Creativity in Leadership and Learning

Published 05/03/2021.  Last updated 11/04/2023
sourcePractice exemplars

Recordings and resources from a week of online events (22-26 March 2021) exploring how we can all use our creativity to improve young people’s futures. A partnership event from Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan Partners and the National Creative Learning Network.

Creativity in leadership and learning is arguably more important now than ever before

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for education systems around the globe to transform so that young people are better equipped for a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. How can we, individually and collectively, meaningfully contribute to this transformation?

Everyone has the potential to bring creativity into their leadership and learning, to use creativity skills in decision making and for identifying and solving problems. Our creativity is a valuable human resource which we need to develop and draw on to enhance our own and others’ practice, learning and wellbeing.

This programme of events included sessions for everyone interested in Creativity in Leadership and Learning, whatever their role, context or subject specialism. You can see the programme below, along with associated resources and recordings of a number of sessions.

Also see (below):
A fresh look at Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan
Downloads
Partnership resources

Events programme

Monday 22 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:15

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
Recording of session on Google Drive.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

COVID: a Creative Crisis or Creative Opportunity? (and what should schools do next?)
The global pandemic has driven a wedge into the landscape of creativity. As it becomes clearer about when schools may re-open it is important we reflect on what we have learnt from the last 12 months of living with COVID and how we can apply these lessons to schools to develop a more creative and resilient society.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Ollie Bray
Strategic Director, Education Scotland

12:30 - 13:30

Play your “SKILLS” cards right
How do we develop a consistent language of SKILLS that is shared by pupils, teachers and employers?
Our fun and interactive cards game, developed through the Moray Skills Pathway to support dialogue around skills, allows our young people to develop and take ownership of their skills whilst giving practitioners a useful tool for assessment, profiling and learner conversations.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Maxine Garson
ESO Skills 3-18

14:00 - 15:00

Reframing Creativity: Considering school culture and the conditions needed to facilitate creative leadership
Reflecting on inspection evidence, we will consider how school leaders can focus on the development of the features of school culture to support the successful implementation of change to support school improvement.
See presentation below.

Graham Parry, Teri McIntosh and Stuart Cathro, HM Inspectors

15:30 - 17:00

Creativity is the ONLY answer
Global leading experts will take you on a creative journey to creatively solve your own problems and then help answer the challenges we face in a post-Covid world.

Global Leading Experts

16:15 - 17:45

An Introduction to Creativity Across Learning
Participants will:

  • gain a deeper understanding of creativity across learning
  • examine the role of creativity skills in teachers and learners
  • have a good understanding of the support available for developing creative learning
  • gain confidence in planning and assessing creative learning.

Recording of session on YouTube.
Follow-up material - see below

Charlotte Bennett and Lorna MacDonald
City of Edinburgh Council

16:00 -16:45

Creativity, Autonomy, Heutagogy and YOUR Role - Session 1
First, listen to practitioners share their experience (and the experience of their learners) of embracing the ‘unknown’ (and often ‘uncomfortable’) reality of authentic learner autonomy in order to encourage wild creativity. Then, jump into a challenge and experience it for yourself with your learners and share the ups and downs with a supportive community.

Julie Watt, Katy Anderson and Stuart McIntyre, West Lothian Council

Back to top

Tuesday 23 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 12:00

Hack our way to a better world!
Hackathons are design sprints that look to solve real world problems with creative thinking. In this session, you will take part in a mini hackathon, working in groups of peers to design solutions around issues of sustainability.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Mark Irwin and
Jen Hodson
Education Scotland

13:00 - 14:00

Multi-generational Learning: From Huts to Tiny Houses
Imagine spending time in a wood, in a cosy hut that you have designed and built yourself. When we set out to achieve this dream, we had no idea of the breadth of the learning journey we’d be taking. My granddaughter and I will share our family’s story so far.

Lorna Jackson and
Mischa Oliver

14:00 - 15:00

Embedding Skills in the classroom
This workshop introduces the importance of skills development both now and for the future, preparing young people for the changing world of work. It explores how teachers can embed skills development and build creative skills conversations into their classroom teaching practice.

Elizabeth Dumbell and Susan Rees
Skills Development Scotland

15:00 - 16:00

Creative Learning at Home
Creativity is becoming increasingly important in the learning and teaching environment. Please join this session to explore how you can help develop your children’s creativity in the context of home learning.
See presentation below.

Susan Bell
Barbara Atherton
Susan Bell
Kirsty Harker
Madeleine Conn
NPFS

15:30 - 16:30

Getting the Craic - practitioners and leaders discuss the realities of promoting creative learning in practice
Practitioners (3-18) and leaders discuss why they continue to drive creative approaches to learning in these challenging times.
See presentation below.

