Creativity is most often linked to the innovation process. But being innovative and creative requires reflection, engagement and a development of confidence and responsibility.
Creative education involves a balance between teaching knowledge and skills and encouraging
innovation. In this way, creative development is directly linked to cultural education (All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education – The Robinson Report).
In Bloom’s taxonomy (a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human knowledge), at the top of the pyramid is creativity followed by evaluation, analysis, application, understanding and recall. Cultural education is based on the same system.
Creativity is most often associated with: imagination, freedom/free expression, thinking beyond traditional norms, collaboration and problem solving, making something new. Important factors in pursuing creativity are: curiosity, perseverance and resilience.
Cultural education is primarily about the arts, in its many manifestations, and about heritage. but it’s also about history, politics, religion, science, etc. Like all learning processes, cultural education is based on different teaching strategies and activities aimed at acquiring key competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes).
Many people question whether creativity can be measured in any way. A number of statistics have been compiled taking into account different indicators of creativity in a certain region or a certain nation or even at individual level and it has been concluded that it can indeed be quantifiable.
Cultural education is an experience that encompasses all aspects of culture, all categories of participants and all forms of learning that motivate and enhance creativity. In short, cultural education is the process of learning about and through culture, a process always underpinned by creativity. Cultural education through creative practice complements key competencies and develops further, new competencies at the same time.
While creativity was initially seen as an innate quality, often associated with the arts, it has gradually come to include science, technology and other disciplines. Today, creativity is increasingly seen as a collaborative process.
Studies on creativity indicate that social interaction, communication and collaboration are key elements of creativity. Cultural education develops teamwork skills and strengthens creative and critical thinking skills. The complex political, social, economic and cultural challenges we face require a quest for creativity that harnesses diversity and collaboration to enhance positive outcomes.
Cultural education can also play an important role in supporting good mental health. Through implicit creativity we can develop our confidence and resilience and enrich our emotional world.
For more details, please follow link to the recording of the conference “Can Creativity Be Measured?”, Brussels, 28-29 May 2009, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Measuring Creativity (2009).
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7b8c470f-12c7-4375-898d-5ab4bd2f52d7
In addition, we recommend Beghetto, R.A., & Kaufman, J.C., “Toward a Broader Conception of Creativity: A Case for Mini-C Creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts” (2007), but also visit https://sirkenrobinson.com/pdf/allourfutures.pdf, giving access to the report “All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education” (1998), Chairman – Professor Ken Robinson, University of Warwick.