There is a definite challenge for educational institutions trying to ‘teach’ creative aspects or creative thinking or artistic subjects and trying to make them fit the structure of a less creative subject. We need different approaches to this.
Els Daglinckx
3 years ago
In line with Michael’s wonderful comments, I would like to add that procrastination can be healthy and necessary. We are pushed to perform but it is not our natural state of being all the time. Pottering around in your garden or house can be essential to creativity.
I refer to an article I read recently: Inheriting the Protestant work ethic, most of us have been taught to see procrastination as unproductive and lazy. But a new body of thinking suggests procrastination can be a positive act for creatives.
ArtsHub Australia 2/24/202. Madeleine Dore.
Absolutely I agree with this. Pottering around is wonderful for creative thinking but then often the next step is the motivation to move forward with creative thoughts
Melissa Auer
3 years ago
The need to teach to assessments! There used to be so much more area to add creativity and originality to our courses but now its so streamlined to teach to assess that the students are missing out on a alot of the original flair that some of these courses were once prsented with!
I agree, teaching to assessments, reducing delivery time and making education financially viable how can anyone, staff or students be creative in this environment
Jan Howard
3 years ago
One of the biggest barriers is the ‘systemic low value’ placed on these skills by society, education and as a consequence – parents. If it is not seen as important or worthwhile by important institutions/people why would the students see any value in it. Recently the cost of Arts degrees were raised and that of ‘proper’ degrees that lead expressly towards a career, reduced, what does that tell you?
To continue on that theme why is a university education being pushed in schools as still the be all and end all of education, some are not suited to uni straight out of school and need time and space to decide their futures – trade skills and VET is also have a ‘systemic low value’
This push to have engineers rather than poets ensures no creativity. Society needs both, or even better as someone has said, poets who are engineers, and engineers that are poets!
What liberating knowledge. Give me liberty or give me death. Sidonnie Meredeth Vas
Julia
3 years ago
One barrier is lack of time. Our lives are so full of extra-curricula activities that as parents we feel we must provide or be forever branded a bad parent and our children disadvantaged. I crave time when I have absolutely nothing to do.
We are buying into the argument about what is a real job. Medicine, Law, Finance. Perhaps we should carry around handouts with the stats about jobs of the future. It might change the thinking a bit!
I agree Mark. The requirements are not always in line with industry requirements but I think it needs to go further than that eg the organisations/people who write the units of competence need to be more aligned with what happens in industry.
Tersem Kaur
3 years ago
Limitation of time provided to get a good job done (for both teachers and students). Everything is a rush, always. Therefore hardly nay regard for creative thinking,
Yes, I agree. The constant feeling of being rushed for both students and teachers with little time for creativity and thinking outside the box.
Denise
3 years ago
One of the biggest barriers is the requirement to teach to assessments. Teachers are put in a situation where there is less scope to teach to student needs – and allow for creativity – as the system at present values achieving unit outcomes above all.
Consider Michael’s comments regarding the significant change in the concept of truth – the Post-Modern mindset – where there is no longer black and white truth – but now many shades of grey. By being required to teach to assessment, we are essentially asking for that “old” concept of truth…we want a prescribed response to the assessment – and only then will the student be deemed to be competent. There seems to be little scope for originality and creativity within this system.
Lack of time to adequately think and reflect – creative tasks are often not allocated sufficient time – particularly in NAPLAN testing.
Sylvia Haber-Farrugia
3 years ago
The biggest barrier currently being faced is the complexity of assessment tasks. We often don’t have adequate time to deliver content and have to teach to assessments.
Yes, teaching to assessments is not conducive to fostering creativity or originality. Sadly though it has become the norm and a systemic part of teaching.
Yes I agree – in VET there is a focus on assessment rather than learning. The students are focussed on “what do I need to know for the exam” rather than “how can I learn from this”.
In design education, I encourage ‘design time’ or thinking time where students spend time thinking, developing, studying and critiquing their ideas. This fosters their imagination and is a discipline that is imperative to encourage creativity
Fiona McCauley
3 years ago
I feel that the biggest barrier currently is our designing of assessments and that they seem to be examination orientated.
I agree, we have to teach to assessments as we don’t have sufficient time to deliver the content and allow students time to practice before we have to start assessing.
Yes, and the curriculum seems to be increasingly compacted into shorter timeframes and earlier finish times for some schools and universities, to reduce overheads and costs.
There is not enough time in the day to asses and foster creativity
matthew beer
3 years ago
In June 2020 The Coalition announced it would double university fees for arts and humanities students to fund more and cheaper degrees for more “practical” courses like teaching, nursing, maths, science and engineering.
So the government’s message is imagination is a luxury – not a necessity. Michael need to bang some heads in parliament!
It’s this mindset of the government that is prejudicing the arts and creative thinking. Parents are guided (consciously or not) by these messages and believe that this is not real education. Any student trying to enrol in an Arts degree may as a consequence face parental/school opposition. So who is going to argue the case for the importance of creativity and originality?
Dorothy Mei Fun LAU
3 years ago
It seems that the government expects the role of schooling is to create
“workers of the future “. However, they neglect the importance of
a ” tailor-made curriculum” to fit the needs of different generations, instead of the system of standardization in public assessments such as HSC.
When the decision-makers are ready to change the education system, teachers could promote more creativity in the classroom.