Miriam MacDonald
Professional Learning Team
Highland Council

16:30 - 17:30

Teachers as Creative and Lifelong Learners - The Role of Collaborative Professional Learning
This workshop will provide an opportunity to consider the role of professional learning in enhancing creative and lifelong learning. With a particular focus on the Creative Learning Plan’s values-based goals, input and discussion will highlight collaborative professional learning that empowers and embeds change.
Recording of session on YouTube.
See presentation below.

Peter McNaughton
Executive Officer, ADES

Pauline Stephen
Chief Executive and Registrar, GTCS

17:30 - 19:00

The Secret Creativity Service - Glasgow CREATE with Vox Liminis
Vox Liminis have developed a teacher resource inspired by an event in Glasgow, where participants were invited to play, explore and create within the fictional world of The Secret Creativity Service. This interactive session will help you find creative ways to use and adapt this resource in your own classroom.
Teacher resource - The Secret Creativity Service (PDF)

Rosie Reid
Vox Liminis

Ailsa Ramage
Glasgow CREATE

Back to top

Wednesday 24 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

08:00 - 08:45

A Creative Breakfast Blether
Creating collaborative communities begins with conversation. Come and join us for an early morning blether to engage collaboratively and creatively! Have a second device available if possible (e.g. laptop + smartphone).
See presentation below.

Lynne Williams and Andrew Pearce
Co-creator and learning designer
Single Steps Learning.

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

The Dundee City Partnership approach to a seamless learner journey
An innovative partnership approach by key education partners seeking to implement effective skills profiling from primary school, throughout secondary, into college and beyond.
See presentation below.

George Junor
SDS National CIAG Education Manager

Karen Watson
SDS National CIAG Education Executive

11:00 - 12:00

Creative approaches to designing the curriculum at Dyce Primary School
Our curriculum has a strong focus on learning across the four contexts. Each month, a theme is explored through a series of linked activities with strong connections to the local community.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Jenny Watson
Liam Sturrock, DHT
Gillian Hewitt, DHT

12:00 - 13:00

Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework – an example of creative and collaborative leadership
This session shares the creation of a framework which supports educational settings with their implementation of Learning for Sustainability as a cross-cutting theme. It demonstrates how this framework provides strategic structures within which practitioners can engage in creative curriculum-making with pupils and peers.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Yvonne McBlain
Jane Jackson, curriculum support officers
Falkirk Council

13:30 - 14:30

Online Learning #NEXTNORMAL - early years and primary
Lynn Taylor and Stephen Bullock will challenge our thinking with big questions about curriculum making and share their work with e-Sgoil developing and delivering innovative digital learning that respond to the refreshed narrative for Scotland’s curriculum and play pedagogies.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Stephen Bullock and Lynn Taylor
Education Scotland

14:30 - 15:30

Wonder Fools - Positive Stories for Negative Times
Positive Stories for Negative Times is an international participatory project by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre created during the pandemic in response to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in creative activities. We will discuss the process, challenges and successes of the project.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Robbie Gordon
Wonder Fools

Jonathan McLean, Interim Creative Learning Officer, Creative Scotland

15:30 - 16:30

International Series: In Conversation with Trevor MacKenzie
Trevor MacKenzie will share his passion for inquiry-based learning and how this constructivist approach to instruction can foster student agency and increase engagement for our students. Trevor will discuss how teachers can plan to teach from an inquiry stance, and how students can sharpen their inquiry skills throughout the experience.

YouTube recording of the event.

Additional resources:
Four inquiry qualities at the heart of student-centred teaching
Bringing inquiry-based learning into your class
How to ease students into independent inquiry projects

Annette Beaton
Lead Specialist

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

16:30 - 18:00

Creative Conversation: Don't play with me, 'cos' you're playing with fire
A conversation that focusses on the importance of creativity and play-based learning within educational settings, with guests Ollie Bray and Suzanne Zeedyk, facilitated by David Cameron.
YouTube recording of the event.

Linda Lees
City of Edinburgh Council

David Cameron

Back to top

Thursday 25 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:30

What is the place of creative, systems leadership in raising attainment?
Raising educational attainment and improving subsequent life choices is a challenge for not only those working in an education environment but also for young people, families, communities and other public services. It requires leadership practice at all levels that draws from systems thinking and the ability to work across boundaries in order to maximise creative learning opportunities.

Karen Lawson
Collective Leadership for Scotland

11:30 - 12: 30

Design Thinking in Practice
Stirling’s 2019/20 Ready for Work group worked in collaboration with a local primary school on solutions for more effective use of their playground.
See presentation below.
YouTube video: Ken Robinson - Why is Creativity Important in Education?
YouTube video: Andreas Schleicher (OECD) about Creativity and Critical Thinking Skills
YouTube video: Paul Collard - Creativity, Culture and Education (UK) - about Creativity and Critical Thinking
YouTube video: On Creative Learning, with Paul Collard and Bill Lucas

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

Esther Harrington
Ready for Work Learning Coordinator

12:30 - 13: 30

What does creative leadership in the classroom look like? A virtual staffroom
Bring your lunch and join us for an informal virtual staffroom chat about being a creative leader in the classroom.

