Creativity Is Flourishing In Schools

How to keep it going strong

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Creativity is something that is part of everyday language.

Yet most people find it hard to describe it.

For me creativity is about being able to find different ways or solutions to solve problems. To do that people need to think in ways that are different and they need to link different ideas together using their imagination to visualise solutions.

Lots of debate and questions are raised about whether schools encourage or kill creativity.

I’ve seen and continue to hear about how creativity is alive and flourishing in English schools today. Students are great at using it in lessons and teachers work hard to come up with creative ideas for teaching and assessment.

Making creative preparations for tests

When I taught in large schools there was always an emphasis on testing and assessment.

Student success was measured by their ability to complete a test. Students could do well on these tests if they spent time studying and practicing questions from past tests. You might think that that left little room for creativity but I would ask my students to work creatively when preparing to take a test.