A school with creativity at the heart of the learning process will benefit by increasing the motivation of staff and pupils, says former head, Dave Weston. In this article and case study, he shows the way to more imaginative approaches to curriculum planning
‘Creativity is the defeat of habit by originality’ Arthur Koestler
Many school leaders and teachers realise that is now time to take more control over the curriculum and to include a greater emphasis on creativity in the learning and teaching process.
During the last five years, headteachers have developed the confidence to take innovative and imaginative approaches to curriculum planning and school organisation. This is due to some encouragement …show more content…
• Is creativity a part of your staff development programme?
• Is the governing body committed to promoting creativity throughout the school? Is there a nominated governor involved in this approach?
• How involved are the pupils in discussing the curriculum and in a creative approach to learning and teaching?
• Does your school carefully plan visits to galleries and projects involving artists and craftspeople?
• Are creative successes evaluated in the SEF?
• Does your school celebrate and promote creativity to a wider audience? Celebrating creativity
Creativity should be celebrated and the school should consider looking for outside accreditation through the ‘Artsmark’ scheme. Creative successes should be carefully evaluated, highlighted in the SEF and showcased to parents and the community. Staff should be empowered to design activities within the curriculum which are exciting, motivating and relevant to their school and pupils. Once these seeds are sown, creativity will flourish.
Case study: making our school a more creative environment
At the primary school where I was headteacher, we recognised that the curriculum had become unbalanced and that we were spending too much of the ‘timetabled’ day on English and maths. Staff kept saying that too little time was being devoted to the arts and humanities. This imbalance was having an effect on the motivation of some pupils,