Creativity in Education Finland and India Partner in a Seminar

 A first ever educational seminar for KG to K12 on Creativity in Education.

175 Teachers, principals, B Ed educators and NGO’s from over 26 institutions from all over Mumbai, and also far-flung locations like Noida and Kerala,  turned up today for a creativity in education course, designed by the Council for Creative Education (CCE) Finland in collaboration with Mumbai’s premium group of pre-schools and schools under the umbrella of the Podar Education Network.

What is Creativity in Education?

We are now hearing the term “CQ” or “Creative Intelligence”, more often. Creativity in Education is social: We increase our creative ability by learning from others, collaborating, sharing. Creativity in education is about tools, not light bulbs.  It’s something we do, not something that happens to us.   Above all, Creativity in education is a way of expressing our humanity, our unique power to create, connect and inspire.

This seminar on Creativity in Education was about…

Creativity in Education is about KNOWLEDGE MINING When our own ideas are insufficient; we go straight to the source and partner with people who are embedded in a culture of education.

Creativity in education is about FRAMING – changing or reframing the lens through which we view our educational practices. There is Narrative Framing, which is how we interpret the world; Engagement Framing, how we interact with each other; and What-If Framing, how we imagine the unthinkable to innovate beyond our wildest dreams.     

Creativity in education is about PLAYING By adopting a more playful mind-set we’re more willing to take risks, explore possibilities, and learn to navigate uncertainty, without the paralyzing stigma of failure.  Moreover, new research is showing that playing can be a superior alternative to a problem-solving approach to innovation.

 Pavan Podar, Trustee, Podar Education network, welcomed all the educators to the conference and emphasized, “This initiative of ours, is to help educators create a seamless transition of pedagogy involving creativity in education from KG to K12. The role of art, music, innovation and their role in fostering creativity will be shared during the one day workshop.”

Why CCE Finland?

It’s globally accepted, that Finland has one of the most admired education programs in the world, where they do not teach reading and writing till the age of 6.

As per a Pearson Survey in 2012, Finland and South Korea had topped the list of 40 developed countries with the best education systems. The rankings were calculated based on various measures, including international test scores, graduation rates between 2006 and 2010, and the prevalence of higher education seekers. Interestingly, high ranking countries tend to offer teachers higher status in society and have a "culture" of education.

 Swati Popat Vats, President Podar Education Network added, “In Finland, being a teacher is the chosen profession as teachers are paid on par with doctors. In India, sadly teaching is rarely the first choice of all the people who end up as teachers. The CCE is a collaborative organization which provides customized educational solutions designed by Finnish experts, and we hope that they will give all our educators here food for thought.”

Key elements that are impacting teaching today

1. Technology has become a part of children’s’ lives. So while we cannot escape it, we have created innovative ipad projects involving apps like ‘pencilious’ which are interactive and allow children to communicate with the ipad and learn various concepts through integration of multiple learning styles.

2. The Boards prescribe a curriculum on their websites. Instead, they should prescribe learning goals, so the curriculum developed can be ‘goal-based’ and ‘skill-based’ and not ‘lesson-based.”

3. The curriculum in pre-primary is treated as a derivative of what the child needs to learn in primary. This is incorrect and detrimental to children.

4. Prof Kulkarni, Head of Strategy for CCE Finland shared, “learning by hearing alone ensures that the child will remember up to 70% after 3 hours, 10% after 24 hrs and only 2% after 72 hours. In contrast, learning by doing, discussing and seeing ensures that the child will remember up to 99% after 3 hours, 90% after 24 hrs and only 90% after 72 hours also! Hence, this is very important learning.”

5. Violent programs like Tom and Jerry make the children “remorseless” to Jerry going through a grinder, or getting hit by a car. The child loses sensitivity thus impacting emotional development

6. Excessive push-button reactive play on ipad gets the children to think that the teacher can also be made to shut up by the press of a button. The child has an absorbent mind- their mind is without reason for the first three years- it just absorbs all the impressions of the surrounding environment.

Its important for us as a society to share learning’s across public-private platforms. Swati Popat Vats, President Podar Education Network added, “We are happy to share our curriculum free of charge with BMC schools and train their teachers for a nominal fee. Also low salary levels mean that there are no men in teaching. Males bring their own unique energy to the classroom, and the system has to consider this vital ‘loss of experience’ that the children go through.”

ABOUT PODAR EDUCATION NETWORK

Educating 70,000 students through 57 schools across India, Podar Education Network has established itself as a leader in the Indian Education Sector. Established in 1927, Podar Education Network strives to create modern citizens who are ready to make global changes. The success of Podar is largely due to its trained, qualified and committed teaching team and the extensive use of technology in teaching.