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

Barbara Atherton
Creative Learning Plan

14:00 - 16:00

Exploring Creative Leadership – a Conversation
How should we be as leaders? In a conversation with education leaders, Joan MacKay, Head of Curriculum Innovation at Education Scotland, will explore their own sources of creativity and how they use their own creativity skills to make a difference through their leadership and in their lives.

Joan Mackay
Head of Curriculum Innovation, Education Scotland

Carrie Lindsay
Chair of ADES,
Executive Director for Education and Children’s Services, Fife Council

Martin Boyle
Executive Director, Glasgow Colleges Regional Board

Shirley Stuart
HT North Walls School, Orkney,

Greg McDowell
HT West Calder High School, West Lothian

16:00 - 16:45

Creativity, Autonomy, Heutagogy and YOUR Role - Session 2
After jumping into the challenge and experiencing it for yourself with your learners and share the ups and downs with a supportive community. Get back together to reflect, question, and laugh (probably)!

Julie Watt, Katy Anderson and Stuart McIntyre, West Lothian Council

16:30 - 17:30

Creative Thinking – A New Qualification
In August 2021 secondary schools across Scotland will pilot the new Creative Thinking qualification. This will be resourced and supported by Daydream Believers. You are invited to be part of this exciting opportunity and help put creative thinking at the heart of the curriculum.

Helena Good
SDS

Ruth Cochrane
Napier University

Back to top

Friday 26 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:15

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

IDL: Ambitious learning for an increasingly complex world
Following from the IDL thought paper, this workshop will explore what value an IDL approach can bring to learning and will share some service design tools to re-ignite conversation on Interdisciplinary Learning.
See presentation below.

Elizabeth McGuire
Senior Education Officer

Andrew Brown
Senior Education Officer
Education Scotland

11:00 - 12:00

‘This Is Who We Are’: North Walls School, Hoy
North Walls School has been working with Hidden Giants through 2019-2021, supported by the Creative Learning Network. The focus has been to develop pupil-led learning through creative curriculum design.

Emma Gee
Arts Officer
Orkney Council

11:00 - 12:00

Say YES to the mess – Leading through systematic change
How we are coming together to keep children, young people, and communities safe, healthy, and thriving in Aberdeen through the formation of the Fit Like Hubs.
Youtube video: Say YES to the mess – Leading through systematic change.

Iona Mitchell
Children First

Margaret Stewart
Aberdeen City Council

12:30 - 13:30

Any of this making sense? A virtual staffroom
Stirling and Hidden Giants would like to invite you to our virtual staffroom. There are no biscuits, only great conversations about reimaging learning. Bring your lunch and your experiences and together we will try to make sense of it all.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

Paul Gorman
Creative Producer, Hidden Giants

13:30 - 14:30

Arts in Education Recovery Group
An Introduction to the Arts in Education Recovery Group (AiERG), with presentations from member organisations Starcatchers, Catherine Wheels and YDance on respective projects related to Creativity in Learning and Leadership.

Jonathan McLean, Interim Creative Learning Officer, Creative Scotland

14:30 - 15:30

Creative Leadership and Curriculum Design in a Remote Learning Setting
Curriculum development and leadership development are intertwined. Using the context of one strand of the National e-Learning Offer, specifically the partnership of e-Sgoil and Education Scotland, this session will focus on initiatives in S1-3 programme including the craft of curriculum design.

Andrew Brown
Senior Education Officer
Education Scotland

Marc McWhirter
DHT e-Sgoil

16:00 - 17:00

Collective Sense Making Campfire
Join us for a conversation with an end-of-week vibe. We will reflect on what has happened during the festival, try to make sense of it, and figure out what it all means as we move into the weekend. Bring your stories, put your feet up, and we’ll toast your marshmallows.

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

Paul Gorman
Hidden Giants

Back to top

A fresh look at Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan

Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan Partners and the National Creative Learning Network are working on a refresh Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan. We want to ensure the Plan is appropriate for our current and future context and that everyone in Scotland’s education system can relate to the Plan and know they are playing an important part in achieving its vision. We are sharing draft statements with stakeholders and invite all event contributors and participants to connect with them with a view to discussing them over the week.

Vision

The Scottish education system enables everyone to recognise, develop and apply their creativity to ensure they thrive in an increasingly complex and changing world.

Mission

To embed creativity at the centre of Scottish education and adopt a collaborative culture where all learners are empowered, creative and confident.

Our values-based goals are to:

  • Collaborate
    We will engage and participate through collaborative, sustainable and impactful networks and relationships, so that conditions are right for creativity to flourish across all places of learning.
  • Empower
    We will co-create the conditions and environments in which all learners lead their learning and apply their creativity.
  • Embed
    We will ensure creativity is embedded, prioritised and actively informs curriculum rationale, and that all learners’ creativity is explicit throughout their learning journey.

