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Sir Ken Robinson’s ‘Creative Schools’: Change We All Want & Deserve
By
Aimee Bartis
Sir Ken Robinson, with collaborator Lou Aronica, does what he does best in his latest book, Creative Schools. Robinson does an excellent job of highlighting what is going right in education, while asking questions about how we can do better. The book is wide reaching and hits on all stakeholders. Robinson raises important questions, showcases those who have answered those questions and acknowledges that all communities must ask and answer questions for themselves.
Robinson begins Creative Schools with a discussion of metaphors. In his RSA animated talk, Changing Education Paradigms, Robinson drew parallels between factories and schools.
To ensure future success for our students, Robinson suggests a new metaphor for education – organic farming. “Education is really improved only when we understand that it too is a living system and that people thrive in certain conditions and not in others,” says Robinson. Organic farming is not just concerned with the output but also with the soil and sustainability. Similarly, education should be concerned not just with the graduate (output) but with the conditions of education (soil). There are four principles of organic farming that Robinson applies to schools:
Robinson spends a great deal of time on the idea that kids are natural learners. Sugata Mitra’s hole in the wall experiment reiterates this assertion. Mitra put a computer in a wall in a slum in India and watched students teach themselves. Kids want to learn but, often schools aren’t designed for optimal learning. Outside of school, people are able to devote large chunks of time on projects. Not so much at school. We move students every 45-60 minutes then we complain that students can’t pay attention.
Robinson believes that personalization is the answer to this problem. Personalization means recognizing that intelligence is diverse, students should be able to pursue their own interests and strengths, adapting schedules to match student’s rates of learning and assessing students in ways that supports and promotes their progress.
Robinson explores the roles of other educational stakeholders in the book as well. He discusses the art of teaching, the importance of school leadership and legislator’s role in reforming education.
My favorite chapter is titled “What’s Worth Knowing?” This is a hot topic in education and is on the minds of many educators as they are handed ever expanding lists of standards to cover each school year. Robinson suggests eight competencies schools should focus on:
Throughout the book, Robinson highlights schools that are working towards these goals for students. Schools that are working within their systems and buildings to change education for their students. My favorite example that Robinson returns to multiple times is Grangetown. Grangetown is Grange Primary School in central England. When Richard Gerver became the head teacher, Grange was low performing. Gerver wanted to get back to basics but not in the traditional school reform sense. He wanted to harness natural creativity and curiosity. The result was that the school was transformed into a town – Grange Primary School became Grangetown. Every student had a job. There are radio and TV stations, doctor’s office and other places that encourage role-playing. “I wanted to explore how we could take that role-playing-based experience to develop teamwork, resilience, self-confidence and community responsibility.” says Gerver (pg. 40).
As with all Robinson’s books, Creative Schools was an easy read. His writing style is very relaxed and conversational. I’ve watched his TED talks enough that I can ‘hear’ him reading the book in my head. Robinson’s ideas are straightforward and clearly in the best interest of all students. But there is much work to do to implement these ideas across the country and create real change for our students. Robinson closes with this: “As Gandhi said, if you want to change the world, you must be the change you want to see. Because if enough people move, that is a movement. And if the movement has enough energy that is a revolution. And in education, that’s exactly what we need.” (pg. 251). Indeed.
By
Aimee Bartis
Sir Ken Robinson, with collaborator Lou Aronica, does what he does best in his latest book, Creative Schools. Robinson does an excellent job of highlighting what is going right in education, while asking questions about how we can do better. The book is wide reaching and hits on all stakeholders. Robinson raises important questions, showcases those who have answered those questions and acknowledges that all communities must ask and answer questions for themselves.
Robinson begins Creative Schools with a discussion of metaphors. In his RSA animated talk, Changing Education Paradigms, Robinson drew parallels between factories and schools.
To ensure future success for our students, Robinson suggests a new metaphor for education – organic farming. “Education is really improved only when we understand that it too is a living system and that people thrive in certain conditions and not in others,” says Robinson. Organic farming is not just concerned with the output but also with the soil and sustainability. Similarly, education should be concerned not just with the graduate (output) but with the conditions of education (soil). There are four principles of organic farming that Robinson applies to schools:
- Health. Schools should develop the entire student – intellectually, physically, spiritually and socially.