This is my concern also. And then rewarding everyone for good test results as a measure of success.
Karalyn
3 years ago
I feel like a Negative Nelly here!
Lack of time, not wanting to clean up afterwards, limited time to practice being creative. Wanting the quick fix – the need or want to be deemed perfect!
Too much paperwork, making do with what we have rather than stepping outside our comfort zones….
stopping now….
I agree Karalyn
The paperwork, the reporting , the deadlines to meet take up most of the teachers’ time. They are all important to maintain standards across the board , that’s a fact too,
Are we setting our priorities wrong? Are we trying to teach or rather assess in time that’s not enough to learn and practice?
I am confused here
ljiljana
3 years ago
Barriers to creativity and originality are increasing levels of testings and pressure to produce immediate results. Fear of being different and resistance to new ideas and approaches.
It can nearly be discribed as ‘Functional fixity’.
Alison
3 years ago
Barriers to creativity and originality –
*interruptions during class time or any time during a child’s day, that ensures children can’t dive deep into their own world of imagination for a sustained period.
*students constant need to check that their peers like what they are creating and what they are creating is similar (but not) to the popular person’s creation;
*that they will fail the task and feel ashamed
*NAPLAN and tests that just require answers
*programs that don’t allow the cross over of subject matter and skills
*teachers that don’t be, nor encourage students to be, the entertainer or supportive audience
*teachers who make students copy their written words or incites;
*lack of funding and value placed on creativity and originality in Education by leadership
*Learning environments that are highly rigid, critical and foster fear as a way of controlling students
*Fatigue, lack of self worth and motivation, the need for external affirmation over intrinsic reward.
Georgie
3 years ago
It is difficult to foster originality/creativity in students (and teachers) when the focus for the future of education is automation and standardisation of teaching materials.
Georgie – I agree. The nature of our education system was created by the Builders generation and a new system is needed. It will take time and creativity to form a new approach to the Education system and programs of learning that a nation can utilise. Society needs to value creativity and use AI to ensure humanity soars beyond our basic needs.
Agree and that’s not what the workforce wants. We will automate repetitive jobs what we want our students to develop is their creative ways of solving problems.
It seems that most of the teachers are not “trained ” to teach originality or creativity.
Perhaps, some of us have the vision to facilitate or develop students’ creativity.
I wonder if we have to propose the government to change the value of our education system.
Meg Stratti
3 years ago
In the age of compliance ruling education, we shut down any originality and creativity in our teaching. Students cannot be creative or original in presenting their work, as we need to ensure that we can show competency, which needs to be marked according to the compliance documentation. There is no time to allow for discussion outside of what the curriculum covers.
I agree, whilst there is a need to ensure materials are compliant there should also be the ability for teachers to ‘teach’ and discuss or share sometimes creatively share important underpinning knowledge that would add to the teaching experience for both teachers and students.
Agreed competency compliance has reduced the amount of passion one has for reaching their true limits or potential. Competency gives everyone the same outcome, prior to competency, student would find their groove – how they could be seen or make a difference in the industry of choice, be behind the scenes, create a new role or product or policy….
In the school I work, it is the lack of opportunity for students to think outside the box and be creative. The increasing prescence of standardised testing and teaching to the test. Students don’t know what to write, create or do without asking and without being told. Students don’t know how to be creative. This is a massive failure.
The system in place doesn’t support creativity, even in the home environment, being creative is often messy and tiresome. I guess it comes back to being overly fatigued, spending too much time on social media and having high expectations.
Susan
3 years ago
The systems of standardisation and automation in assessment. The push for a digital environment and “one size fits all” for efficiency. Finances and budget are pushing this trend.
It seems that the government expects the role of schooling is to create
“workers of the future “. However, they neglect the importance of
a ” tailor-made curriculum” to fit the needs of different generations, instead of the system of standardization in public assessments such as HSC.
When the decision-makers are ready to change the education system, teachers could promote more creativity in the classroom.
Brendan Ryan
3 years ago
The systems we have in place in schools. Many of our schooling systems are not designed to support creativity and too often schools and teachers are restricted by the systems in which they work.
exactly, I have tried to do something outside of the box but within a private school I am told to stick to the’script’ so everyone has the same learning. there is so much restriction in what we can teach. if we cant be creative as teachers how can we teach our students to be.
Brendan, yes I agree, teachers are restricted by the systems in which they work. Primary Teachers in particular are drowning in Admin. How can teachers rise to the call for creativity with so much time and energy misspent on “pointless (legal coverage) ” time consuming tasks. The system also supports the views of parents (not trained in Education but whom realised teaching is hard during the COVID crisis), who might not be supportive of teachers who think outside the box. Primary teaching also seems strangled by the next set of teaching methods from the current contracted specialist who knows how to teach “whatever subject in a new way”….
Amber Weyman
3 years ago
The biggest barrier really must be systemic disregard for creative thinking. I see it in TAFE all the time. We are never encouraged to think outside the box or to employ any differences whatsoever in our teaching and assessment practice. I find my section encourages predictability and reliability in the forms of (older) teaching methods and panics at the thought of a teacher deviating from the well-worn road. It is quite frustrating.
Although teachers do need to teach to the units of competency, there is room for creativity within the classroom.
sharon
3 years ago
some students are scared to have a go and worry about failing and not giving it a go. Teachers don’t want to change the way they do things, the way they set up their room, the resources they use. some people feel they have to do as was done before them. This ends up not benefiting the students.
