed, the aim is to free up colleagues, enabling them to develop a tolerance of uncertainty as perceived constraints are diminished. This is not about discarding current approaches to pedagogy, curriculum and assessment. Rather, it’s about noticing and responding to the space for creativity across all areas of school life. It’s about the use of frameworks such as ‘creative habits’ to review and further develop whole-school thinking. I particularly like the way in which the authors consider the development not just of pupils’ creativity but of the adults who care for them too.

Much has been written about leadership and the skills required to manage change. Usually, such texts focus on ‘school improvement’ with the core focus on measurable outcomes. In this work, the authors deliberately place an emphasis on the creative dimension of leadership. This means becoming comfortable with openness, offering greater trust and developing spaces for new thinking. To be a creative leader is to be someone who goes beyond traditional leadership towards enabling transformative practice, supporting the development of signature creative pedagogies, embracing diversity and celebrating difference.

Through collaboration and the development of agency, creative leadership energises colleagues, ultimately becoming part of the DNA of a school culture. The professional learning activities in this playbook encourage colleagues to disrupt existing habitual behaviours, to reflect on core purposes and, ultimately, to build a collaborative theory of change. This is about building greater organisational intellectual strength through establishing core threads and patterns which support the curriculum and transform overall standards of achievement.

I recommend this resource to you as the nudge we need to move our profession towards greater consideration of what really matters in education. We want to have it all, but in seeking this we must recognise that a model of schooling that allows a third of our children to be labelled as failures at 16 is a model that needs reform. Embracing creativity, celebrating neurodiversity as strength and embracing a rich talent-filled approach to education means setting up our children to flourish.

Professor Dame Alison Peacock, CEO, Chartered College of Teaching, England

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Preface

For nearly two centuries, teachers have focused largely on what has become known as the knowledge contained in the 3Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic. At the macro level, educational jurisdictions – the countries and states that set policy for schools – are upgrading their view of what schools should be teaching and learning. Now, it’s time to recognise some of the additional broader skills and dispositions that are needed today – for example, the 3Cs of communication, collaboration and creative thinking.

The focus of this resource, what we’re calling a playbook, is on the last of these three, creative thinking. And, as we explore the leadership challenges of embedding creativity in schools, we’ll use the metaphor of plays in this playbook, as we help school leaders to play the game of learning in ways that will transform the lives of their pupils and staff.

We’ve reached a global tipping point for creative thinking in schools. Some countries – Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Scotland and Wales, for example – have embraced the 3Cs wholeheartedly in their national curricula. Countries like these, which see creative thinking as important, tend to think of their curricula not just in terms of individual subjects but also as a set of wider competences which can be embedded in all disciplines. Others, England is one of them, have been resistant, seeing the introduction of creative thinking, for instance, as somehow distracting pupils from the knowledge they need to acquire in specific subjects.

A few of us (the authors) live and/or work in Wales where changes are already happening. Most of us live in England, although have experience of working with many other systems across the world, so we can see the big differences in approaches. After what seems like a very long wait, the landscape for creativity and creative thinking in English schools is becoming more positive. In 2019, the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education published its first report, making clear the importance of creativity and creative thinking in schools.1 Its major recommendation was that networks of schools willing to make a reality of embedding creative thinking in every aspect of school life should be given significant funding. In 2021, eight Creativity Collaboratives were launched, and this significant investment is driving interest across England.2

Mounting evidence internationally of the importance of creative thinking has led to the situation where the challenge to school leaders isn’t whether to focus on creative thinking but how.3 And, all the while, schools have to be mindful of the political context in which they operate, that current governments have specific issues on which they’re focusing, and that inspections of schools can both enhance and undermine brave leaders who are trying to do something different. We know that where a country prioritises creative thinking, schools will find it considerably easier to do the same. But there are things schools can do – and choices they can make – around developing creative thinking to ensure that children and young people can flourish now and in their future, whatever educational system they grow up in. This depends on creative leadership.

Creative leadership is important because creative thinking is important, and all change in schools requires the commitment and active engagement of leaders. There’s a multidimensional argument for the importance of creative thinking that includes wellbeing, employability, economic growth, the fast-paced nature of change in the world today, a growing international impetus and the broader educational benefits of creativity.

ivAcross the world, many education systems are making progress with fostering creativity within educational settings. We’ll draw on these throughout the playbook. That the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test of creativity of 15-year-olds was carried out for the first time in 2022 is a clear indication of a global direction of travel.4

The model of creativity and creative thinking that underpins this playbook focuses on five key creative habits of mind – inquisitive, persistent, collaborative, disciplined and imaginative (see Resource 1: Five Creative Habits Framework). There’s strong evidence of the value of each one of these habits.

As well as arguments that are essentially about the value of creative thinking, there are also some that are specific to the particular challenge of leading creative thinking in schools today. These include the need to be robustly articulate in challenging five myths which still survive today – that creativity: (1) is too vague to be teachable, (2) is inherited and not learned, (3) is uniquely the preserve of the arts, (4) detracts from a ‘standards’ agenda and (5) isn’t connected with ‘domain’ knowledge.

We’ve developed this resource to help you strengthen your creative leadership. It’ll provide you with evidence on all these issues and more. We hope that it’ll be valuable to you wherever you are and that its approaches to school leadership will be widely transferable across the world.

1 Arts Council England and Durham University, Durham Commission on Creativity and Education (London: Arts Council England, 2012), p. 3. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Durham_Commission_on_Creativity_04112019_0.pdf.

2 See https://www.creativityexchange.org.uk/creativity-collaboratives.

3 B. Lucas, Creative Thinking in Schools Across the World: A Snapshot of Progress in 2022 (London: Global Institute of Creative Thinking, 2022).