Downloads

PDF file: Creativity in Leadership poster (1.2 MB)

PDF file: Schedule for the Week (in one view)(176 KB)

Back to top

Follow-up from Sessions

PDF file: Presentation - Reframing Creativity: Considering school culture and the conditions needed to facilitate creative leadership (1.3 MB).

PDF file: Teachers as Creative and Lifelong Learners – The Role of Collaborative Professional Learning (3 MB)

PDF file: Creative Learning at Home (2.5 MB)

PDF file: Getting the craic - creative approaches to learning - the realities and challenges (1.9 MB)

PDF file: A Creative Breakfast Blether - Mentimeter (Large file 4.1 MB)

PDF file: Maker Mondays Design Sprint - Day 3: Ideate example (St. Edward's Primary) (430 KB)

PDF file: The Dundee City Partnership approach to a seamless learner journey (1.8 MB)

PDF file: Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework – an example of creative and collaborative leadership (1.4 MB)

PDF file: Jamboard - Getting creative with LfS (533 KB)

PDF file: Online Learning #Nextnormal Early Years And Primary (1.7 MB)

PDF file: Design Thinking in Practice (2.8 MB)

PDF file: Creative approaches to designing the curriculum at Dyce Primary School (3.4 MB)

PDF file: IDL: Ambitious learning for an increasingly complex world (4.2 MB)

PDF file: Curriculum Leadership and Curriculum Design in a Remote Learning Setting (4.4 MB)

Partnership resources

Websites

Maker Mondays Design Sprint website
Google Drive: Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 2 Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 3 Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 5 Design Sprint resource folder

What are creativity skills?

Agora - the school with no classes, no classrooms and no curriculum.

Creative Bravery Festival - celebrating acts of bravery to help transform and rethink the way we educate.

Daydream Believers - gives pupils access to 'real world' experiences through free online resources created by industry experts to help them develop essential skills.

HundrED - is a global education non profit organisation whose mission is to help improve education through impactful innovations.

1000 HUTS - guidance on designing and building your own hut.

Positive Stories for Negative Times - a national participatory project by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre.

Articles and publications

Creative School Leadership (draft), Bill Lucas

IDL Thought Paper, Education Scotland, NoTosh and a Co-Design team from across Scotland

Safe Face to Face Working by Cultural Practitioners During Covid-19 Restrictions - Eight Case Studies, Arts in Education Recovery Group

Four Inquiry Qualities at the Heart of Student-Centered Teaching - by Trevor MacKenzie

KQED - Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class - by Trevor MacKenzie

KQED - How to Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects - by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt

The Lego Foundation: What do we mean by Learning through Play

The Lego Foundation: Learning through Play in Schools

The Lego Foundation: The Play Spectrum (page 10)

International School of Billund (ISB): The What If School

Project Zero - Harvard Graduate School of Education: Pedagogy of Play Project

Future Learn: Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play

Upstart Scotland: Play Is The Way

Upstart Scotland: How can we have a national conversation about education if teachers are gagged?

The Guardian newspaper: A manifesto for investing in children

BrainWorld: The Importance Of Play: An Interview with Dr. Jaak Panksepp

Raise Ready Kids: Child’s Play Is Serious - Don’t Interrupt

Oxford University Press: Reflections on the cultural history of play

Cambridge University Press: Therapeutic value of play

PubMed: Free play and children's mental health

Luath Press: Scotland After The Virus

Learning resources

e-sgoil Early Years and Primary resources:
Thinglink – Explore with Dug
Thinglink – This week’s first level learning space
Thinglink – This week’s second level learning space
Thinglink – Explore Rabbie Burns and Scots learning space
Thinglink – Explore Chinese New Year and Festivals learning space

City of Edinburgh Council

PDF file: An Introduction to Creativity Across Learning - Follow-up material (353 KB)
PDF file: 3-18 Creativity Skills - Progression Framework (269 KB)

Skills Development Scotland (SDS)

My World of Work is brought to you by Skills Development Scotland – Scotland’s national skills agency. My World of Work is the online home for career information and advice.

Technological and societal disruptions are coming at us thick and fast. Whilst we cannot predict the future, we can prepare for a future that is increasingly unpredictable. Scotland’s citizens need the skills not only to cope with the change but to thrive in it, and more so to be able to exploit novelty and create change for themselves. The Skills 4.0 paper (PDF) proposes a model of these skills for the future.

YouTube video: Skills Development Scotland national education team - Skills Development Scotland professional learning, e-learning modules for teachers and practitioners, which support an understanding of career education and provide practical approaches to embedding it in to the curriculum. There are 7 e-learning modules in total:

  • Introduction to CES
  • Embedding Skills
  • Embedding LMI
  • Career Management skills
  • Introduction to My WoW

Back to top

Creativity in Leadership and Learning

Published 05/03/2021.  Last updated 11/04/2023
sourcePractice exemplars

Recordings and resources from a week of online events (22-26 March 2021) exploring how we can all use our creativity to improve young people’s futures. A partnership event from Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan Partners and the National Creative Learning Network.