Joseph Roche
3 years ago
for me i find distractions a key issue , in the VET sector teaching adult students is a big challenge ,the students are constantly on their devices checking emails and other web pages , when the demonstration is over and coming into the lab they seem to be lost , they have no work plan and in the end frustration and have no more enthusiasm
I find this too with some of my adult students. The phone can be used as great learning tool but, during the process, students will check Facebook, emails, etc – and the challenge then is to bring their focus back to the lesson content.
Joanne W
3 years ago
I believe the ‘one size fits all’ approach stifles creativity in both teachers and students. When we as teachers are dictated what to teach and how to teach we are robbed of using our own professional inventiveness and creativity. Students are robbed of individuality and a chance to find their own way to demonstrate competence. Assessment tasks are becoming very lock step devoid of flexibility.
Joanne, I totally agree. What happened to holistic assessment? As a professional, I wish my judgement was trusted more than whether or not a student understood and remembered to put X in the box rather than tick it – we get so bogged down in detail in the VET sector!
The VET sector has become compliance ruled. It means we have to focus more on getting students filling out paperwork correctly and signing every dotted line than fostering learning and growth.
The systems prevent creativity by having standardised assessment and marking guides. Even more so is the current push for the development of “automated assessment” in a digital environment.
Michael Matar
3 years ago
In an industry that constantly changing with new ideas in creativity and modern techniques it is imperative that we allow students to create new things however the rules are to follow what the Chef teacher has just demonstrated.
I as an educator do allow creativity in my class room as i think it is very important to learning and it is a challenge to get the student to show their skills and creativity to enhance their learning as it is vital to future success.
Totally agree, it is so important to encourage creativity in all disciplines as this thinking is what is needed for the future
Gaye Wilson
3 years ago
Ourselves! First we must be creative in order to allow our students to be creative in return. Time frames and having to stick to preordained content gets in the way of creativity. Creativity is our challenge!
Yes, this preordained content only encourages thinking within the box. I have seen many marking guides for assessment tasks which only accept a narrow range of answers and do not allow for ‘out of the box’ solutions which are also correct but a bit different to what the assessor expected.
very true , to juggle with the training packages and trying to cover all contents , surely impacts to explore the creative inputs in a lot of cases
Mario Roche
3 years ago
Certainly agree that we as parents or educators sometimes fall into the the trap of teaching kids out of creativity. Being distracted is a major hindrance we as teachers face and keeping them attentive and interactive is getting harder. Love the quote creativity is no longer luxury for the future, but a necessity for all. we as educators also need to find ways of encouraging imagination, thinking outside the box
Yes, totally agree, mobile phones are a very powerful learning tool, but students have to learn how to manage the distractions if they are to use them effectively.
Julie W
3 years ago
Whilst it is incredibly important for the students to be competent at the completion of their studies, the way they can demonstrate these abilities tends to be very mundane.
At times I have taught programming and it is great when the students solve a problem in a different way to the textbook showing creative thinking.
Sometimes, it is hard to prove competency as their answer does not match the marking criteria. So we have the classic case of “teaching to the assessment” and “ticking boxes”
I do agree with you Julie, telling the student to be creative and not being able to do it for their exam is sad because they have to follow a set or rules to match the marking criteria thus leaving creativity outside.
There is a well known company which uses a computer program to mark student’s writing. It looks for familiar and predictable words, phrases and use of language. There is zero room for creativity or being different. I wonder what score Lewis Carroll would have obtained!
Totally agree teaching to the marking criteria means we don’t reward creativity.
Priscilla Thanjan
3 years ago
I am in agreement that social media is contributing to declining social skills.
Giulia
3 years ago
There is a high level of distractedness and a need to be constantly entertained. This doesn’t allow room for any downtime to actually look at the clouds and let your creative mind wander, often we are distracted by social media, emails, netflixs etc.
Jane
3 years ago
Assessment requirements tend to be binary and restrictive in nature giving little room for a student to explore and be creative.
Yes absolutely true, in the VET education the training packages are so prescriptive and has very little room for creativity. With time constraints and course duration this element of creativity has been lost. It is very rigid and not flexible
assessments are so heavy and very stimulative that we spend around 50 % the delivery time getting the students ready for them, where would then be any time for students to explore and be creative
Kerry
3 years ago
I think the system we are putting our students through with rigorous assessments and compliance to prove competence inhibits creativity, individual thinking and imagination.
I agree Kerry. The assessments we currently have are prohibitively restrictive. There is little room for creativity, individual thinking and imagination.
I agree Kerry, it more like tick the boxes and just follow the rules. I honestly don’t see any creativity in this kind of assessment but then again it is a competency based.
Perhaps social media errodes our sense of what is normal and acceptable – hard to compare yourself with the perceived achievements and manipulated imagery!
Classic yes! video killed the radio star…social media kills the imagination of a creative thinker
judith shupe
3 years ago
The biggest barrier I see is distractedness. Some students cannot be ‘in the moment’ to achieve their course study because of social media and personal factors. The amount of time to be creative is reduced. The education system has broadened the list of subjects in the school to assist in creativity but it seems at the cost of not providing basic life skills needed – reading and basic maths. Perhaps the future can incorporate both.