4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, PISA 2021: Creative Thinking Framework (Third Draft) (Paris: OECD, 2019). Available at: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA-2021-creative-thinking-framework.pdf.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to:

The Mercers’ Company who funded research into the leadership of creativity in schools undertaken by the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) at the University of Winchester and supported the development of the playbook.

The Comino Foundation for its long-term commitment to funding the Centre for Real-World Learning’s focus on developing the creative thinking capabilities of all young people.

Creativity, Culture and Education for supporting the original research which led to the development of CRL’s Five Creative Habits framework used in the playbook and for funding the development of the playbook.

The Arts Council of Wales for their longstanding commitment to using the CRL framework and for funding an online platform to support the playbook.

The many schools we’ve partnered with and learned from, including those involved in CRL’s research with Mercers, the eight Creativity Collaboratives in England, lead creative schools in Wales, FORM’s Creative Schools programme in Western Australia and schools undertaking research into the assessment of creative thinking as part of Rethinking Assessment.

The many creative practitioners and educators whose work has been influential in the development of the plays, including Paul Collard, Paul Gorman, Sophie Hadaway, Sam Holdsworth, Marie Othilie Hundevadt, Greg Klerkx, Sally Pilkington and Lamis Sabra.

We’re particularly grateful to Greg Ross and Richard Harrison at the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership, and to Simon Rogers and Laura Morris at Walsall Academy for feedback on draft activities.

Contents

Title PageForeword by Andreas SchleicherForeword by Professor Dame Alison PeacockPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionPart 1:Warming UpWarm-Up 1:Explore Creativity and Creative ThinkingActivity 1 Understand the Essence of Creativity Activity 2 Find the Creative You Activity 3 Explore Creative Habits Activity 4 Chart Your Creativity Over Time Activity 5 Notice Creativity in Action Warm-Up 2:Shift the ParadigmActivity 6 Be Clear About the Purpose of School Activity 7 A Different Kind of School Activity 8 A Different Kind of Leadership Activity 9 Creative Leadership in Action Part 2: Playing the Whole Game of LearningPlay 1:The Change ProcessActivity 10 Use a Theory of Change Activity 11 Hang Out the Change Plan Activity 12 Develop Powerful Networks Activity 13 Identify Challenges, Barriers and Uncertainties Activity 14 Mitigate Risks Play 2:Develop LeadersActivity 15 Identify, Enable and Grow Creative Change Catalysts Play 3:Change the CultureActivity 16 Core Values to Support Creativity Activity 17 Develop a Common Language Activity 18 Debunk Myths About Creativity Play 4:Rethink StructuresActivity 19 Thread It Through the School Improvement Plan Activity 20 Reimagine Systems Play 5:Develop a Creative CurriculumActivity 21 Embed Creativity in the Curriculum Activity 22 Look Beyond the Classroom Play 6:Rethink PedagogyActivity 23 Use Signature Pedagogies for Creativity Play 7:Track Progression in Creative ThinkingActivity 24 Rethink Assessment Activity 25 Develop Creativity Assessment Literacy Among Staff Play 8:Ensure Professional LearningActivity 26 Create Opportunities for Powerful Professional Learning Play 9:Collaborate with External PartnersActivity 27 Nurture and Learn with External Partners Activity 28 Learn with Other Schools Activity 29 Foster Creative Mindsets By Looking Outside Education Play 10:Reflect and EvaluateActivity 30 Review and Fine-Tune Call to actionResourcesResource 1:Five Creative Habits FrameworkResource 2:Descriptions of the Creative HabitsResource 3:Creativity Habits Web TemplateResource 4:Creative Individuals Are …Resource 5:Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment/Progression VennResource 6:Schools as Learning Organisations: Stimulating Environments for Creative ThinkingResource 7:School as a Learning Organisation PlanResource 8:Creative Leadership PlaysResource 9:Creative Leadership Plays – NotesResource 10:Using a Theory of Change in SchoolsResource 11:Intervention CardsResource 12:Thinking About How Social Networks Can Support Educational ChangeResource 13:Common Change ChallengesResource 14:Example Risk MatrixResource 15:Great Teacher Leader CharacteristicsResource 16:The What and Who of LeadershipResource 17:Images for Identifying, Growing and Enabling Change CatalystsResource 18:What Are You Doing? What Might You Do?Resource 19:Evidence SheetResource 20:The Power of LanguageResource 21:Five Myths About CreativityResource 22:Thinking About Your LocalityResource 23:Signature Pedagogies for Creative ThinkingResource 24:Rethinking Assessment FiguresResource 25:A Repertoire of Methods for Assessing Creative ThinkingResource 26:Learning Progression for ‘Inquisitive’Resource 27:Pupil Self-Report for ‘Inquisitive’Resource 28:Twenty Professional Learning Activity CardsResource 29:Powerful Professional Learning GridResource 30:Peer Learning Prompt CardsResource 31:The Peer Learning CycleResource 32:Richards and Hadaway ReadingBibliographyAbout the authorsCopyright

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Introduction

Playbook, noun

A book containing play scripts.Sports A notebook that contains descriptions or diagrams of the plays of a team, especially a football team.A set of tactics often used by people engaged in competitive activities.1

Across the world, schools are changing as they increasingly try to ‘play’ what David Perkins calls the ‘whole game’ of learning, one in which a broad set of dispositions, skills and knowledge are equally valued.2 The concept of a playbook comes from American football where teams describe the specific moves or ‘plays’ that they would put into practice on the field. But the term is also being used to describe how different situations should be addressed by individuals and teams. The Cambridge Business English Dictionary