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Dirk van Damme reports back from
The Brussels Debate in the series for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation: Beyond chalk and talk: creativity in the classroom which took place from 30-31 March 2009.
On 30 March I traveled to Brussels to participate in a panel debate, organized by the European Policy Centre with support from the European Commission, in a series of ‘Brussels Debates’ in the framework of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. The title of the debate was Beyond chalk and talk: creativity in the classroom. Speakers were Odile Quintin (DG Education and Culture), Eduardo Marçal Grilo (former Portuguese education minister and now member of the Board of Trustees of the Gulbenkian Foundation), Lluis Martinez-Ribes (Professor ESADE Business School Barcelona) and myself.
In my presentation I began first with a nuance observation that in stressing the need for innovation and creativity European school systems should not be depicted as overall ‘traditional’ and that the reality is much more complex. Questioning authority and stimulating curiosity are part of the pedagogical legacy in European education alongside repetition, imitation and other more authoritarian and less-innovative components in teaching-learning arrangements.
Second, I emphasized the social perspective: the selection and meritocratic functions of schools often impose themselves as external limitations on the innovative capacities of schools. The ‘pedagogy of failure’, which often dominates schooling, is not the best environment for the development of creativity and heteronymous thinking. Innovation and creativity in the classroom can only flourish in a ‘pedagogy of success’, in which all talents of all children have the chance to develop. Well-performing school systems are those where the drive for excellence is linked with a strong equitable ambition.
Third, creativity in the classroom urges us to rethink the curriculum. Whereas in many European countries the curriculum still is driven by an accumulative approach to knowledge development, creativity is only flourishing in an environment which favours a different mode of knowledge development. In that, we can learn a lot from the arts and arts education.
Fourth, this also demands a culture of quality and excellence. Creativity as a cover-up of a mentality of ‘anything goes’ and mediocrity is doomed to fail. Innovation and creativity in the classroom are only possible in a highly developed aspiration for quality. Questioning knowledge and developing curiosity and imagination demand already a fairly well developed knowledge base.
Finally, I emphasized the cost associated with educational innovation, including also investments in teacher training and professional development, in schools and infrastructure, etc. And the need for targeted assessment and benchmarking associated with the introduction of new sets of skills in general.
Download the powerpoint presentation: Education for Creativity and Innovation
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