Creativity and Innovation:Some remarks on the Impact on Education

Launch Conference of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009

7th January 2009, Prague

Michael Wimmer

Creativity as the new magic word ?

Raymond Williams: “Culture is one of the most complicated words“

Niklas Luhmann: “Culture is one of the most terrible words“

And what about “creativity“?

Its main characteristics: Contradictory definitions in the reference literature. Inflationary use in everyday life.

Weak empirical base: „Creativity“ as the little sister of „Intelligence“

What are the communalities, what are the particularities?

Do we replace one unclear, ambiguous term by another?

What we have in mind when we are talking about

• Creativity

Traditional meaning („creare“): expression of numinous grace and arbitraryness, an emanation of artistic and religious mysticism

The main representative: the artist of the 19th century as man (sometimes

also woman) of genius

The mass: educated alongside the concept of a „well-rounded personality“, equipped with applicable intelligence, well adapted, without any internal and external conflicts

The associations of today: effective communication, lateral thinking, originality, ingenuity, problem-solving, leadership, questioning, controversal thoughts

Caution! Fostering creativity might produce disputatious, inconvenient, troublesome people

What we have in mind when we are talking about

• Innovation

It is about the creation of something new („innovatio“); it can be defined as application of „creativity“

In the context of the development of products and

services

Dominance of entrepreneurial aspects – What about social and/or cultural innovations?

Importance of the organisational frame („closed“

or „open“ innovations – innovative success relies on the relationship between organisations and its environments

Particular relevance in vocational training

The European Resolution invites us to

• Provide an environment which is favourable to innovation• Highlight openness to cultural diversity as a means of fostering intercultural

communication and promoting closer links between artforms, as well as with schools and universities

• Stimulate aesthetic sensitivity• Raise awareness of the importance of creativity, innovation and

entrepreneursip• Promote education for mathematical, scientific and technological skills• Broaden access to a variety of creative forms of self-expression• Raise awareness in- and outside the labour market, that creativity, knowledge

and flexibility are important in times of rapid technological changes• Promote design as a creative activity up to the protection of intellectual

property• Develop creative and innovative capacity in private and public organisations

through training

Living in a changing world

• Rapid technological, political, social und cultural changes

• Financial, economic, political, social, cultural crises

• Decline of the old industries (with their value system)

• Increasing immaterial character of products and services („Mediatisation“, „Aesthetisation“, „Culturalisation“)

• Increasing competition combined with decreasing social safeguarding

• Increasing need for making use of the full range of human capacities

• Increasing need for „creative“ labour forces

• Increasing heterogenity of national populations

• Increasing unproductivity of national education systems

The traditional education is based on

• Putting the institution first (which can never be creative)• Making children learn the same things at the same time• Dominance of academic skills• Searching for weaknesses of the child• Early selection – social desintegration• Creativity limited to particular subjects on the margins of the curriculum• Weak basis for giving evidence of quality and success• Alternative concepts („reform pedagogy“ exist since more than hundred years)

©Schulmuseum Bad Leonfelden

Contemporary education is based on

• Putting the child first or No child left behind• Entitlement of each individual‘s excellence• Searching for the strength of each child - Making use of individual talent• Fostering individuality und particularity• Making use of (intercultural) diversity • Fostering social mobility and integration• Implementation of new methods of teaching and learning to develop• Confidence, self-esteem, communication, motivation, curiosity, comittment,

enjoyment

Towards new concepts of creativity

In the interests of the (old) industrial economy and of academic achievement, we have succumbed to a partial form of education. We have vasted and even destroyed a great deal of what people had to offer because we couldn‘t see the value of it.

Therefore we need a new conception of human resources. This is what the ideas about creativity are pointing at. It is fundamentally a question of ecology (All Our Futures)

When talking about creativity…..

we talk about social inclusion„There are many misconceptions about creativity. Creativity is not a separate faculty that some people have and others do not. It is a function of human intelligence.“

we talk about school development „Creativity is a balance between freedom, authority, skill and speculation. It can be taught, but you have to loosen up the system to let it happen. You can‘t have creative learning without creative teaching.“

we talk about diversity in democratic societies„Creativity is the freedom to constantly see things from a different perspective.“

What has happened up to now

- 1998 Conference “A Creative Culture” in Bregenz during the First Austrian EU-Presidency

- Report “All Our Futures”

- 2001 Conference “A Must or a Muse” in Rotterdam

- Since 2001 Culture-School-Network of civil servants from education and cultural administrations

- 2005 Recommendations of the European Council on key competencies for lifelong learning

- 2006 Conference “Cultural Education in Europe: A Contribution for Creativity,Participation and Innovation” during the Austrian EU- Presidency

- 2008 European Year on Intercultural Dialogue

What will happen next

- 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation

- 2010 Follow up of the Lisbon Agenda

- 2010 UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education

- A manifold variety of new approaches to transform the national school systems according to the comprehensive societal changes

Some positive examples

which try to combine creative and cultural/artistic dimensions

- Creative Partnerships/Arts Award/Arts Mark/Find Your Talent/England

- Kulturelle and Kunstsinnige Forming/ The Netherlands

- Creative Learning – Strategy for Art and Culture in Education 2007 - 2010

- Kinder zum Olymp!/Kultur.Forscher/Germany

- KACES: Korean Arts and Cultural Education Service

- Austrian Culture Service/KulturKontakt/EDUCULT Austria

Towards evidence based policy

- UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education, 2006 in Lisbon

- The WOW-Factor Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education, 2006

- French Ministry of Education and French Ministry of Culture: The Impact of Arts and Cultural Education, 2007 Paris

- Creative Partnerships: ofsted - initiative

- Brain research Fe: Project Zero/Howard Gardner/Ellen Winner: Multiple intelligences/Studio Thinking/Habits of Mind

- EDUCULT: Cultural Education Counts!

What research made evident

- Creative Development Partnerships between schools and cultural institutions are effective in developing in pupils attributes of creative people

- Applying Creativity Cultural education enables the development of good personal and social skills (effective collaboration, maturity in their relationship with adults,…)

- Young Professionals A significant number of pupils were motivated to work directly in the creative industries

- Standards Achieved Students improved in achievment in areas such as literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology

- Personal Development and Well-Being Improvement of pupils‘ motivation to actively take part

- Sustaining and Achieving Arts and Cultural Education has long lasting effects (Fe in changing cultural attitudes)

Recommendations or Creative learners need creative teachers

- Leadership and management

- Implementation of new teaching and learning methods

- Making use of arts and culture in education

- Opening up education institutions: Organisation of partnerships

- Documentation, monitoring and evaluation

- International exchange and co-operation

Creativity is core, not peripheral.

Creativity is about thinking, not just about feelings (observation,

envision, expression, reflection).

Creativity is another way to understand the world, as important as the scientific way.

Creativity cultivates habits of mind, not just craft.

Thank You for your attention!

„The imagination in its loyalty to possibility often takes the curved path rather than the linear way“

John O‘Donohue