I agree that they are distracted by being social using media. But I disagree that they are not creative. Look at TikTok, Instagram and other social media to see how creative our young folk are.
I believe they are just not good at focussing on what is more important.
Matthew Jones
3 years ago
Removing the students connectedness to the external regard of others – allowing them to create without judgement. Social media often means instant and frequently negative feedback on original ideas.
Rhonda Salter
3 years ago
Short attention span. If it’s not instant – it’s not happening for many students
How do we develop longer attention spans, especially when you consider that in my VET Space they are older students, very set in their behaviours.
Maureen
3 years ago
To encourage creativity in a student they need to have carers who believe that research and reading contribute to their creativity. Sadly many carers are not readers themselves and so are unable to pass on to their children the importance of reading books.
As a librarian, I have often seen the influence that parents and grand parents have on students when it comes to reading. Simply having an older sibling, or parent that reads is beneficial, but where you do not have that, students simply do not grow up knowing that reading is possible, and reading promote imagination when movies and computers do not as much as they actively fill in the images that readers create in their own minds.
well said! definitely fewer students use the library. It is a chore for them to visit the library and select books. They just do not want to do research and self directed research or study. Solely rely on instagram, the web for ideas. Probably the attention span is not there for reading or inquiry
Reading is the bees knees – the creation of rich worlds from printed words – every reader interprets the words in their own way – like our dream landscapes – unique, absorbing and, best of all, no ads.
Maureen
3 years ago
I am a great believer in enjoying reading. I always say that as long as you have a book with you, you are never bored. Evoking thoughts while you read is a wonderful experience. Students today don’t seem to want to read unless they can see it on their phones. What they read is gospel to them and so believe it.
Maureen
3 years ago
Due to social media being enabled in the classroom, students have high levels of being distracted. As stated computers only give the answers so students have a low regard for creativity. They appear to like to be shown or told and don’t want to use their imagination.
Computer based learning could be somewhat rich – with many potential paths for the learner to travel based on their needs and inclinations. But that doesn’t happen because the programmers and designers are business people – or employed by them – so that kind of wise investment rarely happens. The main problem besieging young people and their education is that business has been invited in and sees them merely as a profit opportunity.
Tracey
3 years ago
I think one of the barriers is that students can’t sit with boredom, they need to be constantly entertained and if it’s not good enough they let you know. They find it hard to be creative or use imagination. My students are slightly better if there are things to play with or create, the boys love building and the girls will draw and make books, cards ( gender basis acknowledged) , but often the case. But then if they are given a creative writing task they struggle without a stimuli or if we scaffold as a class often many pieces come back looking like my ideas or a movie they have seen. A general lack of originality.
Due to the constant stimuli of the student’s environment (phones, electronic billboards, music) the idea of focusing on one thing is difficult. Interest in the topic at hand is what I see as enabling Originality.
Bernard Lewis
3 years ago
Teachers play a vital role in shaping the youth who are the leaders of tomorrow. Instead of just imparting knowledge and disseminating something theoretically, the world of academicians including policymakers, teachers and others need to give our education system a long hard thought and revamp the existing pattern of education.
We give the students knowledge, but what they need is experience and a creative mind to deal with everyday life situations.
We expect them to survive in the ‘real’ world by applying what they learnt from books which is usually disconnected from reality with an examination as the goal. Most students memorise and reproduce, come out in flying colours and then what … then they are left out in the cold wide world with nothing but a piece of paper. We actually set up for failure and that’s the way we all like it.
Alan
3 years ago
The biggest barrier to fostering originality and creativity in students is our curriculum design. Our curriculum is examination oriented. All school teachers have to make sure that they can finish the examination syllabus so that their students can go for the examination and get good marks to get into university. Students can only have time to understand what they learnt but do not have time to apply from or further inquire about what they have learnt. Teachers need to do more work to stimulate and guide students to think creatively.
I agree with this, Alan. We teach them something theoretically and expect them to survive in the ‘real’ world by applying what they learnt, but what we teach them is disconnected from reality. We give them knowledge, but what they need is experience and a creative mind to deal with everyday life situations.
I agree – the constraints also impact on the creativity of the teacher and their ability to foster imagination and applaud it!
jodie
3 years ago
For me even when there is the use of imagination or creativity, there is a need to put it on social media and open themselves for criticism and attack from keyboard warriors so it is once again stiffled. I think linking it back to improving the self acknowledgement aspect will make a big step towards students feeling comfortable to be able to explore creativity.
I agree – linking it back to improving the self acknowledgement aspect will assist the students being able to explore creativity.
apottz77
3 years ago
The Students don’t know how to be bored or have an imagination, therefore they have no creativity, no new ideas and cannot think outside the box. The few students that do are portrayed as weird
There is a definite challenge for educational institutions trying to ‘teach’ creative aspects or creative thinking or artistic subjects and trying to make them fit the structure of a less creative subject. We need different approaches to this.
In line with Michael’s wonderful comments, I would like to add that procrastination can be healthy and necessary. We are pushed to perform but it is not our natural state of being all the time. Pottering around in your garden or house can be essential to creativity.
I refer to an article I read recently: Inheriting the Protestant work ethic, most of us have been taught to see procrastination as unproductive and lazy. But a new body of thinking suggests procrastination can be a positive act for creatives.
