A key message from the recent Attaining Creative Solutions event was that if we want to engage learners, close the attainment gap and help young people develop the skills they need in order to thrive in an unpredictable and fast changing world, we can’t afford not to be creative.

This National Creative Learning Network event brought together senior education staff and practitioners from local authorities across Scotland with operational and strategic responsibility for attainment, employability and/or creativity and provided them with the opportunity to explore how they could use creativity to address these challenges in their local context.

The event was facilitated by Paul Collard, CEO of Creativity, Culture and Education, who drew on international research, policy and practice to discuss the importance of creativity in learning and its impact on learners’ attainment and the development of employability/career management skills.

Also featured was the launch of a new publication by Sir Tim Brighouse and education consultant David Cameron, ‘Ten challenges to becoming a truly creative school’, which became the focus for discussion sessions on how participants might work together to use creativity in their own roles in order to improve outcomes for learners.

Creative Conversation Panel

An early evening Creative Conversation, We can work it out, featured Hywel Roberts, curriculum innovator and author of ‘Oops! Helping Children Learn Accidentally’, Andy Gray, Head of Schools and Communities, City of Edinburgh Council, Paul Collard and David Cameron. Film footage of this conversation which summed up the key messages of the day can be seen here: http://bit.ly/creativeconversationsplaylist

Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages attended the evening conversation and was pleased to show the Government’s support for Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan. He commented that creativity is vital to the future of Scotland, both economically and in terms of culture and wellbeing – it can engage young people, tap into and develop their potential and have a powerful impact on attainment. Dr Allan stated that ’We want the best in creative learning to be an entitlement for all our young people’ and emphasised the Scottish Government’s confidence in the teaching profession to work collectively to continuously improve.

The following day National Creative Learning Network members met at Jupiter Artland for an inspiring day with Hywel Roberts who shared ideas and practical advice on using creative approaches to engage learners. The group explored the creative learning potential of Jupiter Artland’s education activities and heard from senior staff from Corstorphine Primary and Balerno Community High School on how they are embedding creativity within teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Feedback from the two days has been overwhelmingly positive. There is a strong sense of recognition that engagement is key and that creativity is an essential element in engaging all young people in learning.

This National Creative Learning Network event was delivered in partnership with Edinburgh Creative Learning Network, and was part of the Emporium of Dangerous Ideas programme. It was supported by Education Scotland in partnership with Creative Scotland.