Adobe recently released the following infographic that captures some interesting statistics on perceived barriers to creativity in education.
A staggering 86% of parents and educators believe teaching requires a “transformation in the way schools work.” While that data point is easy to dismiss–it is, after all, just an opinion–note that is suggests that almost everyone believes schools must be significantly revised in order to promote creativity.
(Note also that it doesn’t act should we teach creativity, only that if we did, it’d require said transformation.)
But more interestingly, it offers up 3 steps to promote creativity in education that all seem dead-on (if not a bit obvious):
3 Steps To Promoting Creativity In Education
1. Reduce mandates that hinder creativity (18%)
Our overly-editorialized take: Have fun with that one!
2. Making creativity integral to the curriculum (24%)
Our overly-editorialized take: A challenge with standardized testing and related “initiatives”
3. Providing tools and training that enable creativity (30%)
Our overly-editorialized take: We can definitely see why this was the most popular response–so true!
Conclusion
While there is a fair bit of circular reasoning here (if we want promote creativity, we need to teach creativity), it is a nice reminder that until we change the way schools do business, true innovation and creativity in learning will only occur in pockets beneath the expert control of a passionate and committed teacher.