ArtsHub Australia 2/24/202. Madeleine Dore.
Absolutely I agree with this. Pottering around is wonderful for creative thinking but then often the next step is the motivation to move forward with creative thoughts
The need to teach to assessments! There used to be so much more area to add creativity and originality to our courses but now its so streamlined to teach to assess that the students are missing out on a alot of the original flair that some of these courses were once prsented with!
I hear you Melissa!
I agree, teaching to assessments, reducing delivery time and making education financially viable how can anyone, staff or students be creative in this environment
One of the biggest barriers is the ‘systemic low value’ placed on these skills by society, education and as a consequence – parents. If it is not seen as important or worthwhile by important institutions/people why would the students see any value in it. Recently the cost of Arts degrees were raised and that of ‘proper’ degrees that lead expressly towards a career, reduced, what does that tell you?
Yes, very good point about the increased cost of some higher education degrees vs the ‘proper ones’.
To continue on that theme why is a university education being pushed in schools as still the be all and end all of education, some are not suited to uni straight out of school and need time and space to decide their futures – trade skills and VET is also have a ‘systemic low value’
Yes, there is no funding for creativity or imagination.
This push to have engineers rather than poets ensures no creativity. Society needs both, or even better as someone has said, poets who are engineers, and engineers that are poets!
What liberating knowledge. Give me liberty or give me death. Sidonnie Meredeth Vas
One barrier is lack of time. Our lives are so full of extra-curricula activities that as parents we feel we must provide or be forever branded a bad parent and our children disadvantaged. I crave time when I have absolutely nothing to do.
We are buying into the argument about what is a real job. Medicine, Law, Finance. Perhaps we should carry around handouts with the stats about jobs of the future. It might change the thinking a bit!
I couldn’t agree with you more Julia. We have way too many things that are perceived ‘important’ or ‘necessary’ but really….are they?
The over assessing and box ticking to be compliant by ASQUA
I agree Mark. The requirements are not always in line with industry requirements but I think it needs to go further than that eg the organisations/people who write the units of competence need to be more aligned with what happens in industry.
Limitation of time provided to get a good job done (for both teachers and students). Everything is a rush, always. Therefore hardly nay regard for creative thinking,
Yes Tersem, lack of time is a critical factor in this for sure.
Time poor nowadays for everyone thus.
Yes, I agree. The constant feeling of being rushed for both students and teachers with little time for creativity and thinking outside the box.
One of the biggest barriers is the requirement to teach to assessments. Teachers are put in a situation where there is less scope to teach to student needs – and allow for creativity – as the system at present values achieving unit outcomes above all.
I agree.
I also agree with you Denise
The assessments are so comprehensive that their is no time to teach and be creative.
I agree, Denise. There is so much emphasis on assessing, and so many assessments there’s no time to just enjoy the subject.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Consider Michael’s comments regarding the significant change in the concept of truth – the Post-Modern mindset – where there is no longer black and white truth – but now many shades of grey. By being required to teach to assessment, we are essentially asking for that “old” concept of truth…we want a prescribed response to the assessment – and only then will the student be deemed to be competent. There seems to be little scope for originality and creativity within this system.
couldn’t agree more
Hit the nail of the head there Denise
Lack of time to adequately think and reflect – creative tasks are often not allocated sufficient time – particularly in NAPLAN testing.
The biggest barrier currently being faced is the complexity of assessment tasks. We often don’t have adequate time to deliver content and have to teach to assessments.
Yes, teaching to assessments is not conducive to fostering creativity or originality. Sadly though it has become the norm and a systemic part of teaching.
Yes I agree – in VET there is a focus on assessment rather than learning. The students are focussed on “what do I need to know for the exam” rather than “how can I learn from this”.
I agree their is no time to deliver and be creative
True unfortunately
In design education, I encourage ‘design time’ or thinking time where students spend time thinking, developing, studying and critiquing their ideas. This fosters their imagination and is a discipline that is imperative to encourage creativity
I feel that the biggest barrier currently is our designing of assessments and that they seem to be examination orientated.
The current design of assessment tasks is often too complicated with too many components for students to undertake.
The biggest barrier I see is the pressure to teach to assessments. We don’t have time to explore or deviate.
Agree Sometimes our demands are to quickly produce results therefore, having conflicting goals and objectives.
I agree, we have to teach to assessments as we don’t have sufficient time to deliver the content and allow students time to practice before we have to start assessing.
Yes, and the curriculum seems to be increasingly compacted into shorter timeframes and earlier finish times for some schools and universities, to reduce overheads and costs.
There is not enough time in the day to asses and foster creativity
In June 2020 The Coalition announced it would double university fees for arts and humanities students to fund more and cheaper degrees for more “practical” courses like teaching, nursing, maths, science and engineering.
So the government’s message is imagination is a luxury – not a necessity. Michael need to bang some heads in parliament!
That’s right Michael – the government is endorsing Platos theory.
Yes, this policy definitely needs a review. How many bright, creative and imaginative students will decide against a university education as a result?
It’s this mindset of the government that is prejudicing the arts and creative thinking. Parents are guided (consciously or not) by these messages and believe that this is not real education. Any student trying to enrol in an Arts degree may as a consequence face parental/school opposition. So who is going to argue the case for the importance of creativity and originality?