- Ecology. Education must promote “interdependence of all of these aspects of development, within each student and community as a whole” (pg. 44).
- Fairness. Each student is treated as an individual and their talents and potential are recognized and cultivated.
- Care. Students are treated with compassion and with regard for their individual situation.
Robinson spends a great deal of time on the idea that kids are natural learners. Sugata Mitra’s hole in the wall experiment reiterates this assertion. Mitra put a computer in a wall in a slum in India and watched students teach themselves. Kids want to learn but, often schools aren’t designed for optimal learning. Outside of school, people are able to devote large chunks of time on projects. Not so much at school. We move students every 45-60 minutes then we complain that students can’t pay attention.
Robinson believes that personalization is the answer to this problem. Personalization means recognizing that intelligence is diverse, students should be able to pursue their own interests and strengths, adapting schedules to match student’s rates of learning and assessing students in ways that supports and promotes their progress.
Robinson explores the roles of other educational stakeholders in the book as well. He discusses the art of teaching, the importance of school leadership and legislator’s role in reforming education.
My favorite chapter is titled “What’s Worth Knowing?” This is a hot topic in education and is on the minds of many educators as they are handed ever expanding lists of standards to cover each school year. Robinson suggests eight competencies schools should focus on:
- Curiosity
- Creativity
- Criticism
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Compassion
- Composure, and
- Citizenship
Throughout the book, Robinson highlights schools that are working towards these goals for students. Schools that are working within their systems and buildings to change education for their students. My favorite example that Robinson returns to multiple times is Grangetown. Grangetown is Grange Primary School in central England. When Richard Gerver became the head teacher, Grange was low performing. Gerver wanted to get back to basics but not in the traditional school reform sense. He wanted to harness natural creativity and curiosity. The result was that the school was transformed into a town – Grange Primary School became Grangetown. Every student had a job. There are radio and TV stations, doctor’s office and other places that encourage role-playing. “I wanted to explore how we could take that role-playing-based experience to develop teamwork, resilience, self-confidence and community responsibility.” says Gerver (pg. 40).
As with all Robinson’s books, Creative Schools was an easy read. His writing style is very relaxed and conversational. I’ve watched his TED talks enough that I can ‘hear’ him reading the book in my head. Robinson’s ideas are straightforward and clearly in the best interest of all students. But there is much work to do to implement these ideas across the country and create real change for our students. Robinson closes with this: “As Gandhi said, if you want to change the world, you must be the change you want to see. Because if enough people move, that is a movement. And if the movement has enough energy that is a revolution. And in education, that’s exactly what we need.” (pg. 251). Indeed.
Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching
From Creative Schools by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, published April 21, 2015, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Ken Robinson, 2015.
Creative Teaching
Let me say a few words about creativity. I’ve written a lot about this theme in other publications. Rather than test your patience here with repetition of those ideas, let me refer you to them if you have a special interest. In Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, I look in some detail at the nature of creativity and how it relates to the idea of intelligence in the arts, the sciences, and other areas of human achievement. In 1997, I was asked by the U.K. government to convene a national commission to advise on how creativity can be developed throughout the school system from ages five through eighteen. That group brought together scientists, artists, educators, and business leaders in a common mission to explain the nature and critical importance of creativity in education. Our report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, set our detailed proposals for how to make this happen in practice and was addressed to people working at all levels of education, from schools to government.
It’s sometimes said that creativity cannot be defined. I think it can.
Here’s my definition, based on the work of the All Our Futures group: Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.
There are two other concepts to keep in mind: imagination and innovation. Imagination is the root of creativity. It is the ability to bring to mind things that aren’t present to our senses.
Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination. Innovation is putting new ideas into practice. There are various myths about creativity. One is that only special people are creative, another is that creativity is only about the arts, a third is that creativity cannot be taught, and a fourth is that it’s all to do with uninhibited “self-expression.”
None of these is true. Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life, in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas.
Creativity is about fresh thinking. It doesn’t have to be new to the whole of humanity— though that’s always a bonus— but certainly to the person whose work it is. Creativity also involves making critical judgments about whether what you’re working on is any good, be it a theorem, a design, or a poem. Creative work often passes through typical phases. Sometimes what you end up with is not what you had in mind when you started. It’s a dynamic process that often involves making new connections, crossing disciplines, and using metaphors and analogies. Being creative is not just about having off-the-wall ideas and letting your imagination run free. It may involve all of that, but it also involves refining, testing, and focusing what you’re doing. It’s about original thinking on the part of the individual, and it’s also about judging critically whether the work in process is taking the right shape and is worthwhile, at least for the person producing it.
