Creativity, ingenuity, and innovation are the keys to success in the evolving global economy. To prepare young people for work and life in the 21st century, educators must cultivate students' creativity
There was a time when creativity was not as valued in education as it is today, especially when teaching subjects like maths and grammar. There was instead a distinct emphasis on ensuring students thought in a particular, ordered way to obtain the correct and expected answer. Creativity was often treated as a secondary area of the curriculum and regulated to subjects like art.
To suggest that creativity would one day become embedded in all key learning areas taught at school might have once been considered radical. Now creative thinking in education is a zeitgeist of 21stCentury learning. Creativity is systematically taught and developed across the entire curriculum, from Kindergarten to Year 12.
The new NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum describes creativity as thinking broadly, adventurously and deeply. Creativity is about using reason, logic and resourcefulness. It is about looking for new ways of doing things. While the basics of grammar and arithmetic, for example, continue to be of the highest importance in education, the ability to think in ways that demonstrate new knowledge and understanding is also very valuable.
Positioning Ashfield Public School as a school for 21stCentury learning includes ensuring a robust educational environment that fosters creativity. This is about maintaining a whole school learning culture where teacher and student are focused on capturing new and innovative ideas and engaged in challenging and interesting learning situations.
At Ashfield Public School creativity is important. Creativity improves the self-esteem, motivation and achievement of learners. It makes learning more interesting and calls students to discover things for themselves, to be more open to new ideas and challenges and be more able to solve problems. Creativity in education is about developing the capacity of people for work and life in the 21st Century.