It seems that the government expects the role of schooling is to create
“workers of the future “. However, they neglect the importance of
a ” tailor-made curriculum” to fit the needs of different generations, instead of the system of standardization in public assessments such as HSC.
When the decision-makers are ready to change the education system, teachers could promote more creativity in the classroom.
Having to teach to the test
This is my concern also. And then rewarding everyone for good test results as a measure of success.
I feel like a Negative Nelly here!
Lack of time, not wanting to clean up afterwards, limited time to practice being creative. Wanting the quick fix – the need or want to be deemed perfect!
Too much paperwork, making do with what we have rather than stepping outside our comfort zones….
stopping now….
All too hard, too much to do in such little time
I agree Karalyn
The paperwork, the reporting , the deadlines to meet take up most of the teachers’ time. They are all important to maintain standards across the board , that’s a fact too,
Are we setting our priorities wrong? Are we trying to teach or rather assess in time that’s not enough to learn and practice?
I am confused here
Barriers to creativity and originality are increasing levels of testings and pressure to produce immediate results. Fear of being different and resistance to new ideas and approaches.
It can nearly be discribed as ‘Functional fixity’.
Barriers to creativity and originality –
*interruptions during class time or any time during a child’s day, that ensures children can’t dive deep into their own world of imagination for a sustained period.
*students constant need to check that their peers like what they are creating and what they are creating is similar (but not) to the popular person’s creation;
*that they will fail the task and feel ashamed
*NAPLAN and tests that just require answers
*programs that don’t allow the cross over of subject matter and skills
*teachers that don’t be, nor encourage students to be, the entertainer or supportive audience
*teachers who make students copy their written words or incites;
*lack of funding and value placed on creativity and originality in Education by leadership
*Learning environments that are highly rigid, critical and foster fear as a way of controlling students
*Fatigue, lack of self worth and motivation, the need for external affirmation over intrinsic reward.
It is difficult to foster originality/creativity in students (and teachers) when the focus for the future of education is automation and standardisation of teaching materials.
Georgie – I agree. The nature of our education system was created by the Builders generation and a new system is needed. It will take time and creativity to form a new approach to the Education system and programs of learning that a nation can utilise. Society needs to value creativity and use AI to ensure humanity soars beyond our basic needs.
Agree and that’s not what the workforce wants. We will automate repetitive jobs what we want our students to develop is their creative ways of solving problems.
It seems that most of the teachers are not “trained ” to teach originality or creativity.
Perhaps, some of us have the vision to facilitate or develop students’ creativity.
I wonder if we have to propose the government to change the value of our education system.
In the age of compliance ruling education, we shut down any originality and creativity in our teaching. Students cannot be creative or original in presenting their work, as we need to ensure that we can show competency, which needs to be marked according to the compliance documentation. There is no time to allow for discussion outside of what the curriculum covers.
I agree, whilst there is a need to ensure materials are compliant there should also be the ability for teachers to ‘teach’ and discuss or share sometimes creatively share important underpinning knowledge that would add to the teaching experience for both teachers and students.
I agree Meg, in this age of compliance and testing it is hard to foster originality and creativity.
Agreed competency compliance has reduced the amount of passion one has for reaching their true limits or potential. Competency gives everyone the same outcome, prior to competency, student would find their groove – how they could be seen or make a difference in the industry of choice, be behind the scenes, create a new role or product or policy….
Yes Meg. That’s how I feel
In the school I work, it is the lack of opportunity for students to think outside the box and be creative. The increasing prescence of standardised testing and teaching to the test. Students don’t know what to write, create or do without asking and without being told. Students don’t know how to be creative. This is a massive failure.
The system in place doesn’t support creativity, even in the home environment, being creative is often messy and tiresome. I guess it comes back to being overly fatigued, spending too much time on social media and having high expectations.
The systems of standardisation and automation in assessment. The push for a digital environment and “one size fits all” for efficiency. Finances and budget are pushing this trend.
I agree with this observation and the factors that you have identified as contributing to pushing these trends.
It seems that the government expects the role of schooling is to create
“workers of the future “. However, they neglect the importance of
a ” tailor-made curriculum” to fit the needs of different generations, instead of the system of standardization in public assessments such as HSC.
When the decision-makers are ready to change the education system, teachers could promote more creativity in the classroom.
The systems we have in place in schools. Many of our schooling systems are not designed to support creativity and too often schools and teachers are restricted by the systems in which they work.
exactly, I have tried to do something outside of the box but within a private school I am told to stick to the’script’ so everyone has the same learning. there is so much restriction in what we can teach. if we cant be creative as teachers how can we teach our students to be.
Brendan, yes I agree, teachers are restricted by the systems in which they work. Primary Teachers in particular are drowning in Admin. How can teachers rise to the call for creativity with so much time and energy misspent on “pointless (legal coverage) ” time consuming tasks. The system also supports the views of parents (not trained in Education but whom realised teaching is hard during the COVID crisis), who might not be supportive of teachers who think outside the box. Primary teaching also seems strangled by the next set of teaching methods from the current contracted specialist who knows how to teach “whatever subject in a new way”….
The biggest barrier really must be systemic disregard for creative thinking. I see it in TAFE all the time. We are never encouraged to think outside the box or to employ any differences whatsoever in our teaching and assessment practice. I find my section encourages predictability and reliability in the forms of (older) teaching methods and panics at the thought of a teacher deviating from the well-worn road. It is quite frustrating.
