Whatever role you have in life it is so important to foster and sponsor creativity in our young people.
As parents, teachers and employers we can all encourage and inspire learning in the broadest sense.
What is heartbreaking is the current emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Coupled with rigorous testing we are gradually squeezing the lifeblood out of the creative arts in our schools and colleges.
Education should take the broadest perspective for as long as possible, instead of narrowing the curriculum, we should encourage exploration, innovation, enterprise and creativity.
Beyond primary schools so much of education, examination and even recruitment is about testing, choices and fitting people into pre-determined boxes.
‘You want to do science, well you can’t do arts as well’
‘You might think you want to do that job, well you don’t have the qualifications to do it’
Our education system sadly is not fit for purpose, the world has changed at such a pace, we are relying on those inspiring teachers who despite the constraints on them manage to still engender a love of learning, and help build self-belief.
Education is prone to experimentation, long-suffering teachers are exposed to White Paper after White Paper, visits from inspectors, standards, new rules about curriculum, governmental opinions, about-turn decisions and new initiatives set against a backdrop of reduced funding, lack of resources and disenchanted students, and yet intuitively many teachers know what is right.
We can all give examples of a teacher who can make a room come alive, who made us believe in ourselves, who saw something that perhaps even we were unaware of. These are the teachers who inspire others, who through their own passion, drive and commitment nurture us, encourage us to push the boundaries of our experience and pick us up and encourage us to try again when we fail. Sadly too, we all remember the teachers who were less encouraging, who made us feel small, who ensured that we stayed silent, who made us a figure of fun, who pointed out our failings to us and others.
Supporting creative young people in making a successful transition from school to college and university or employment is one of the most valuable things we can do in life. How can we ensure that a laughing and happy 3 year-old who enters nursery full of curiosity and questions successfully navigates their learning journey so that they emerge at 16, or 18, or later, still happy and curious, but with their wisdom enriched by a journey of personal discovery.
What happens in our centres of learning can have such an impact on how young people develop, and it is heartbreaking when you meet young people who for many years have not been enriched, or who had not even begun to understand their potential. Contrast this with highly creative and energised young people who have received the right support, are prepared for a changing world of work and are doing the work they really want to do either working for themselves, or for organisations that have made the effort to understand creativity and talent.
I have met many talented teachers and lecturers who are committed to creating inspiring learning environments who need the right funding and the right freedoms to ensure that every young person receives the quality of teaching that inspires them to believe in their own ability and to fully exploit their creative talent.
But once the hurdles of examinations, recruitment testing and interviewing are over we rely even more on creative leaders, who grow their businesses with a passion, who recognise and foster embryonic talent and provide flexible employment opportunities.
One of my favourite quotes is quite old, but still has a resonance today,
‘What if each and every day, from the time you were a small child, you had been given an extra helping of self-confidence, double the amount of determination, and twice the amount of belief in the outcome?
Can you imagine what tasks you might accomplish more easily, what problems you would overcome, what goals you would reach? …… Could it be that those who appear to be ‘luckier’ than the rest have only gotten a little better programming? …. It is no longer a success theory… The brain simply believes what you tell it most”
Shad Helmstetter, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself 1998
If you work in education, you might be interested in the following book: