Flying back to the UK gives a rare moment of ‘betweenness’ – neither one place nor the other – and hence some space to reflect. The seminar on Thursday evening (13/02/20) jointly hosted by ARThailand and Chiang Mai Creative City – https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citynow/whats-on/talks-and-conferences/making-the-case-for-creativity-in-international-education/ – that I referenced at the end of my first blog, was a very positive event. It was attended by a diverse range of committed educators from across Chiang Mai, keen to consider the ‘irresistible’ case for creativity and the arts in the education and lives of children and young people. We talked about the social, economic, equality, and health benefits, the evidence for this, drawing from practice and case studies. We referenced the acknowledged importance by employers of the need for creativity to ensure a skilled, innovative, confident and entrepreneurial workforce of the future. The Q&A at the end of the session threw up some questions that teachers in the UK frequently raise: a) the question of how to integrate creativity across a school, going beyond the excellent practice within individual classrooms; b) the time needed for planning and collaboration with colleagues; and c) the need for Senior Leadership/Management Teams in schools to take a leadership role to steer, drive and embed creativity and the arts across the curriculum as part of a whole school approach. What a stimulating evening which finished with one delegate from Myanmar indicating that embedding creativity “need not necessarily require new resources- this was simply about a pedagogy, an ethos, an approach – and courage!” A joyous and positive way to end the evening!
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