Exactly we never encourage outward thinking. It’s about everyone turning out the same. No room for experimenting with ideas.
Although teachers do need to teach to the units of competency, there is room for creativity within the classroom.
some students are scared to have a go and worry about failing and not giving it a go. Teachers don’t want to change the way they do things, the way they set up their room, the resources they use. some people feel they have to do as was done before them. This ends up not benefiting the students.
for me i find distractions a key issue , in the VET sector teaching adult students is a big challenge ,the students are constantly on their devices checking emails and other web pages , when the demonstration is over and coming into the lab they seem to be lost , they have no work plan and in the end frustration and have no more enthusiasm
I find this too with some of my adult students. The phone can be used as great learning tool but, during the process, students will check Facebook, emails, etc – and the challenge then is to bring their focus back to the lesson content.
I believe the ‘one size fits all’ approach stifles creativity in both teachers and students. When we as teachers are dictated what to teach and how to teach we are robbed of using our own professional inventiveness and creativity. Students are robbed of individuality and a chance to find their own way to demonstrate competence. Assessment tasks are becoming very lock step devoid of flexibility.
Joanne, I totally agree. What happened to holistic assessment? As a professional, I wish my judgement was trusted more than whether or not a student understood and remembered to put X in the box rather than tick it – we get so bogged down in detail in the VET sector!
The VET sector has become compliance ruled. It means we have to focus more on getting students filling out paperwork correctly and signing every dotted line than fostering learning and growth.
I agree, too many schools promote a one size fits all approach which is perpetuated by standardized tests.
The systems prevent creativity by having standardised assessment and marking guides. Even more so is the current push for the development of “automated assessment” in a digital environment.
In an industry that constantly changing with new ideas in creativity and modern techniques it is imperative that we allow students to create new things however the rules are to follow what the Chef teacher has just demonstrated.
I as an educator do allow creativity in my class room as i think it is very important to learning and it is a challenge to get the student to show their skills and creativity to enhance their learning as it is vital to future success.
Totally agree, it is so important to encourage creativity in all disciplines as this thinking is what is needed for the future
Ourselves! First we must be creative in order to allow our students to be creative in return. Time frames and having to stick to preordained content gets in the way of creativity. Creativity is our challenge!
Yes, this preordained content only encourages thinking within the box. I have seen many marking guides for assessment tasks which only accept a narrow range of answers and do not allow for ‘out of the box’ solutions which are also correct but a bit different to what the assessor expected.
very true , to juggle with the training packages and trying to cover all contents , surely impacts to explore the creative inputs in a lot of cases
Certainly agree that we as parents or educators sometimes fall into the the trap of teaching kids out of creativity. Being distracted is a major hindrance we as teachers face and keeping them attentive and interactive is getting harder. Love the quote creativity is no longer luxury for the future, but a necessity for all. we as educators also need to find ways of encouraging imagination, thinking outside the box
so true Mario! Challenge accepted:)
Yes, I totally agree Mario. It is not encouraged and therefore we end up DISCOURAGING it. How incredibly sad this is.
The biggest barriers i see would be social media, being glued to it, unable to put it down
OMG and asking people to turn them off or put them away is like asking them to chop their finger off right in front of you!
Yes, totally agree, mobile phones are a very powerful learning tool, but students have to learn how to manage the distractions if they are to use them effectively.
Whilst it is incredibly important for the students to be competent at the completion of their studies, the way they can demonstrate these abilities tends to be very mundane.
At times I have taught programming and it is great when the students solve a problem in a different way to the textbook showing creative thinking.
Sometimes, it is hard to prove competency as their answer does not match the marking criteria. So we have the classic case of “teaching to the assessment” and “ticking boxes”
I totally agree with you on that comment Julie W!
I do agree with you Julie, telling the student to be creative and not being able to do it for their exam is sad because they have to follow a set or rules to match the marking criteria thus leaving creativity outside.
There is a well known company which uses a computer program to mark student’s writing. It looks for familiar and predictable words, phrases and use of language. There is zero room for creativity or being different. I wonder what score Lewis Carroll would have obtained!
Totally agree teaching to the marking criteria means we don’t reward creativity.
I am in agreement that social media is contributing to declining social skills.
There is a high level of distractedness and a need to be constantly entertained. This doesn’t allow room for any downtime to actually look at the clouds and let your creative mind wander, often we are distracted by social media, emails, netflixs etc.
Assessment requirements tend to be binary and restrictive in nature giving little room for a student to explore and be creative.
Yes absolutely true, in the VET education the training packages are so prescriptive and has very little room for creativity. With time constraints and course duration this element of creativity has been lost. It is very rigid and not flexible
assessments are so heavy and very stimulative that we spend around 50 % the delivery time getting the students ready for them, where would then be any time for students to explore and be creative
I think the system we are putting our students through with rigorous assessments and compliance to prove competence inhibits creativity, individual thinking and imagination.
Yes I tend to agree, there is a heavy lean towards competencies and I don’t see the notion of creativity in assessment criteria and skills.
I agree the assessments tend to focus on compliance and don’t allow for originialty
I agree Kerry. The assessments we currently have are prohibitively restrictive. There is little room for creativity, individual thinking and imagination.
Yes Kerry, rigorus and over assessed assessments will prevent students in being creative!