Creativity is not the opposite of discipline and control. On the contrary, creativity in any field may involve deep factual knowledge and high levels of practical skill. Cultivating creativity is one of the most interesting challenges for any teacher. It involves understanding the real dynamics of creative work.
Creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started. It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts. It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin. Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline. Many people have been put off by mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers. Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade. The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.
From Creative Schools by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, published April 21, 2015, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Ken Robinson, 2015.
Creative Teaching
Let me say a few words about creativity. I’ve written a lot about this theme in other publications. Rather than test your patience here with repetition of those ideas, let me refer you to them if you have a special interest. In Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, I look in some detail at the nature of creativity and how it relates to the idea of intelligence in the arts, the sciences, and other areas of human achievement. In 1997, I was asked by the U.K. government to convene a national commission to advise on how creativity can be developed throughout the school system from ages five through eighteen. That group brought together scientists, artists, educators, and business leaders in a common mission to explain the nature and critical importance of creativity in education. Our report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, set our detailed proposals for how to make this happen in practice and was addressed to people working at all levels of education, from schools to government.
It’s sometimes said that creativity cannot be defined. I think it can.
Here’s my definition, based on the work of the All Our Futures group: Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.
There are two other concepts to keep in mind: imagination and innovation. Imagination is the root of creativity. It is the ability to bring to mind things that aren’t present to our senses.
Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination. Innovation is putting new ideas into practice. There are various myths about creativity. One is that only special people are creative, another is that creativity is only about the arts, a third is that creativity cannot be taught, and a fourth is that it’s all to do with uninhibited “self-expression.”
None of these is true. Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life, in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas.
Creativity is about fresh thinking. It doesn’t have to be new to the whole of humanity— though that’s always a bonus— but certainly to the person whose work it is. Creativity also involves making critical judgments about whether what you’re working on is any good, be it a theorem, a design, or a poem. Creative work often passes through typical phases. Sometimes what you end up with is not what you had in mind when you started. It’s a dynamic process that often involves making new connections, crossing disciplines, and using metaphors and analogies. Being creative is not just about having off-the-wall ideas and letting your imagination run free. It may involve all of that, but it also involves refining, testing, and focusing what you’re doing. It’s about original thinking on the part of the individual, and it’s also about judging critically whether the work in process is taking the right shape and is worthwhile, at least for the person producing it.
Creativity is not the opposite of discipline and control. On the contrary, creativity in any field may involve deep factual knowledge and high levels of practical skill. Cultivating creativity is one of the most interesting challenges for any teacher. It involves understanding the real dynamics of creative work.
Creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started. It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts. It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin. Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline. Many people have been put off by mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers. Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade. The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.
Recognizing the Child
Gifted and Talented in Visual Art
by Mary Codd
While many people recognize gifted children as those who excel in language arts and mathematics, the identification of students with potential or demonstrated talent in the arts has been included in federally legislated definitions of giftedness or talent since 1972 (Marland, 1972). In its definition of the gifted and talented the government specifies that these children are to be identified by professionally qualified persons as being capable of high performance in the visual arts. Unfortunately, neither "high performance" nor "qualified persons" are easily defined.
The recent report from the U.S. Department of Education, National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (1993), includes the following definition of students with outstanding talent. "Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience or environment. These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools." Once again, "high performance" is not defined.
In an effort to clarify what "high performance" means when speaking of children with outstanding talent in the visual arts this web page presents the findings of research on the behavioral traits and characteristics of visually gifted children's artwork, and on the artistic perceptual/cognitive processes of talented students in the arts.
A study conducted by Marion Porath, addressed the question of the ways in which gifted young artists are the same as or different from their average peers by investigating artistic ability from a developmental perspective.
