Cultivating and assessing capabilities for success in life, work and education

While interest in creative thinking in schools is growing across the world, detailed understanding of its implementation in educational jursidictions and, most importantly, in schools is hard to come by. Drawing on a range of published materials and on the insights of existing networks of schools and researchers engaged in creative thinking, the report offers a snapshot of where we are today. It is designed to stimulate thinking and encourage teachers, researchers and policy-makers.

This review of literature was commissioned by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to help deepen its understanding of meta-skills with a particular interest in work-based learning. The review pays particular attention to best practices in the science of learning and how this could be applied to apprenticeships in Scotland, to the role of the individual learner in the learning process, to the evaluation of meta-skills and to the transferability and translatability of meta-skills from one context to another. As a result of the review recommendations are offered for the further development and delivery of meta-skills in Scotland. Across the world there is a growing interest in frameworks which seek to describe the competencies, capabilities, dispositions, habits or wider skills which are likely to be most useful at work, in life and in learning. While there are different ways of grouping meta-skills, there is a growing consensus as to what these skills are. The foundation of this review has been an extensive search for relevant frameworks from across the globe that use words like 'attributes', 'capabilities', 'character', 'competences', 'habits', 'non-cognitive skills', 'soft skills', 'wider skills' to frame their understanding of meta skills. This review provides an overview of meta-skills frameworks and of the development practices associated with them. It offers pointers for best practice.

This review forms the initial foundation for a piece of work commissioned by the Mercers’ Company designed to help school leaders in secondary schools in England make creativity central to their students’ lives. Across the world the importance of creativity is increasingly acknowledged in education systems. But though leadership in schools is well-researched in general terms, leadership for creativity is not. In this review, we chart the establishment of a robust definition of creative leadership in schools, summarise the case for its importance today, and illustrate what it looks like in secondary schools. The review builds on the first report of the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education in 2019 and research by the OECD published in the same year by analysing the opportunities and challenges that secondary school leaders face if they truly wish to focus on developing the creativity of their students. From our reading of the literature, both scholarly and ‘grey’ sources, ‘creative leadership’ is the term we believe best encapsulates a kind of school leadership that explicitly develops the creativity of all of its members, staff and students alike. The concept of creative leadership and research relating to it is underdeveloped in education, while in other fields there is more consensus. Our understanding of ‘creative leadership’ in its broadest sense suggests that it is a helpful way of capturing the essence of school leaders’ role, and a starting point for considering how the sorts of challenges identified by the Durham Commission might best be met. Our review of the literature suggests that we need to reimagine the kind of leadership that will develop creative students (and creative staff) at a theoretical level, as well as clarifying the practical implications for leaders’ practices. Creative leadership will explicitly seek to cultivate creative habits in teaching staff who can, in turn, model these with their students. Creative leaders ensure that there are multiple opportunities for developing the creativity of all young people while at the same time recognising that for a school truly to be a creative organisation then developing the creativity of its leaders and staff is important both as a means to an end and as an end in itself. Leading for creativity is likely to mean setting an agenda for change that involves prioritising practices that develop creative leaders through collaboration within and across professional communities, that promote the development of creative cultures and structures and that utilise creative pedagogies. Creative leadership is a concept whose successful application in schools could benefit from the development of a range of professional learning resources for senior leaders in schools. This review aims to provide a basis for the development of a leadership toolkit that can be trialled for further development with leaders in English secondary schools, used to support a new professional learning community and, potentially, adapted for school leaders across the world.

A literature review of creativity - concepts and practices - and their visibility or otherwise in international, European and national frameworks. The publication is a technical report from the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.

Digital Creativity is a new, dynamic, inter-disciplinary and rapidly growing field. While there is a growing clarity as to what creativity is the meaning of digital expands on a daily basis. Unsurprisingly digital creativity can mean many things to different in business, the third sector, in education and in informal learning. This scoping paper was written for a virtual event coordinated by Nesta, London, UK on 26th March 2020. The paper explores the idea of digital creativity skills - what are they, what progression looks like, how are they developed and identifies some promising practices.

The Durham Commission, a collaboration between Arts Council England and Durham University, undertook extensive research to develop a definition of creativity, offer a vision for how this vision could be implemented in all schools in England and suggest specific policy and practice recommendations to ensure that the vision becomes reality.

It is 20 years since the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE) published its seminal work on the role of creativity in schools. Much has changed. Employers see the value of creativity. More than 70 countries across the world have it specified in their National Curricula. The Programme for International Student Assessment PISA plans to test it in 2021. But England, despite some outstanding school examples, still lags behind other countries in terms of the its policies to support the teaching of creativity. The author reflects on what is known about teaching and assessing creativity that might be of use to teachers today in England.

