Hello Dave,
Thanks for sharing this interesting post on creativity in education, a topic that I have been thinking about quite a bit recently.

I was wondering if you are aware of a UK report published in 1999 by a team of academics and artists (led by Sir Ken Robinson), tasked with a similar project for the UK government. I attended the launch of this report at the time – All Our Futures. Creativity, Culture and Education – http://sirkenrobinson.com/pdf/allourfutures.pdf You may already know of this report.

I remember how excited I was at the time. Now, more than 20 years later, I wonder what happened. Why doesn’t creativity have a more central place in our education systems, when highly educated people and philosophers have been talking about its importance for years, if not centuries?

I am coming to the conclusion that this might be because creativity is not a ‘thing’ that can be put into the curriculum. It is a process that is integral to the entire curriculum and more importantly is a way of thinking rather than a way of doing.

My understanding of this has been influenced by my reading of Iain McGilchrist. These are some of the things he says:

…. Creativity is part of the nature of this world – not an occasional, or originating act, but at the core of all existence. It is an unveiling rather than wilfully constructive process. Creativity is not just letting things all fall out; we also need to bring critical things into play.

The act of creation is
• To withdraw into a space, doing nothing, saying nothing, being silent and still.
• To unpack, unfold, fragment, uncover, ‘dis’cover
• To repair – gather pieces together into a new thing

Play and being relaxed are important. We have to avoid interruptions,
We need to be open to unconscious influences. Creativity requires us to transcend language ….

All of these ideas have implications for how teachers think about creativity and how they approach their teaching. Evidently there is a long chapter on creativity in McGilchrist’s new book (due to be published in November), which I am looking forward to reading, but unfortunately too late for your deadline.

So, if I were working on training teachers to be more creative in their teaching, I think I would want to explore how they think about creativity, their assumptions, their educational philosophies, and how these might promote or shut down creativity.

I am not sure if any of this makes sense, but I have enjoyed thinking about your post.