Children in the study produced drawing which were judged by three practicing artists who are also art educators. The judges based their determination of the outstanding pieces of artwork on the following characteristics:
A thirteen year old's wire sculpture uses simplicity of line to express movement.In her report Porath also included the findings of research conducted by other researchers. Those studies showed that age-related trends were apparent in the central spatial structures used by young gifted artists, and developmental patterns also were evident in color use, composition, and core elements in human figure drawing. Artistic giftedness includes qualitative differences from the norm, such as: expressive use of line and shape, originality in composition, and sensitivity to line and color. Gifted young artists may demonstrate accelerated ability to deal with perspective. Depicting perspective and artistic abilities appear to be different from spatial problem solving abilities. Some children gifted in the visual arts demonstrate advanced development, while most attain new levels of development at approximately the same time as average children, but apply their new capabilities more flexibly, extensively, and deeply.
Elaboration and accomplished technique (tonal development, representation of movement) and visual maturity, or detailed representation of objects, were qualities demonstrated by young visually gifted children which are typical of older children or adolescents.
Gifted child artists can demonstrate their talents in different ways, and it is important to realize that not every product they produce will be outstanding. The use of multiple criteria for identifying gifted children is important because students of different ages and backgrounds may respond differently to artistic tasks.
Educators who identify gifted children using Renzulli's "Three-Ring Conception of
Giftedness" look for children who demonstrate, or have the potential for demonstrating, above average ability, creativity, and task commitment. Hurwitz believes that for the visually gifted child three aspects of intelligence come in to play: intellectual, creative, and attitudinal, which sounds very much in line with Renzulli's definition. However, Hurwitz goes on to say that he believes "high visual ability, rests largely on intensity and commitment. Whatever most children are capable of accomplishing, the gifted surpass in quality, love of work, and amount of time spent."
Characteristics of the Visually Gifted
Two sets of characteristics are associated with visually talented children: behavioral traits and characteristics of their artwork. It is not likely that a child will have all of the characteristics listed below, but a child who possesses special talent in art will probably exhibit many or even most of them.
Gifted and Talented in Visual Art
by Mary Codd
While many people recognize gifted children as those who excel in language arts and mathematics, the identification of students with potential or demonstrated talent in the arts has been included in federally legislated definitions of giftedness or talent since 1972 (Marland, 1972). In its definition of the gifted and talented the government specifies that these children are to be identified by professionally qualified persons as being capable of high performance in the visual arts. Unfortunately, neither "high performance" nor "qualified persons" are easily defined.
The recent report from the U.S. Department of Education, National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (1993), includes the following definition of students with outstanding talent. "Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience or environment. These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools." Once again, "high performance" is not defined.
In an effort to clarify what "high performance" means when speaking of children with outstanding talent in the visual arts this web page presents the findings of research on the behavioral traits and characteristics of visually gifted children's artwork, and on the artistic perceptual/cognitive processes of talented students in the arts.
A study conducted by Marion Porath, addressed the question of the ways in which gifted young artists are the same as or different from their average peers by investigating artistic ability from a developmental perspective.
Children in the study produced drawing which were judged by three practicing artists who are also art educators. The judges based their determination of the outstanding pieces of artwork on the following characteristics:
- design and composition;
- technique, including tonal development,
- representation of movement and elaboration of form;
- advanced schema for human figure,
- a strong sense of individuality; and inventiveness.
A thirteen year old's wire sculpture uses simplicity of line to express movement.In her report Porath also included the findings of research conducted by other researchers. Those studies showed that age-related trends were apparent in the central spatial structures used by young gifted artists, and developmental patterns also were evident in color use, composition, and core elements in human figure drawing. Artistic giftedness includes qualitative differences from the norm, such as: expressive use of line and shape, originality in composition, and sensitivity to line and color. Gifted young artists may demonstrate accelerated ability to deal with perspective. Depicting perspective and artistic abilities appear to be different from spatial problem solving abilities. Some children gifted in the visual arts demonstrate advanced development, while most attain new levels of development at approximately the same time as average children, but apply their new capabilities more flexibly, extensively, and deeply.
Elaboration and accomplished technique (tonal development, representation of movement) and visual maturity, or detailed representation of objects, were qualities demonstrated by young visually gifted children which are typical of older children or adolescents.
Gifted child artists can demonstrate their talents in different ways, and it is important to realize that not every product they produce will be outstanding. The use of multiple criteria for identifying gifted children is important because students of different ages and backgrounds may respond differently to artistic tasks.
