Creativity: What it is, why it matters, and what you can do to cultivate it in schools

Description

About this event A free event aimed at School Leaders, Teachers and Researchers In the last five years creativity and creative thinking has been rising up the educational agenda. In 2019 two significant reports were published. The first was from the organisation for Economic Cooperation and development the OECD, Fostering students creativity and critical thinking. Summarising four years of research in 11 countries, it describes the many ways in which creative thinking can be cultivated in schools. The second was the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education. This report outlines the many benefits of creativity to young people today and makes a number of significant recommendations for educators in England. As a result of the Durham Commission the Creativity Collaboratives were launched. Eight clusters of schools spread across England now receive funding to explore teaching for creativity. The University of Winchester Academy Trust is one of the eight collaboratives. Its teacher research group, led by Paul Sowden and Marnie Seymour, has been developing a creative process driven approach to teaching and learning for creativity. Meanwhile the model of creativity developed by Bill Lucas, Ellen Spencer and Guy Claxton at the Centre for Real-World Learning at the university of Winchester has become widely adopted in more than 30 countries across the world. Two new organisations, the Global Institute of Creative Thinking and a web community called Leading for Creative Thinking have begun to build momentum and make the case for change in England and internationally. This event brings together four key researchers and educators from the University of Winchester who will interact with schools across Hampshire exploring: Creativity in schools across the world The Creativity Collaboratives in England University researchers and schools working together The leadership of creativity in schools. As if that was not enough to persuade you to make time for this exciting session in your busy life, we can offer a free glass of wine or soft drink on arrival. Professor Bill Lucas Bill is Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning at the University of Winchester. His research focuses on understanding those dispositions for learning which help people succeed and flourish in life, how they can be cultivated and how evidenced. Bill is chair of the advisory board of the Global Institute of Creative Thinking, co-chair of the strategic advisory group PISA 2022 Creative Thinking Test, co-author of the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education, and curator of Creativity Exchange. In 2020, Bill co-founded Rethinking Assessment. Bill is a prolific writer. His acclaimed critique of the education system, Educating Ruby: what our children really need to learn, written with Guy Claxton, asks challenging questions about the future of education. Creative Thinking in Schools: a leadership playbook, co-authored with Ellen Spencer, was published in July 2023 to great acclaim. Professor Paul Sowden Paul is Professor of Psychology, Cognition and Creativity at the University of Winchester, UK, Visiting Professor of Cognition and Creativity at the University of Surrey, UK, Associate of the Institute of Business Creativity, Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Salzburg Global Fellow. An Executive Board Member of the International Society for the Study of Creativity and Innovation (ISSCI), and a former Executive Committee member, and International Representative, for the American Psychological Association’s Division for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, his research on creativity and the creative thinking process has been widely published in the peer reviewed academic literature. He has served on the editorial boards of a range of psychology journals including, presently, Thinking Skills & Creativity. Paul is currently working with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on a five-year project to foster Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education and leading the research for a three-year, 12 school, ‘Creativity Collaborative’ funded by Arts Council England. Dr Ellen Spencer Ellen is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Real-World Learning at the University of Winchester undertaking commissioned literature reviews and syntheses in education of significant impact. Her most recent 2023 publication is Creative Thinking in Schools: a Leadership Playbook. Her creativity research began in 2011 with a Creativity, Culture and Education funded project that developed the widely used five-dimensional model of creativity. As Principal Investigator Ellen has led work for the Royal Society of Arts, and for the Church of England’s Foundation for Educational Leadership. Ellen’s work for the RSA explored the relationship between creative self-efficacy and social action. She has co-authored three-book series on teaching and learning. Ellen also works as Researcher-in-Residence for the Creativity Collaboratives project, working with teachers to develop new approaches to teaching for creativity and methods for evaluation of their efficacy. Dr Marnie Seymour Marnie is a Senior Fellow in Knowledge Exchange at the University of Winchester. She is co-convenor of the University of Winchester's Centre for Professional Learning in Education, overseeing CPD provision to schools across the South Coast of England and is the Academic Lead for the National Professional Qualifications for school leadership programmes. Marnie leads on both the ITT and school leadership elements for the Halterworth School Creativity Collaborative research in the national Arts Council-funded programme. Marnie has a successful track record of content development of evidence based CPD programmes for teachers and school leaders locally and nationally.

Period	25 Jan 2024
Held at	Centre for Real-World Learning
Degree of Recognition	Local