Creativity and reflection: a necessity for education

The importance of creativity in education

In the quest to educate our nation’s children, and prepare them for the 21st century, the consensus is clear. Along with a host of other 21st century skills, creativity is an indisputably important skill and attitude to inculcate in all students.

Policy discourse is replete with such references to creativity. According to World Bank (2019), “With uncertainty about the kinds of skills the jobs of the future will require, schools and teachers must prepare students with more than basic reading and writing skills. Students need to be able to interpret information, form opinions, be creative, communicate well, collaborate, and be resilient. In short, be equipped with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly demanding and uncertain world.”

The aims and commitments of the National Education Policy 2020 also state the need to, “…address real challenges faced by our country’s education system. Notably that of literacy and numeracy, rote memorization, narrow goals, and inadequate resources” (NCF 2023).

The state of affairs in creativity in education

On the one hand there is this clarion call for creativity. On the other, India’s education system continues to uphold an informationdelivery model that perpetuates rote memorization. It is also excessively reliant on textbooks and worksheets. All of these are often antithetical to creativity.

Additionally, there are prevailing attitudes that perceive creativity as a luxury. These mindsets see it as something to be set aside while the more pressing needs of foundational literacy and numeracy are attended to. This leaves creativity in the context of education to receive inadequate attention at best or languish at worst.

When or where notions of creativity are entertained, there appears to be a disconnect between conceptual and operational understandings. In other words, there is a lack of understanding on what creativity entails.

There is also a lack of clarity on how to operationalize concepts such as creativity within school education. Concrete pedagogical practices, which can enable all students’ creative participation and foster their creative development, are also not commonly known or practised.

Creative development of students as a tool of systemic change

Since its inception, ArtSparks Foundation has been committed to centering students’ creative development as a critically important part of any effort to revitalize school education. ArtSparks has been committed to highlighting the essential role that the arts can play in supporting this development.

To these ends, ArtSparks’ Creative Learning Labs, situated within government schools, try to serve as centres of best practices. The labs attempt to demonstrate how robust art-based curricula and pedagogy can support students’ creative participation and development. Furthermore, these labs incubate transformational teacher/facilitator development practices that drive this pedagogical change.

ArtSparks’ work in professional development has been a natural outgrowth of our work within the Creative Learning Labs. We run a program called EdSparks Collective to this end. It is a program for professional development in this interstitial space between the arts and education. It is designed for all those interested in exploring the full potential of the visual arts in transforming student learning.

This has allowed us to partner with diverse NGOs across geographies. It has also helped us collaboratively build their capacities. This process has been enabling them to utilize the arts in contextually relevant ways. The goal is to further impact the learning and development of the children they serve.

Learning principles and practices at the intersections between the arts and education

We ground our professional development work in a few learning principles and practices. We share these here.

Hands-on, experiential, inquiry-based learning offers our participants numerous opportunities to learn by doing, and of connecting the new learnings to their own prior experiences to build deeper connections.

Reflection-in-action encourages our participants to utilize reflection as a tool to assess and understand the results and impact of the concrete strategies learned and applied.

Transformative learning allows for moments of disequilibrium that compel our participants to question their current beliefs and practices about teaching and learning. It also helps them interrogate their prevalent ideas regarding the role of the teacher, their capabilities, their students and their abilities, and much more. It is in these moments of disequilibrium that transformational change becomes possible.

Action learning allows for our participants to apply their learnings in the field. It also helps them observe the outcomes of their actions and reflect upon the same. This process supports them in planning for the next set of actions in a cycle of learning.

Contextual and situational learning allows for recognizing the specific needs of diverse contexts. This enables our participants to adapt their learnings to these diverse needs and contexts.

Social learning is fostered through EdSparks’ Communities of Practice as well as the Regional Meets. In both these forums, learning and practices are routinely shared. These processes recognize the value of, and thereby promote, relational and reciprocal encounters amongst the participants and the partner organizations.

Communities of Practice are the channels through which the results of the professional development offerings can be monitored. These can also help build specific plans to provide targeted support. Careful consideration of responses to interactions has enabled us to continuously adapt, shape and enhance our professional development offerings.

Impact stories from the field

Shalaka Deshmukh has been an educator and a teacher-trainer for 30 years in various settings, serving CSOs and schools in and around Maharashtra. And Jyothi, a bridgeschool teacher from SATH Foundation based in Bengaluru, has been part of ArtSparks’ various professional development offerings. In their own words, they share their capacity building journey. The experiential nature of ArtSparks’ professional development interventions encouraged Shalaka and Jyothi to consider and challenge specific educational practices and viewpoints.

While comparing previous teaching experiences, Jyothi enjoyed this new way of teaching where the teacher is not providing children with all the information, but the children are learning themselves by engaging with art. Jyothi expressed, “By experiencing this methodology myself, I have realized how I can teach concepts through art which never crossed my mind before. Art actually makes learning more interesting for children.”

Being a teacher-trainer, Shalaka was able to witness the impact of experiential learning. She shares, “This helped the participants realize art’s varied potential in educational settings. It also helped them identify impactful pedagogical practices that could more effectively support students’ learning.” EdSparks Collective’s participants have also been able to observe the influence of art in rejuvenating education in different settings and contexts. Shalaka discovered that she could leverage teachers’ own experiences with the ArtSparks methodology, to connect to their specific focus areas through one-on-one discussions. She shares examples, “I have post-discussions with math teachers regarding how they could use art-based interventions to strengthen the understanding of a mathematical concept among their students. And discussions with science teachers on how they could integrate these teaching approaches within their science labs.”

In Jyothi’s context, as a teacher on the ground, she does not have the decisionmaking power to allocate funds toward rich art materials for the children she serves. Through EdSparks, she was elated to get a broader view of what visual art materials could be. Jyothi states, “I realized and understood how we can use easily accessible materials like newspapers, cardboard, and other recyclable materials. Even natural materials like leaves and vegetables can be utilized as an educational tool for children. By using these materials in my classroom, I see my children becoming more resourceful. They now do not look at anything as a ‘waste’ material’.”

As a teacher, Jyothi’s thought process has also changed. She adds, “I feel I have become more creative with my lesson planning. I am more aware of the resources in my surroundings. I constantly keep connecting these to the subjects I teach.” EdSparks’ Communities of Practice model aids in making learning a process. Through this, various participants are able to develop their knowledge and skills further through social interactions.

Jyothi identifies these benefits, saying, “The communities of practice help me see how the other participants are using their learnings. These help me get a lot of ideas. These also encourage me to continue efforts in my own space.”

From a bird’s eye view, Shalaka reflects that, “the Communities of Practice allow for constant creation of opportunities. These help in gaining insights from various perspectives and to look at a concept from various angles.”

In conclusion

It is necessary to revitalize education by disseminating practical operational strategies involving innovative and engaging teaching and learning practices. Reflective and transformative teacher development practices are a critical part of this process. We need to acknowledge the value of targeted support and continuous learning. We must also take contextual realities into account.

This is necessary to propel this pedagogical shift. Even as an organization tasked with building others’ potential, we must continuously learn, adapt and change.