I agree Kerry, it more like tick the boxes and just follow the rules. I honestly don’t see any creativity in this kind of assessment but then again it is a competency based.
The focus is definitely on assessment (and compliance) rather than learning and discussion.
Just as ‘video killed the radio star’, Social Media is killing creativity and simple things like the art of conversation.
Perhaps social media errodes our sense of what is normal and acceptable – hard to compare yourself with the perceived achievements and manipulated imagery!
Classic yes! video killed the radio star…social media kills the imagination of a creative thinker
The biggest barrier I see is distractedness. Some students cannot be ‘in the moment’ to achieve their course study because of social media and personal factors. The amount of time to be creative is reduced. The education system has broadened the list of subjects in the school to assist in creativity but it seems at the cost of not providing basic life skills needed – reading and basic maths. Perhaps the future can incorporate both.
I agree that they are distracted by being social using media. But I disagree that they are not creative. Look at TikTok, Instagram and other social media to see how creative our young folk are.
I believe they are just not good at focussing on what is more important.
Removing the students connectedness to the external regard of others – allowing them to create without judgement. Social media often means instant and frequently negative feedback on original ideas.
Short attention span. If it’s not instant – it’s not happening for many students
How do we develop longer attention spans, especially when you consider that in my VET Space they are older students, very set in their behaviours.
To encourage creativity in a student they need to have carers who believe that research and reading contribute to their creativity. Sadly many carers are not readers themselves and so are unable to pass on to their children the importance of reading books.
As a librarian, I have often seen the influence that parents and grand parents have on students when it comes to reading. Simply having an older sibling, or parent that reads is beneficial, but where you do not have that, students simply do not grow up knowing that reading is possible, and reading promote imagination when movies and computers do not as much as they actively fill in the images that readers create in their own minds.
Nicely said, reading is a wonderful skill that fosters the imagination.
well said! definitely fewer students use the library. It is a chore for them to visit the library and select books. They just do not want to do research and self directed research or study. Solely rely on instagram, the web for ideas. Probably the attention span is not there for reading or inquiry
Reading is the bees knees – the creation of rich worlds from printed words – every reader interprets the words in their own way – like our dream landscapes – unique, absorbing and, best of all, no ads.
I am a great believer in enjoying reading. I always say that as long as you have a book with you, you are never bored. Evoking thoughts while you read is a wonderful experience. Students today don’t seem to want to read unless they can see it on their phones. What they read is gospel to them and so believe it.
Due to social media being enabled in the classroom, students have high levels of being distracted. As stated computers only give the answers so students have a low regard for creativity. They appear to like to be shown or told and don’t want to use their imagination.
Computer based learning could be somewhat rich – with many potential paths for the learner to travel based on their needs and inclinations. But that doesn’t happen because the programmers and designers are business people – or employed by them – so that kind of wise investment rarely happens. The main problem besieging young people and their education is that business has been invited in and sees them merely as a profit opportunity.
I think one of the barriers is that students can’t sit with boredom, they need to be constantly entertained and if it’s not good enough they let you know. They find it hard to be creative or use imagination. My students are slightly better if there are things to play with or create, the boys love building and the girls will draw and make books, cards ( gender basis acknowledged) , but often the case. But then if they are given a creative writing task they struggle without a stimuli or if we scaffold as a class often many pieces come back looking like my ideas or a movie they have seen. A general lack of originality.
Due to the constant stimuli of the student’s environment (phones, electronic billboards, music) the idea of focusing on one thing is difficult. Interest in the topic at hand is what I see as enabling Originality.
Teachers play a vital role in shaping the youth who are the leaders of tomorrow. Instead of just imparting knowledge and disseminating something theoretically, the world of academicians including policymakers, teachers and others need to give our education system a long hard thought and revamp the existing pattern of education.
We give the students knowledge, but what they need is experience and a creative mind to deal with everyday life situations.
We expect them to survive in the ‘real’ world by applying what they learnt from books which is usually disconnected from reality with an examination as the goal. Most students memorise and reproduce, come out in flying colours and then what … then they are left out in the cold wide world with nothing but a piece of paper. We actually set up for failure and that’s the way we all like it.
The biggest barrier to fostering originality and creativity in students is our curriculum design. Our curriculum is examination oriented. All school teachers have to make sure that they can finish the examination syllabus so that their students can go for the examination and get good marks to get into university. Students can only have time to understand what they learnt but do not have time to apply from or further inquire about what they have learnt. Teachers need to do more work to stimulate and guide students to think creatively.
I agree with this, Alan. We teach them something theoretically and expect them to survive in the ‘real’ world by applying what they learnt, but what we teach them is disconnected from reality. We give them knowledge, but what they need is experience and a creative mind to deal with everyday life situations.
I agree – the constraints also impact on the creativity of the teacher and their ability to foster imagination and applaud it!
For me even when there is the use of imagination or creativity, there is a need to put it on social media and open themselves for criticism and attack from keyboard warriors so it is once again stiffled. I think linking it back to improving the self acknowledgement aspect will make a big step towards students feeling comfortable to be able to explore creativity.
I agree – linking it back to improving the self acknowledgement aspect will assist the students being able to explore creativity.
The Students don’t know how to be bored or have an imagination, therefore they have no creativity, no new ideas and cannot think outside the box. The few students that do are portrayed as weird