Creativity in leadership and learning is arguably more important now than ever before

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for education systems around the globe to transform so that young people are better equipped for a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. How can we, individually and collectively, meaningfully contribute to this transformation?

Everyone has the potential to bring creativity into their leadership and learning, to use creativity skills in decision making and for identifying and solving problems. Our creativity is a valuable human resource which we need to develop and draw on to enhance our own and others’ practice, learning and wellbeing.

This programme of events included sessions for everyone interested in Creativity in Leadership and Learning, whatever their role, context or subject specialism. You can see the programme below, along with associated resources and recordings of a number of sessions.

Also see (below):
A fresh look at Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan
Downloads
Partnership resources

Events programme

Monday 22 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:15

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
Recording of session on Google Drive.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

COVID: a Creative Crisis or Creative Opportunity? (and what should schools do next?)
The global pandemic has driven a wedge into the landscape of creativity. As it becomes clearer about when schools may re-open it is important we reflect on what we have learnt from the last 12 months of living with COVID and how we can apply these lessons to schools to develop a more creative and resilient society.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Ollie Bray
Strategic Director, Education Scotland

12:30 - 13:30

Play your “SKILLS” cards right
How do we develop a consistent language of SKILLS that is shared by pupils, teachers and employers?
Our fun and interactive cards game, developed through the Moray Skills Pathway to support dialogue around skills, allows our young people to develop and take ownership of their skills whilst giving practitioners a useful tool for assessment, profiling and learner conversations.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Maxine Garson
ESO Skills 3-18

14:00 - 15:00

Reframing Creativity: Considering school culture and the conditions needed to facilitate creative leadership
Reflecting on inspection evidence, we will consider how school leaders can focus on the development of the features of school culture to support the successful implementation of change to support school improvement.
See presentation below.

Graham Parry, Teri McIntosh and Stuart Cathro, HM Inspectors

15:30 - 17:00

Creativity is the ONLY answer
Global leading experts will take you on a creative journey to creatively solve your own problems and then help answer the challenges we face in a post-Covid world.

Global Leading Experts

16:15 - 17:45

An Introduction to Creativity Across Learning
Participants will:

  • gain a deeper understanding of creativity across learning
  • examine the role of creativity skills in teachers and learners
  • have a good understanding of the support available for developing creative learning
  • gain confidence in planning and assessing creative learning.

Recording of session on YouTube.
Follow-up material - see below

Charlotte Bennett and Lorna MacDonald
City of Edinburgh Council

16:00 -16:45

Creativity, Autonomy, Heutagogy and YOUR Role - Session 1
First, listen to practitioners share their experience (and the experience of their learners) of embracing the ‘unknown’ (and often ‘uncomfortable’) reality of authentic learner autonomy in order to encourage wild creativity. Then, jump into a challenge and experience it for yourself with your learners and share the ups and downs with a supportive community.

Julie Watt, Katy Anderson and Stuart McIntyre, West Lothian Council

Back to top

Tuesday 23 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 12:00

Hack our way to a better world!
Hackathons are design sprints that look to solve real world problems with creative thinking. In this session, you will take part in a mini hackathon, working in groups of peers to design solutions around issues of sustainability.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Mark Irwin and
Jen Hodson
Education Scotland

13:00 - 14:00

Multi-generational Learning: From Huts to Tiny Houses
Imagine spending time in a wood, in a cosy hut that you have designed and built yourself. When we set out to achieve this dream, we had no idea of the breadth of the learning journey we’d be taking. My granddaughter and I will share our family’s story so far.

Lorna Jackson and
Mischa Oliver

14:00 - 15:00

Embedding Skills in the classroom
This workshop introduces the importance of skills development both now and for the future, preparing young people for the changing world of work. It explores how teachers can embed skills development and build creative skills conversations into their classroom teaching practice.

Elizabeth Dumbell and Susan Rees
Skills Development Scotland

15:00 - 16:00

Creative Learning at Home
Creativity is becoming increasingly important in the learning and teaching environment. Please join this session to explore how you can help develop your children’s creativity in the context of home learning.
See presentation below.

Susan Bell
Barbara Atherton
Susan Bell
Kirsty Harker
Madeleine Conn
NPFS

15:30 - 16:30

Getting the Craic - practitioners and leaders discuss the realities of promoting creative learning in practice
Practitioners (3-18) and leaders discuss why they continue to drive creative approaches to learning in these challenging times.
See presentation below.

Miriam MacDonald
Professional Learning Team
Highland Council

16:30 - 17:30

Teachers as Creative and Lifelong Learners - The Role of Collaborative Professional Learning
This workshop will provide an opportunity to consider the role of professional learning in enhancing creative and lifelong learning. With a particular focus on the Creative Learning Plan’s values-based goals, input and discussion will highlight collaborative professional learning that empowers and embeds change.
Recording of session on YouTube.
See presentation below.

