Our most fundamental survival instinct is fight or flight. Within that context I am going to make a bold, uninformed claim: all human beings are hard wired to be creative. Why? Our very survival over the millenia has come down to our ability to flee from or to confront those existential dangers, those things that threaten our survival, to our ability to creatively solve problems.
If that contention is correct (it seems reasonable, but how often have things that seemed reasonable subsequently been shown to be utter tosh?) then for kura I would have thought a big question continues to be 'how do we nurture, feed, encourage, inspire, that creativity in every one of our students?'. I would have thought that we WOULD want to, since our students are the future, if I may use a well and truly hackneyed/over used cliche.
A stroll through our creative spaces, Te Pai Tūhura, gave me the opportunity to 'feast my eyes' on some gobsmackingly good mahi, the result of good teaching, combined with of all of those processes of engagement, of the opportunity work in good facilities, from our senior DVC (Design and Visual Communications) students.
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| Students created 3D virtual fly throughs of their projects |
Our DVC teacher Oscar Richardson (a trained architect in a previous life) tells me this is effectively Stage 1 Architecture School work.... high praise indeed. This is creative work, this is excellent work, this is a fabulous example of 'creative excellence'. To produce work like this also requires students and staff to have a good values foundation, and this work certainly demonstrates our values of commitment, achievement, resilience, and respect.
This stuff doesn't happen by accident. This stuff doesn't 'just happen'. It happens because we hold high expectations of all of our learners, it happens because we have good teaching taking place in good facilities. It happens because we are committed to Mana Orite, the need for equity for all learners regardless of background.
It also happens because we have clarity of vision about what we are 'about' as a kura, and because we have clarity around our foundational pedagogy 'Learn, Create, Share', which captures the centrality of creativity to learning, and implicitly to equity and wellbeing.
Three words keep ringing in my head, three words that simply won't go away: clarity, coherence, and persistence, and I think that accurately describes a significant part of what good leadership looks like. Our staff know the story.. 'stay on the bus', as per the 'Helsinki bus theory.
Is creativity 'hard wired' into us as a survival instinct? I have noiidea, but it is an idea that appeals eh!!
Hi Robin
ReplyDeleteLove this post...wow what amazing stuff.
I have always thought that our education system has knocked creativity out of learners! Talking with pre schoolers and 5 year olds is always very grounding. Creative thinking is their way!
Yesterday one of these little people had this to say
Zoo talk….
If we are called Kiwis, are Australians called Kangaroos?
Not really, they’re mostly called Aussies
Then why aren’t we called NZ’ies?
...Creative thinking at a really foundational level.
I'm not sure why it is that we( not me per se) feel the need to tell kids what to think, how to behave and to a certain extent what to wear. I know that there are social norms that in a civilised society ( ???) people need to understand and schools have a role to play but how does conformist behaviour align to creative thinking - are the two compatible?
I must be feeling a bit old but over the years creative thinking seems to have become the domain of the arts( OH NO!) when in reality creative thinking could pertain to anything and is actually what the world needs right now more than ever!
How do we as leaders encourage creative thinking - what is the message in our 'hidden' agenda - which is often not so hidden!