In reaction to a subject which is quite heavily stumbled across on Twitter today, I thought I would share my thoughts on creative education. I wrote this post back in April following some really influential talks at Cheltenham Design Festival. See what you think...
Are you born with a creative mindset
or is it taught?
In 2012 we heard that the
government was strongly considering the removal of design-related subjects from
the school curriculum with the introduction of the new EBacc. The concern was
that at its very worst this could result in the death of UK creative
industries, which currently employ around 2 million people.
A talk entitled ‘The Next
Creative Generation’ at Cheltenham Design Festival addressed this topic and
encouraged debate amongst attendees, all of whom are engaged in some kind of
way in the UK creative world. Speaking at this talk were Sir Christopher
Frayling – Professor at RCA, Tim Lindsay – CEO of D&AD and Adrian
Shaughnessy – writer for Eye, Creative Review and Design Observer (Chair) –
three extremely passionate and inspirational personalities.
Sir Christopher Frayling kicked
off the discussion by sharing a piece of personal memorabilia from his school
days – a woven square, which he has kept since he made it at school. He used
this to demonstrate how design work can provide a sense of achievement,
recounting the tale of the creation of the square, and sharing his belief that
other subjects within school struggled to replicate that sense of achievement
without a real physical outcome.
For me design always encouraged freedom of thought and the ability to create.
At school I struggled to
concentrate in “academic” lessons, but found my passion in creating art from
collections of shells or splurges of colour. The freedom to create was magical
but most importantly encouraged! My art teachers were full of passion for what
they did and genuinely enjoyed sharing the art and design love. This is the key
to why design as a subject is special – it’s infectious and fun! I believe
schools have a responsibility to grow the personalities of children and
encourage their individualism.
This is what art and design
does. The report on Higher Education written by Lord Browne focusses heavily on
the importance of Science and Engineering as the core of the education
curriculum. Design is not treated with this importance. The talk highlighted
the ongoing battle that people working in the creative sector have to prove
that their industry is worthy.
A large part of this battle is
due to how design is taught in schools. In 1988 design became a mandatory
subject, later became a core subject and now is only an option. Quite often the
choice to study design is frowned up as it is wrongly perceived as an easy
option as opposed to science or mathematics for example.
The battle is ongoing. ‘Have
you had a hard day drawing pictures?’ If design is removed from the education
system it will have such a negative impact on children’s imaginations, creative
thinking and the curiosity to not just accept the given but question it, will
be taken away. I believe that if I had not has design taught in early years I
would not have become the person I am today.
The freedom of thought is a
such huge positive, and creative thinking should be encouraged.
Are born with a creative
mindset or are you taught it? I think everyone is born with the ability to
think and learn creatively but it is whether you nurture and encourage this
mindset. I don’t necessarily think that the quality is taught and I believe its
not a choice that you can make either.
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