Peter McNaughton
Executive Officer, ADES

Pauline Stephen
Chief Executive and Registrar, GTCS

17:30 - 19:00

The Secret Creativity Service - Glasgow CREATE with Vox Liminis
Vox Liminis have developed a teacher resource inspired by an event in Glasgow, where participants were invited to play, explore and create within the fictional world of The Secret Creativity Service. This interactive session will help you find creative ways to use and adapt this resource in your own classroom.
Teacher resource - The Secret Creativity Service (PDF)

Rosie Reid
Vox Liminis

Ailsa Ramage
Glasgow CREATE

Back to top

Wednesday 24 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

08:00 - 08:45

A Creative Breakfast Blether
Creating collaborative communities begins with conversation. Come and join us for an early morning blether to engage collaboratively and creatively! Have a second device available if possible (e.g. laptop + smartphone).
See presentation below.

Lynne Williams and Andrew Pearce
Co-creator and learning designer
Single Steps Learning.

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

The Dundee City Partnership approach to a seamless learner journey
An innovative partnership approach by key education partners seeking to implement effective skills profiling from primary school, throughout secondary, into college and beyond.
See presentation below.

George Junor
SDS National CIAG Education Manager

Karen Watson
SDS National CIAG Education Executive

11:00 - 12:00

Creative approaches to designing the curriculum at Dyce Primary School
Our curriculum has a strong focus on learning across the four contexts. Each month, a theme is explored through a series of linked activities with strong connections to the local community.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Jenny Watson
Liam Sturrock, DHT
Gillian Hewitt, DHT

12:00 - 13:00

Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework – an example of creative and collaborative leadership
This session shares the creation of a framework which supports educational settings with their implementation of Learning for Sustainability as a cross-cutting theme. It demonstrates how this framework provides strategic structures within which practitioners can engage in creative curriculum-making with pupils and peers.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Yvonne McBlain
Jane Jackson, curriculum support officers
Falkirk Council

13:30 - 14:30

Online Learning #NEXTNORMAL - early years and primary
Lynn Taylor and Stephen Bullock will challenge our thinking with big questions about curriculum making and share their work with e-Sgoil developing and delivering innovative digital learning that respond to the refreshed narrative for Scotland’s curriculum and play pedagogies.
See presentation below.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Stephen Bullock and Lynn Taylor
Education Scotland

14:30 - 15:30

Wonder Fools - Positive Stories for Negative Times
Positive Stories for Negative Times is an international participatory project by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre created during the pandemic in response to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in creative activities. We will discuss the process, challenges and successes of the project.
Recording of session on YouTube.

Robbie Gordon
Wonder Fools

Jonathan McLean, Interim Creative Learning Officer, Creative Scotland

15:30 - 16:30

International Series: In Conversation with Trevor MacKenzie
Trevor MacKenzie will share his passion for inquiry-based learning and how this constructivist approach to instruction can foster student agency and increase engagement for our students. Trevor will discuss how teachers can plan to teach from an inquiry stance, and how students can sharpen their inquiry skills throughout the experience.

YouTube recording of the event.

Additional resources:
Four inquiry qualities at the heart of student-centred teaching
Bringing inquiry-based learning into your class
How to ease students into independent inquiry projects

Annette Beaton
Lead Specialist

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

16:30 - 18:00

Creative Conversation: Don't play with me, 'cos' you're playing with fire
A conversation that focusses on the importance of creativity and play-based learning within educational settings, with guests Ollie Bray and Suzanne Zeedyk, facilitated by David Cameron.
YouTube recording of the event.

Linda Lees
City of Edinburgh Council

David Cameron

Back to top

Thursday 25 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:00

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:30

What is the place of creative, systems leadership in raising attainment?
Raising educational attainment and improving subsequent life choices is a challenge for not only those working in an education environment but also for young people, families, communities and other public services. It requires leadership practice at all levels that draws from systems thinking and the ability to work across boundaries in order to maximise creative learning opportunities.

Karen Lawson
Collective Leadership for Scotland

11:30 - 12: 30

Design Thinking in Practice
Stirling’s 2019/20 Ready for Work group worked in collaboration with a local primary school on solutions for more effective use of their playground.
See presentation below.
YouTube video: Ken Robinson - Why is Creativity Important in Education?
YouTube video: Andreas Schleicher (OECD) about Creativity and Critical Thinking Skills
YouTube video: Paul Collard - Creativity, Culture and Education (UK) - about Creativity and Critical Thinking
YouTube video: On Creative Learning, with Paul Collard and Bill Lucas

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

Esther Harrington
Ready for Work Learning Coordinator

12:30 - 13: 30

What does creative leadership in the classroom look like? A virtual staffroom
Bring your lunch and join us for an informal virtual staffroom chat about being a creative leader in the classroom.

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

Barbara Atherton
Creative Learning Plan

14:00 - 16:00

Exploring Creative Leadership – a Conversation
How should we be as leaders? In a conversation with education leaders, Joan MacKay, Head of Curriculum Innovation at Education Scotland, will explore their own sources of creativity and how they use their own creativity skills to make a difference through their leadership and in their lives.

