Creative Thinking: New Curriculum
by It is hoped that the new curriculum will give teachers better opportunities to foster creativity in their classrooms. We talk to one of OCR’s creativity gurus. The British inventor James Dyson once said that engineering was all about being creative, and having the ability “to recognise the power of the imagination and the potential of a good idea, and then to translate this into a tangible object or a clever piece of machinery”.
Drawn to art and design from an early age, and now a multi-billionaire, he should know. Having his early designs rejected by one major manufacturer after another, he might well have added: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.”
Many teachers will have a potential inventor sitting in their midst who might never realise their potential. The question for schools is: how do they develop the next generation of innovators and creators who will positively contribute to the nation’s future?
According to Steve Blundell, who develops courses in creativity for OCR, creativity is already there in most people – they just may not realise it.
“When you think about it, the rudiments are already there within each one of us. We all take risks, we all come up with imaginative solutions to unpredictable problems and we all learn from mistakes.
“We might not be very willing to take risks and we may stubbornly resist learning from our mistakes, but creativity is a dimension of the human condition,” he added.
Teaching, therefore, is about how children and young people can be encouraged to take and manage risks within a structured learning environment. He believes that children learn best when they are active participants in the learning process.
“We want to fully engage our students in experiencing the mysteries of a subject as well as teaching them how they can make sense of those mysteries for themselves,” he said. “Each subject has evolved through practitioners taking risks, being open to opportunities, and finding out about things in novel ways. But none of their experiences would have counted for anything had they also not been able to learn from all those practices.”
So to bring out the creativity in their students, teachers need to be aware of their own creativity in their own teaching, learning and planning. This includes their classroom organisation, the way they display pupils’ work, and in their evaluations. Many teachers are excellent at this already and thrive on the challenge of producing ever new, interesting and motivating resources for their pupils.
OCR says it is aiming to allow teachers the flexibility to produce different work from their students every year. For example, the drama GCSE specification will allow centres to choose their own texts and stimulus material to teach to their strengths and to suit the needs of their students so that they get the most from their courses and their creativity is encouraged.
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