We Are All Creative! – Jennifer Oaten
- November 27, 2020
Many us would not describe ourselves as creative, yet we are all creative! It is a skill valued throughout the world in workplaces and in society. It is not limited to just creativity in art but encompasses creativity in many different contexts. At Santa Maria College creativity is also an attribute of our Connecting Learning to Life strategy. We define it as using imagination and original ideas to create something new or improved.
Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality and the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, make connections and to generate solutions. Research shows that all people are creative. In fact, creativity is one of the most important characteristics of being human, but as Pablo Picasso once said: “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” Believing that you are creative, is also a challenge for many students and adults.
A study, titled: Cultivating Creativity: (A study of the Sydney Opera House’s Creative Leadership in Learning Program’, by the Australia Council for the Arts) shows that creative learning approaches help:
- build confidence,
- improve academic engagement, and
- prepare young people for future disruption and change.
An excellent example of a program encouraging creativity at Santa Maria College is Innovate in Explore8.
This Enhanced Learning Program gives our Year 8 students:
- Space and time to determine a problem that exists in our community,
- The opportunity to interview people who are impacted by this problem and,
- The time and skills to consider creative ways to solve this problem.
This program encourages creative thinking, research skills and the development of presentation skills. Students are required to showcase/display their creative thinking at the end of the program.
What is so great about this program is that when talking to our Year 8 girls this week, during Innovate in Explore8, it was evident that this program provides our girls with the opportunity to be creative and explore a wide range of issues.
Each of our students is blessed with creativity. As a College, we will be continuing to encourage all students to discover and strengthen their creative skills, and it is through our Enhanced Learning Program and our Connecting Learning to Life goals that we can do precisely this.
In the modern world, creativity is valued as the most critical skill for organisations because without creativity, there would be no innovation. The world is changing so rapidly, and gone are the days where learning a specific skill set would be enough. Â What prepares our students for life beyond the classroom is learning how to be more creative and how to think differently.
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
- Featured
Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.