It's time to be more precise about which dispositions for learning are eternally important, which have particular resonance in today's fast moving times and why. 21st century skills can otherwise seem an evangelical un-evidenced cri de Coeur putting off good teachers from an important are of pedagogical dicussion

As the twenty-first century runs it course it is increasingly unhelpful to talk of twenty-first century skills as if we either do not yet know what they are or somehow assume that they will remain the same for the next eight decades. The conversation needs to shift away from a rallying cry towards the detailed pedagogical design work needed by teachers to embed dispositions for learning in every aspect of the formal and informal life of school so that they will become habitual for all students, available to them for a lifetime of learning.

Across the world education ministries are acknowledging the importance of critical and creative thinking. The State of Victoria in Australia has led the world in thinking about how best critical and creative thinking can be taught and how assessed. This initial review of evidence looks at the relationship between implementing those aspects of critical and creative thinking which are specified by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and student achievement, especially in literacy and numeracy. It suggests that teaching critical and creative thinking positively impacts on achievement.

Since the Melbourne Declaration of 2008, Australia has been developing a curriculum in which capabilities have a valued place alongside knowledge and skills. This report examines research from across the world, provides an overview of promising practices in Australia and concludes with en eight step plan for effectively embedding capabilities in Australian schools.

Are young people who believe that they are creative more likely to do good in the world? Using the concept of creative self-efficacy this review explores potential connections between creativity and meaningful social action. The review finds five potentially interesting connections which merit further investigation: 1. heightened imaginative awareness and potential empathy in the lives of others 2. levels of curiosity and interest in social issues 3. perseverance, self-efficacy and the likelihood of making a positive difference more widely 4. an interest in collaboration and a sense of social belonging 5. an ethic of excellence and a willingness to become involved in voluntary activities in areas of interest.

Tenacity is an increasingly valued capability in young people. This article offers a new definition of the concept, the evidence for why it matters and some suggestions for what teachers might do to embed it in all aspects of school.

Ever since schools were invented there have been debates about the degree to which the role of education is to be the supply side of the skills that employers want or something else. In the past few decades we have become much clearer about which skills are most important for employability and, excitingly, they bear a remarkable resemblance to what we also know to be the skills or habits of mind of good learners. Countries across the world are beginning to catch up with this news and reframing their education systems to focus on the development of young peoples' capabilities to stand them in good stead for university, for employment and for a lifetime of learning. This paper explores the ways in counties which reframe education in terms of skills, knowledge and capabilities can bring the worlds of school and employment closer together

Creativity and creative thinking are attracting growing interest from economists, politicians, employers and educationalists. This article offers an overview of thinking over the last 70 years. It explores the five dimensional model of creative thinking developed by the Centre for Real-World Learning and reflects on recent decisions by OECD-PISA to test creative thinking in 2021.

Young people need more than just subject knowledge in order to thrive - they also need capabilities. A key capability is tenacity. In this ground-breaking book the authors draw on a wide body of research into concepts such as grit, growth mindset, craftsmanship and deliberate practice to develop a robust and inclusive model of tenacity. Available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Developing-Tenacity-Teaching-persevere-difficulty/dp/1785833030

In Spring 2011, Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) commissioned the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) at The University of Winchester to undertake research to establish the viability of creating an assessment framework for tracking the development of young people's creativity in schools. The research and subsequent development work with teachers was a 'proof of concept' activity. Three overarching questions guided the research: 1. Is it possible to create an assessment instrument that teachers find useful (proof of concept)? 2. Would any framework be usable across the entire age span of formal education? 3. If a framework is to be useful to teachers and pupils, what approach to assessment should it adopt? After reviewing the literature on creativity and its assessment, and consulting expert practitioners, CRL created a framework for developing creativity in schools, and derived an assessment tool to trial in schools. Through two separate field trials our research suggested that the framework was sufficiently distinct from existing approaches to creativity to be useful and that from a teacher point of view, the framework was both rigorous and plausible.

Young people need more than subject knowledge to thrive - they need capabilities. A key capability is 'creative thinking' which is to be the focus of a new 2021 PISA test, based on the authors' research at the University of Winchester's Centre for Real-World Learning. Teaching Creative Thinking is a powerful call to action and a practical handbook for all teachers seeking to embed creativity into the school experiences of all their students. Book available at http://amzn.eu/653Cw6O

Creativity is a major economic force in the 21 Century and increasingly we need to beyond conventional thinking to achieve our full potential in our personal and professional loves. The Creative Thinking Plan draws on a wide range of research to show how we can access our creativity more effectively and be more creative at work.

