Creativity

Creative - you've gotta be it to thrive in the 21st century. You've got to be flexible, think on your feet, embrace change, think critically, consider issues from a range of perspectives and draw on a variety of strategies for solving problems. As a teacher, one of my responsibilities is to inspire students to think outside the box. I need to provide opportunities for kids to take risks and try things out in a supportive environment.

Ken Robinson's hugely popular speech on this topic (worth a look if you've not seen it already):

This is clearly really important. But it's nothing new - unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard it already.

What is interesting is that while we are all talking about blended learning, inquiry learning, problem based learning, student-centred classrooms etc etc, we forget about revitalising all the other parts that make up school. Learning's not just about pedagogy - it's about the culture and the institution. To create an environment that nurtures students' creativity, we need also to rethink the the work and relationships that are not with students. Grownups' creativity needs some nurturing, too.

A bit of background to catch you up with where I'm coming from:
A non-educator friend invited me into his workplace to see and talk about a recent office refit, and generally about the company he works for. It was pretty cool - lots of open plan spaces, light, plants and space for light-heartedness. It's really clear that this company wants its staff to be motivated, comfortable, inspired, happy, part of a community. There's a cafe area (with good coffee!) on the first floor, complete with patio and garden. Conference rooms are themed - from a Mad Men-esque kind of executive suite to country and western to black booths with disco-light wallpaper (still a bit disappointed about the lack of lava lamps in that one..). Areas for desk work are open plan - no designated seating! One of the conference rooms is set up as a friendly place for mothers on maternity leave to meet up. And there's a slide. For grownups. And yes, I'm really peeved that I didn't go on it - stupid floaty skirt fabric. The space itself is really cool.

Also cool was the underlying culture. There's no dress code - wear jeans, suits, shorts, pyjamas, whatever. Work from wherever you want. There's no expectation that you'll be in the office every day. You do your best work on the beach with a cocktail? Go hard. There's no clocking in or out - you work as many hours as you need to, to meet your goals. And of course there's all the tech that you need for real time collaboration - video conferencing, screen sharing, an in-house network for online chats, emails, voice and video messaging etc etc. All kinds of fun and games.

The community-building stuff I really liked. I've already mentioned the meeting space for mothers, the cafe area and the slide. As well, there are projects for staff to work collaboratively to raise money for charities, space in the mail room to store bikes, a 'Bring your Daughter to Work Day' and, of course, opportunities for members of the public to come in and see how it works. I'm sure, like any workplace, it has its ups and downs, but you could see that a lot of thought and planning goes into making the staff's experience a good one.

In and outside of schools, there is a lot of thinking going into how we can facilitate students' creativity. What puzzles me is why we so rarely put time and effort into creating the conditions for adults to work creatively in the school community. It just seems to make more sense - if we want to inspire children to learn through play, be creative, engage with the community, shouldn't the adults in their lives also be inspired?