The Creativity Agenda
For those of you who missed out on DSF’s exciting Creative Learning forum in you can watch an abridged version of Sefton-Green’s talk here.
Dr Julian Sefton-Green is a leading international thinker and practitioner in creative learning. His talk is divided into four chapters.
Chapter 1: Why Creative Learning now?
Here Sefton?Green gives an overview of the international creative learning landscape. He discusses 3 key themes which saw creative learning come into prominence in the UK and how these relate to the current Australian situation.
- Renewed attention to the creative economy. Governments who understand that a large part of economic growth comes from the production and exploitation of the creative economy search for ways to invest in it’s development.
- Concern about the relevance of schools. Since the late 1990’s in developed countries there has been an increasing sense of anxiety that schools are not fit for purpose; that schools are failing young people and that the processes of schooling are irrelevant. Creativity is often heralded as a remedy to the perceived failings of the schooling system. Sefton-Green questions whether there really is a crisis in schooling.
- Creativity has also become a values issue. We live in a culture that is very concerned with identity processes, that pays great attention to therapeutic discourses like: how can we grow as people? How do we achieve value? Creativity is seen as a process that we all need access to in order to fulfill ourselves.
Chapter 2: Key dimensions of what constitutes creative learning
- Creative learning can extend what is on offer in schools.
- Creative learning can provide connections across subjects.
- Creative learning offers ways of engaging young people who are disaffected and alienated from the curriculum and from school experience.
- Creative learning can increase the capacity for independent thought and risk taking by stimulating curiosity and imagination.
- Creative learning is not only about young people but also about teachers pursuing creative approaches to teaching.
- Creative learning can extend the site and time of learning beyond school.
- Creative learning is often seen as a way of helping institutions themselves take on forms of school change.
Chapter 3: What does creative learning look like in practice?
In this chapter, Sefton?Green talks about what creative learning looks like in three domains of education.
- Formal education – schools. In this section