Creativity and Education – the Need for a New Curriculum
Despite increasing recognition of the importance of creativity, many educational systems continue to follow outdated models. Students often face immense pressure to achieve high grades in standardised tests, leaving little room for creative exploration. This approach leads to outcomes centred around success defined through grades rather than genuine intellectual curiosity and creativity.
When I first started teaching degree students very few asked me whether the class they were studying ‘would be in the exam’, and then only as we moved closer to the final assessments. When I finished teaching and took on other roles twenty-five years later, I was constantly asked ‘will this be in the exam’ at the end of nearly every lecture and seminar. I do not blame the students or their teachers for this, but rather it was the result of the education culture that had made testing the focus of their studies.
I used to teach creative and performing skills to students. But creativity is not just for artists and performers; it is a vital skill across all fields, fostering innovation, problem-solving, and adaptability. It is not a set of skills that can simply be tested by written assessments, it is a lifelong development process, a way of thinking, which needs to be constantly fostered and encouraged through ongoing creative engagements and opportunities to be imaginative in life.
Despite this, traditional education systems still prioritise a fixed curriculum and standardised testing over creative thinking. This focus has led to educational environments where students are taught to conform rather than to think for themselves – which should be the core goal of education. Despite all the technological developments of the present the Human Brain is still the most powerful thinking machine, at least for now.
I listened recently to a Times Higher discussion online between expert academics on the need for an interdisciplinary curriculum — where students study across subjects and disciplines to broaden their thinking and understanding. The conversation reached the conclusion that academic conventions, departmental structures and timetabling meant that true interdisciplinarity was not really possible in most university curriculums. I have seen this in action in universities and it needs to be challenged.
There has been problem in structured education systems for a long time. But now, in an age of increased automation in the workplace, the very skills that employers are saying are becoming more crucial — the so-called soft skills of critical thinking, flexibility, adaptability and creative innovation- are also seen by those same employers as less evident in the graduate students coming into the work place. 2024 Graduates Lack Skills In Communication, Collaboration And Critical Thinking, Study Finds (forbes.com)
The Role of AI: A Double-Edged Sword
AI holds the potential to either enhance or further stifle creativity, depending on how it is implemented in education. On one hand, AI can personalise learning experiences, providing students with the tools to explore their interests in depth and at their own pace. For instance, AI-driven platforms can recommend resources, projects, and challenges tailored to individual students’ creative inclinations.
On the other hand, there is a high risk that AI could be co-opted by dominant educational approaches that prioritise efficiency and standardisation. This could lead to further suppression of creativity, as algorithms might favour conventional success metrics over individualised, creative exploration. There is also the fundamental challenge that using AI as itself a derived source — taking the ideas and insights of others and then passing it off as new knowledge — gives a confused message to students who we want to learn to think for themselves
Overcoming Fear and Embracing Change
Fear drives much of the resistance to change within educational systems. Educators, managers, politicians, and leaders often fear the unknown and the potential for disruption. However, this fear also drives a reliance on outdated systems that fail to meet the needs of modern learners.
To truly nurture creativity, we must embrace simple, innovative solutions that have a low cost and minimal demand on resources but offer significant impact.
Encouraging interdisciplinary learning can help students see connections between different fields and think creatively. In this approach we can see echoes of the words of the polymath, artist, inventor and truly creative innovator Leonardo da Vinci — “study the art of science and the science of art”.
Bringing together voices for change
The best approach to changing the curriculum to respond to the needs of the future is to listen to all stakeholders who have an investment in a creative and innovative education system. These include the academics who teach the courses, the students for whom the curriculum is created, the graduates going into the workplace, and the employers who take these students into their companies and industries, or who look for future entrepreneurs.
At present the lowest UK National Student Survey (NSS) figures are for the question which states: ‘students feedback on the course is acted upon’ — languishing at 63%. There is clearly a challenge, not just on showing that feedback is responded to but providing effective course changes that will support students in their future lives as working people and lifelong learners.
At present the relationship between course development and stakeholder engagement is inconsistent and varied. Only by developing a comprehensive interaction between all these groups can the future curriculum respond to the many challenges which students, graduates and employers will face. The need for greater innovation does not come from repeating the standardised curriculum of the past but from a change of direction of how we create the courses for the future.
Future Horizons Education is working to develop a curriculum feedback and analysis tool that brings all the stakeholders in university course outcomes together, offering insightful analysis supported by data from industry trends in employability and skills gaps. By using this approach, we can create a more effective curriculum for the future workplace.