Joan Mackay
Head of Curriculum Innovation, Education Scotland

Carrie Lindsay
Chair of ADES,
Executive Director for Education and Children’s Services, Fife Council

Martin Boyle
Executive Director, Glasgow Colleges Regional Board

Shirley Stuart
HT North Walls School, Orkney,

Greg McDowell
HT West Calder High School, West Lothian

16:00 - 16:45

Creativity, Autonomy, Heutagogy and YOUR Role - Session 2
After jumping into the challenge and experiencing it for yourself with your learners and share the ups and downs with a supportive community. Get back together to reflect, question, and laugh (probably)!

Julie Watt, Katy Anderson and Stuart McIntyre, West Lothian Council

16:30 - 17:30

Creative Thinking – A New Qualification
In August 2021 secondary schools across Scotland will pilot the new Creative Thinking qualification. This will be resourced and supported by Daydream Believers. You are invited to be part of this exciting opportunity and help put creative thinking at the heart of the curriculum.

Helena Good
SDS

Ruth Cochrane
Napier University

Back to top

Friday 26 March

Time

Session

Presenter/Host

09:30 - 10:15

Maker Mondays Design Sprint
Maker Mondays has been created to inspire and develop curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. This five day sprint starts with a design challenge on Monday. Over the week, participants will research and develop ideas, sharing creative solutions on Friday. Join us each morning to find out about the next stage of the creative process.
See resources below.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

10:00 - 11:00

IDL: Ambitious learning for an increasingly complex world
Following from the IDL thought paper, this workshop will explore what value an IDL approach can bring to learning and will share some service design tools to re-ignite conversation on Interdisciplinary Learning.
See presentation below.

Elizabeth McGuire
Senior Education Officer

Andrew Brown
Senior Education Officer
Education Scotland

11:00 - 12:00

‘This Is Who We Are’: North Walls School, Hoy
North Walls School has been working with Hidden Giants through 2019-2021, supported by the Creative Learning Network. The focus has been to develop pupil-led learning through creative curriculum design.

Emma Gee
Arts Officer
Orkney Council

11:00 - 12:00

Say YES to the mess – Leading through systematic change
How we are coming together to keep children, young people, and communities safe, healthy, and thriving in Aberdeen through the formation of the Fit Like Hubs.
Youtube video: Say YES to the mess – Leading through systematic change.

Iona Mitchell
Children First

Margaret Stewart
Aberdeen City Council

12:30 - 13:30

Any of this making sense? A virtual staffroom
Stirling and Hidden Giants would like to invite you to our virtual staffroom. There are no biscuits, only great conversations about reimaging learning. Bring your lunch and your experiences and together we will try to make sense of it all.

Clare Hoare
Creative Learning Officer
Stirling Council

Paul Gorman
Creative Producer, Hidden Giants

13:30 - 14:30

Arts in Education Recovery Group
An Introduction to the Arts in Education Recovery Group (AiERG), with presentations from member organisations Starcatchers, Catherine Wheels and YDance on respective projects related to Creativity in Learning and Leadership.

Jonathan McLean, Interim Creative Learning Officer, Creative Scotland

14:30 - 15:30

Creative Leadership and Curriculum Design in a Remote Learning Setting
Curriculum development and leadership development are intertwined. Using the context of one strand of the National e-Learning Offer, specifically the partnership of e-Sgoil and Education Scotland, this session will focus on initiatives in S1-3 programme including the craft of curriculum design.

Andrew Brown
Senior Education Officer
Education Scotland

Marc McWhirter
DHT e-Sgoil

16:00 - 17:00

Collective Sense Making Campfire
Join us for a conversation with an end-of-week vibe. We will reflect on what has happened during the festival, try to make sense of it, and figure out what it all means as we move into the weekend. Bring your stories, put your feet up, and we’ll toast your marshmallows.

Julia Fenby
Education Scotland

Paul Gorman
Hidden Giants

Back to top

A fresh look at Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan

Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan Partners and the National Creative Learning Network are working on a refresh Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan. We want to ensure the Plan is appropriate for our current and future context and that everyone in Scotland’s education system can relate to the Plan and know they are playing an important part in achieving its vision. We are sharing draft statements with stakeholders and invite all event contributors and participants to connect with them with a view to discussing them over the week.

Vision

The Scottish education system enables everyone to recognise, develop and apply their creativity to ensure they thrive in an increasingly complex and changing world.

Mission

To embed creativity at the centre of Scottish education and adopt a collaborative culture where all learners are empowered, creative and confident.

Our values-based goals are to:

  • Collaborate
    We will engage and participate through collaborative, sustainable and impactful networks and relationships, so that conditions are right for creativity to flourish across all places of learning.
  • Empower
    We will co-create the conditions and environments in which all learners lead their learning and apply their creativity.
  • Embed
    We will ensure creativity is embedded, prioritised and actively informs curriculum rationale, and that all learners’ creativity is explicit throughout their learning journey.

