Sir Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

After seeing a clip of Ken Robinson’s Tedtalk in the seminar I wanted to look into his views further and find out what the education system in Wales had in place to encourage pupils’ to be creative.

In this particular talk Ken Robinson states that he believes that creativity should be treated with the same status as literacy. I believe that if children are encouraged to be creative from a young age it will always be something that they naturally try to do. However the problem with education systems around the World is that children are being educated out of their creative abilities, as Ken Robinson says. I think that the point Robinson makes about children not being scared of being wrong is valid and that it’s a good thing. This is similar to the way I was going through school as the older I got the less confident I became to have a go at answering a question in my classes in case I was incorrect. I think this is because of the reason Ken Robinson gives which is that within schools being wrong is the worst thing you can be. I believe that children should always be encouraged to have a go at whatever is available to them and that they should never be afraid of being wrong or not doing something correctly. From my school experience I always remember not being confident with maths, I was taught that the only way of working out an equation was the way I had been showed by my teacher and if my parents tried to explain something in a different way I wouldn't accept that they were right because it wasn't the same as the way my teacher had used. I definitely agree with the view Robinson has of children being educated out of creativity. I also think that his view of the hierarchy of subjects being the same in education across the world is correct. Mathematics is definitely the most desirable subject to succeed in, throughout school it was always emphasized to us more than any other subject how important getting a C or above in our maths and English GCSE was. It also seems as if when applying for sixth forms of colleges that if you have good GCSE grades in maths and English they tend to accept you regardless of what other grades you have.

I did some research to find out how children’s creativity was being developed within our education system in Wales. I found a guidance report for creative development within the Foundation Phase. Through the curriculum children are supposed to be given opportunities to develop, apply and extend their creative ideas in different media, such as ICT and to use tools safely with an awareness of danger (Department for Children, 2008).  Even though the Welsh Assembly Government have tried to incorporate ways for children to be creative I think that it is still restricting how creative children can be because with regards to media and ICT there are only so many resources available to them. Also it seems that children are given specific times to be creative. I spoke to a nursery and reception teacher who said that within the foundation phase the areas which are considered to encourage the children to be creative are when they are doing art, drama and music. Which again only limits them to particular times of the school day to explore their creative capacities.