These reports have been commissioned to introduce readers to the main principles, theories, research and debates in the field. They aim to introduce the major themes and writing pertaining to each area of study and to outline key trends and arguments. About the authors Ellen Spencer is senior researcher at the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) at the University of Winchester. Her ESRC funded MA and Ph.D at the University of Warwick examined the impacts of government policy on capacity for school improvement. Much of her research work involves exploration of how teachers can foster cultivation of positive learning dispositions in pupils through classroom practice. She co-authored (with Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton) Making It, CRL's recent publication exploring the impacts of 'studio teaching' approaches on learning-mindedness and motivation of pupils. Bill Lucas is Co-Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning and Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester. He has been a school leader, the founding director of Learning through Landscapes, and CEO of the UK's Campaign for Learning. Bill is a worldwide speaker on learning, creativity, and leadership. A prolific author, his recent titles include: Evolution (which won the Innovation category in CMI Management Book of the Year) and (with Guy Claxton) New Kinds of Smart and The Creative Thinking Plan.

Creativity is widely accepted as being an important outcome of schooling. Yet there are many different views about what it is, how best it can be cultivated in young people and whether or how it should be assessed. And in many national curricula creativity is only implicitly acknowledged and seldom precisely defined. This paper offers a five dimensional definition of creativity which has been trialled by teachers in two field trials in schools in England. The paper suggests a theoretical underpinning for defining and assessing creativity along with a number of practical suggestions as to how creativity can be developed and tracked in schools. Two clear benefits of assessing progress in the development of creativity are identified: 1) teachers are able to be more precise and confident in developing young people’s creativity, and 2) learners are better able to understand what it is to be creative (and to use this understanding to record evidence of their progress). The result would seem to be a greater likelihood that learners can display the full range of their creative dispositions in a wide variety of contexts. This paper was drafted for the CERI Innovation Strategy for Education and Training. It is the output of a collaborative research project commissioned by Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) in partnership with the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI).

Creativity is widely accepted as being an important outcome of schooling. Yet there are many different views about what it is, how best it can be cultivated in young people and whether or how it should be assessed. And in many national curricula creativity is only implicitly acknowledged and seldom precisely defined. This paper offers a five dimensional definition of creativity which has been trialed by teachers in two field trials in schools in England. The paper suggests a theoretical underpinning for defining and assessing creativity along with a number of practical suggestions as to how creativity can be developed and tracked in schools. Two clear benefits of assessing progress in the development of creativity are identified: 1) teachers are able to be more precise and confident in developing young people’s creativity, and 2) learners are better able to understand what it is to be creative (and to use this understanding to record evidence of their progress). The result would seem to be a greater likelihood that learners

While there is no simple recipe for success in life, we are learning more about the capabilities which help children become more powerful learners and achieve more in conventional examinations

Presidential Invitational Address

A rapid evidence scan for the Dusseldorp Forum in Sydney, Australia. 1. The field of creativity is internationally well-developed and, over the last fifty years, there has been a growing understanding of creative learning in schools. 2. Creativity and hence creative learning are very broad concepts. Nevertheless creative learning can be defined in ways which teachers and practitioners find helpful. In the review a model published by OECD and developed by an Australian school is offered as a template. 3. There is general agreement that, like many capabilities, creativity can be learned. 4. There is a strong global consensus that creativity is an important capability in the 21st Century and, consequently, is a valued outcome of schooling. 5. Creative teachers and other practitioners report the many positive outcomes that young people gain from creative learning. But systematic evidence for the wider benefits of creative learning is less strong. Nevertheless there is the beginning of an encouraging evidence base.

If we really want children to develop learning capabilities which will stand them in good stead throughout their lives, adults need to think carefully how they give feedback.

Creativity is increasingly valued as an important outcome of schooling, frequently as part of so-called “21st century skills.” This article offers a model of creativity based on five Creative Habits of Mind (CHoM) and trialed with teachers in England by the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) at the University of Winchester. It explores the defining and tracking of creativity’s development in school students from a perspective of formative assessment. Two benefits are identified: (a) When teachers understand creativity they are, consequently, more effective in cultivating it in learners; (b) When students have a better understanding of what creativity is, they are better able to develop and to track the development of their own CHoM. Consequently, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has initiated a multicountry study stimulated by CRL’s approach. In Australia work to apply CRL’s thinking on the educational assessment of creative and critical thinking is underway.