Downloads

PDF file: Creativity in Leadership poster (1.2 MB)

PDF file: Schedule for the Week (in one view)(176 KB)

Back to top

Follow-up from Sessions

PDF file: Presentation - Reframing Creativity: Considering school culture and the conditions needed to facilitate creative leadership (1.3 MB).

PDF file: Teachers as Creative and Lifelong Learners – The Role of Collaborative Professional Learning (3 MB)

PDF file: Creative Learning at Home (2.5 MB)

PDF file: Getting the craic - creative approaches to learning - the realities and challenges (1.9 MB)

PDF file: A Creative Breakfast Blether - Mentimeter (Large file 4.1 MB)

PDF file: Maker Mondays Design Sprint - Day 3: Ideate example (St. Edward's Primary) (430 KB)

PDF file: The Dundee City Partnership approach to a seamless learner journey (1.8 MB)

PDF file: Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework – an example of creative and collaborative leadership (1.4 MB)

PDF file: Jamboard - Getting creative with LfS (533 KB)

PDF file: Online Learning #Nextnormal Early Years And Primary (1.7 MB)

PDF file: Design Thinking in Practice (2.8 MB)

PDF file: Creative approaches to designing the curriculum at Dyce Primary School (3.4 MB)

PDF file: IDL: Ambitious learning for an increasingly complex world (4.2 MB)

PDF file: Curriculum Leadership and Curriculum Design in a Remote Learning Setting (4.4 MB)

Partnership resources

Websites

Maker Mondays Design Sprint website
Google Drive: Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 2 Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 3 Design Sprint resource folder
Google Drive: Day 5 Design Sprint resource folder

What are creativity skills?

Agora - the school with no classes, no classrooms and no curriculum.

Creative Bravery Festival - celebrating acts of bravery to help transform and rethink the way we educate.

Daydream Believers - gives pupils access to 'real world' experiences through free online resources created by industry experts to help them develop essential skills.

HundrED - is a global education non profit organisation whose mission is to help improve education through impactful innovations.

1000 HUTS - guidance on designing and building your own hut.

Positive Stories for Negative Times - a national participatory project by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre.

Articles and publications

Creative School Leadership (draft), Bill Lucas

IDL Thought Paper, Education Scotland, NoTosh and a Co-Design team from across Scotland

Safe Face to Face Working by Cultural Practitioners During Covid-19 Restrictions - Eight Case Studies, Arts in Education Recovery Group

Four Inquiry Qualities at the Heart of Student-Centered Teaching - by Trevor MacKenzie

KQED - Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class - by Trevor MacKenzie

KQED - How to Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects - by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt

The Lego Foundation: What do we mean by Learning through Play

The Lego Foundation: Learning through Play in Schools

The Lego Foundation: The Play Spectrum (page 10)

International School of Billund (ISB): The What If School

Project Zero - Harvard Graduate School of Education: Pedagogy of Play Project

Future Learn: Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play

Upstart Scotland: Play Is The Way

Upstart Scotland: How can we have a national conversation about education if teachers are gagged?

The Guardian newspaper: A manifesto for investing in children

BrainWorld: The Importance Of Play: An Interview with Dr. Jaak Panksepp

Raise Ready Kids: Child’s Play Is Serious - Don’t Interrupt

Oxford University Press: Reflections on the cultural history of play

Cambridge University Press: Therapeutic value of play

PubMed: Free play and children's mental health

Luath Press: Scotland After The Virus

Learning resources

e-sgoil Early Years and Primary resources:
Thinglink – Explore with Dug
Thinglink – This week’s first level learning space
Thinglink – This week’s second level learning space
Thinglink – Explore Rabbie Burns and Scots learning space
Thinglink – Explore Chinese New Year and Festivals learning space

City of Edinburgh Council

PDF file: An Introduction to Creativity Across Learning - Follow-up material (353 KB)
PDF file: 3-18 Creativity Skills - Progression Framework (269 KB)

Skills Development Scotland (SDS)

My World of Work is brought to you by Skills Development Scotland – Scotland’s national skills agency. My World of Work is the online home for career information and advice.

Technological and societal disruptions are coming at us thick and fast. Whilst we cannot predict the future, we can prepare for a future that is increasingly unpredictable. Scotland’s citizens need the skills not only to cope with the change but to thrive in it, and more so to be able to exploit novelty and create change for themselves. The Skills 4.0 paper (PDF) proposes a model of these skills for the future.

YouTube video: Skills Development Scotland national education team - Skills Development Scotland professional learning, e-learning modules for teachers and practitioners, which support an understanding of career education and provide practical approaches to embedding it in to the curriculum. There are 7 e-learning modules in total:

  • Introduction to CES
  • Embedding Skills
  • Embedding LMI
  • Career Management skills
  • Introduction to My WoW

Back to top