Educators who identify gifted children using Renzulli's "Three-Ring Conception of
Giftedness" look for children who demonstrate, or have the potential for demonstrating, above average ability, creativity, and task commitment. Hurwitz believes that for the visually gifted child three aspects of intelligence come in to play: intellectual, creative, and attitudinal, which sounds very much in line with Renzulli's definition. However, Hurwitz goes on to say that he believes "high visual ability, rests largely on intensity and commitment. Whatever most children are capable of accomplishing, the gifted surpass in quality, love of work, and amount of time spent."
Characteristics of the Visually Gifted
Two sets of characteristics are associated with visually talented children: behavioral traits and characteristics of their artwork. It is not likely that a child will have all of the characteristics listed below, but a child who possesses special talent in art will probably exhibit many or even most of them.
Behavioral Traits
Talent is evidenced at an early age, usually
through drawing. This almost five year old's
attention to detail and use of mixed media is
unusual in a child so young.
Characteristics of the Artwork
A collage by a 12 year old utilizing
the elements of composition:
texture, shape, placement,
pattern, and contrast.
Students with artistic talent exhibit above average ability in the following artistic perceptual/cognitive processes:Artistic Thinking Skills
- Early Evidence
Children who are gifted in art usually begin young. - Emergence Through Drawing
Drawing dominates for several reasons: the accessibility of the media, because it can convey detailed information about a subject, and because it is a more difficult task to perform with a paintbrush. - Rapidity of Development
The gifted child often traverse the stages of visual development at an accelerated pace. - Extended Concentration
Visually gifted children stay with an art project longer than other children, and they see more possibilities in the task they have selected or been assigned. - Self-Directedness
Visually gifted children often prefer drawing to other forms of entertainment and have the drive to work on their own. - Possible Inconsistency with Creative Behavior
Although risk-taking is a characteristic typically associated with creative people, gifted students are often hesitant to experiment in a new area if they have achieved a certain level of mastery in an idiom. - Fluency of Idea and Expression
From middle elementary age on, visual and conceptual fluency is a particularly significant characteristic because it is closest to the behavior of a trained artist. - Calculating Capacity
This term, coined by Howard Gardner, is a superior ability to utilize past information in new contexts. For instance, a visually gifted child who has achieved a certain level of mastery in figure drawing can use that ability to render figures in other situations.
Talent is evidenced at an early age, usually
through drawing. This almost five year old's
attention to detail and use of mixed media is
unusual in a child so young.
Characteristics of the Artwork
- Verisimilitude
Children gifted in art develop the desire and the ability to depict people and other subjects from their environment at an earlier age than other children. - Compositional Control
The elements of composition, color, space and movement are handled with greater sensitivity by visually gifted students. - Complexity and Elaboration
Intellectual development is connected to the ability to relate information and observations about objects. Sensitivity to detail and the use of memory are directly related to complexity and elaboration. - Memory and Detail
Even young gifted children are interested in detail and are more inventive in their drawings and sculpture than other children. - Sensitivity to Art Media
The visually gifted child is more likely to explore and experiment with media, and achieve technical control, which results in a more elegant finished product. This is especially noticeable from upper elementary age on. - Random Improvisation
Doodling and improvising with the effects of lines, shapes, and patterns are a favorite activity of the visually gifted child. The gifted child uses her ability to invent, depict, and describe to create meaning.
A collage by a 12 year old utilizing
the elements of composition:
texture, shape, placement,
pattern, and contrast.
Students with artistic talent exhibit above average ability in the following artistic perceptual/cognitive processes:Artistic Thinking Skills
- Perceptual Discrimination:
the ability to perceive and differentiate through the senses with acute awareness.Perceptual Discrimination Artistic knowing begins with fine-tuned sensory awareness. Young visual artists view the world with acuity, aware of dimensions of space, color, and textures unseen by those who simply look. - Metaperception:
the perceptual/cognitive process of internally manipulating perceptions with expression.
Metaperception is the artistic parallel to metacognition, a term used to describe mental monitoring in cognitive thinking. This artistic knowing or intelligence, has been referred to as thinking with an aesthetic sense, qualitative responsiveness or qualitative intelligence.
- Creative Interpretation:
the process of reworking and refining metaperceptive decisions resulting in a unique, personalized statement.
As a student works metaperceptively through an art medium, the artistic interpretive process ultimately unfolds. The more the student reworks and refines her work in the arts, the more artistic the interpretation.
