The place of creativity in schools

A new and surely important report from the University of Warwick – Enriching Britain: Culture, Creativity and Growth – suggests that we cannot become the nation we want, economically, socially and culturally, unless there is a fresh and holistic approach to promoting art, culture and creativity.

What does this means for schools? Should we be teaching something called “creativity”? Should head teachers be saying: “Starting today, I’ll be checking your planning for creativity on a four-point scale?”

I suggest not. My own view is that creativity is only tangible in terms of what it brings about. Author Kurt Vonnegut writes, in A Man Without a Country: “Practising an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”