LIVERPOOL

Creativity and Enjoyment

in Education

Professor Bart
McGettrick

24 April 2008
 In contemporary society the main
function of education is –

The flourishing of humanity

including

attainment and achievement

and
personal and social well-being.
There is a professional ethical imperative
in all that we do in education
At the heart of education is the
development of humanity.
If we are to see humanity flourish the
language we use has to move from the
technical to the humane
The attitudes and values also have to
reflect that great gifts to humanity… The
Arts, The Sciences, Technology, .. All
human development.
Education is concerned with exposing
children to good, to truth, to beauty, to
honesty, to love, to compassion, to
integrity. These are the qualities
which must inspire education….
It is only possible to know about these
qualities of life when we have
experience of them.
Experiencing music, the arts, the
beauty of science, and the joy of
learning are enriching parts of life.
How does education serve the needs of society?

Setting up places of formation of the whole

person …
…a healing place in society
… a place for human flourishing
… a place for the flourishing of all
humanity
… a place for the continuity of culture
and tradition
... a place of enjoyment!
 Amongst the most significant
purposes of education are:
Forming people

 Of love, care and compassion

 With a deep sense of hope

 Who appreciate beauty and wonder

 Who will serve the world by their gifts

We educate young children to have
the capability of serving their
communities in the common good.

This includes a concern for

creativity, so readily developed
through the arts, physical
education and “practical aspects”
of subjects
The priorities that are expressed in
society include a concern for creativity,
and also for attainment and
achievement.

The challenge is that these are

contradictory, so long as attainment is
assessed by cognitive measures… e.g.
test items.
Creativity is recognised as being a
priority by government.
The question really is whether this is
capable of being developed adequately
while other pressures of cognitive
accountability are so severe?
Enjoyment is a martyr in the pursuit of
effectiveness, performance and
efficiency.
The fully educated person is not risk
averse. Risk, to some degree at least, is
required for creativity and for progress.

A world without risk rapidly becomes a

world of compliance and of dependence on
the here and now. It contains with in the
seeds of its own destruction, by forming
the man-made manacles for ourselves.

A world of compliance is a world of

mediocrity and conformity.
The intellect has become free
through the later part of the
twentieth century; and the
emotions remain in chains.

Education needs both to flourish

for the development of the whole
person.
Courage, joy and humility are three
characteristics of human flourishing.

Is there a hierarchy of pre-conditions

for growth and flourishing?

Above all there is

•Love
•Justice and
•Happiness
“Education thus presents itself as at once
preparation for life and an irreplaceable part of
life itself: Hence the good school is to be assessed
not by any tale of examination successes,
however impressive,
but by the extent to which it has filled the years
of youth with security, graciousness and ordered
freedom,
and has thus been the seed-bed for the flowering
in due season of all that is of good report.”

Secondary Education : A Report of The Advisory Council on

Education in Scotland, 1947
 A Model for Learning

Content – Principles,
Knowledge, Concepts,
Ideas, Skills

Relationships

Emotional and
Spiritual
Dispositions to Space
Learning –
Learning to Love
Learning
 Spaces

Jerash, Jordan – Roman columns

It is the active participation of both
learning and teaching which
characterises an effective education. The
educator is most effective as “a witness”
or “role model”, and this has a profound
impact on the learner.

In so many ways the creative educator is

also a creative learner.
This will mean putting dignity before

price, and humanity before economy.

Creativity is not susceptible to complete

description by measured outcomes and

identifiable targets.

Setting prescribed targets for learning always

results in sub-optimal attainment.

 Qualities for Education
 To remember all people have memories

 To encourage and feed dreams

 To express our care for those who learn

 To rid society of the pain of the

fearful heart
 To encourage risks and know there is
safety in the place of learning.
 Areas for Consideration
 Teaching approaches … personalise

learning

 The climate and ethos for learning

 The relationships established by the

educator

 What is to be learned and how this takes

place (“context”)
We should not continue to see
creativity as a marginal concern of
the elite or the eccentric.
We have to re-orientate our
concerns in education towards a
world of, care, love, compassion
and so develop a society which
genuinely values the creative
impulse.
The greatest challenge for all educators is
how young people can benefit from the
richness of experience and feel the
quality of culture in the practical aspects
of daily life ….

The sounds of the town and the many

varied places of education, the artwork
on display, the movement and dance at
celebrations, etc.
Doubt must have a central part
to play in education. It is doubt
that nourishes the enquiring
mind. It is doubt that avoids
compliance.

It is doubt that encourages the

conviction of one’s own thoughts.
At its heart is creativity.
How could I have come so far?
And always on such dark trails?
I must have travelled by the light
Shining from the faces of those I have
loved

Thomas McGrath 1916-90