5. Teaching for Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise (ICE) Cornwall College and partners are engaged in an ESF funded project called ‘ICE House’. The project is redesigning the college’s Teacher Training and Professional Development programmes to embed learning and teaching methods that support development of the skills that underpin innovation, creativity and enterprising behaviour.
6. The project emphasizes authentic problem-solving and the value of ‘soft’ skills, characterising the enterprise mindset as essential not only to entrepreneurship but to employability more generally, and to life and well-being in the 21st century
7. The project group started work in August 2009 and is due to finish in June 2011, when our first cohort of trainee teachers will have completed training that embeds ICE and Employability ideas and methodology. We are exploring ways of extending the project to work with teachers in schools and higher education, and with businesses that are committed to being learning organisations.
9. A key focus of the Project is to engage & challenge trainee teachers as they develop their practice. The ICE House project team has looked at: Creative Problem Solving (CPS) including Problem Based Learning (PBL) and… Employability & Soft Skills including Mindset & Attitudinal Change
11. Creative Problem Solving (CPS) including Problem Based Learning (PBL) Creative problem solving skills have countless uses. Too often people associate creative problem solving with dealing with a difficulty or a crises. However, creative problem solving skills can offer ‘opportunities’ to empower people to explore what they want to explore.
12. The creative problem solving process differs from routine problem solving in that with routine problem solving a pre-established method for solving the problem is used e.g. a Case Study, a known scenario etc. With creative problem solving, any pre-established method for solving the problem is either unknown or not used. Creative problem solving involves a hunt for new solutions, while routine problem solving uses old solutions
13. Students can learn cooperatively in groups or individually, searching for solutions to problems of the real world. At the same time they learn how to organise their own learning approach/process in the most effective way. The main point of the method is to use one’s own skills to engage in achieving knowledge rather than act as a jug for ready-made knowledge.
14. Creativity depends not just on the ability to reflect and think. It requires maintaining an intrinsic interest. An enjoyment in doing - e.g.experiential learning. It requires being readyto engage in detail and focus; to accept and paradoxically challenge issues such as frustration, ambiguity and confusion.
15. Guy Claxton - Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Winchester talks about: Curiosity – asking questions, not happy with the known. Resilience – Creativity may not be quick and/or easy to deal with. Experimenting – taking risks, messing around with ideas and/or possibilities. Attentiveness – The ability to notice, intensive concentration, engrossed. Thoughtfulness – Pondering questions, thinking carefully & methodically. Environment-setting – Awareness of the physical & social setting, support from people who engage in creativity themselves.
16. Let’s take a look at Mindsets & Attitudinal change including Employability & Soft Skills…
18. What is Mindset? “After years of research, practice and reflection, my understanding of how the world works has led me to believe – firmly and conclusively – that nothing will change significantly for the better in the outside world until our mindsets change in our inner worlds.” Nick Jankel One of our Conference Speakers September 3rd 2010 University of Plymouth
19. Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports.
25. Deloitte Employability Skills Initiative (2007) There are many different definitions of “employability”. All of them seek to encapsulate the combination of skills, attitudes and behaviours that are sought by employers. These include the various technical skills and basic skills of numeracy and literacy that are prerequisites for employment.
26. However, the “softer” skills of communication, team working and personal effectiveness present a different challenge, and they have not always been included as mandatory components of learning. Personal effectiveness has not been regarded as an area of learning that can be easily assessed and accredited. It is on these skills that the Deloitte initiative has focused.
27. “Employers of all sizes and across all sectors have long complained that potential employees, whilst they may have the requisite technical skills, lack the appropriate personal skills, attitudes and behaviours to succeed in the workplace.” (Deloitte, 2009)
28. The skills of employability are summarised by Knight and Yorke in their report ‘Embedding Employability into the Curriculum’ as: “… skills, understandings and personal attributes that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.” (Knight & Yorke, 2006)
29. Employability is now a policy issue at both regional and national level. The 2009 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills report ‘Higher Ambitions’ commits universities to boosting the general employability skills expected of all graduates.
31. Soft Skills: the Hard Facts Soft skills – “the traits and abilities of attitude and behaviour, rather than of knowledge or technical aptitude” - are being called the “21st century skills”. Penelope Tobin (Barrier Breakers Methodology) Employers “continually ask for a workforce rich in creativity, communication skills and cultural understanding” - Knell (2007) These skills are now seen as crucial factors for social and economic development. These so-called soft skills have been too long ignored or badly dealt with by education - Robinson (2001)
32. Why do we need ICE? “It is a pity that the notion of creativity in education has to be fought for or reclaimed, as it should be a central feature of teaching and learning. It is the crucial element in each generation’s renewal and enhancement of itself. Without it, society would not even stand still. It would gradually roll backwards…thinking up fresh ideas is what teachers are paid for.” (Ted Wragg, in Eastwood, 2009)
33. In October 2006 the European Commission Conference ‘Entrepreneurship Education in Europe - Fostering Entrepreneurial Mindsets through Education and Learning’, took place in Oslo. The main outcome of the conference was the ‘Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurship Education in Europe’, calling on member states to accelerate progress in promoting entrepreneurial mindsets in society. The conference proposed a number of specific actions based on successful experiences in Europe. Central to the Oslo Agenda is the promotion of an entrepreneurial mindset in all education.
34. In an earlier influential Demos report, (2000) called: ‘The Creative Age’ it linked the emergence of a thriving knowledge-based economy with the widest possible development of the skills of innovation, creativity, self-motivation, self-organisation, risk-taking, team work and decision making. These are the same skills as identified in the Oslo Agenda’s ‘entrepreneurial mindset’; skills that are necessary not just in the world of business but for everyone living and working in a modern economy. Key to the change envisaged in the Oslo Agenda is high quality, innovative training in enterprise education for teachers.
35. ICE Impact The ultimate focus of the project is to impact on all learners across the full breadth of the College’s curriculum, from Entry Level to Higher Education. We are not just targeting subjects traditionally thought of as ‘creative’, nor are we looking to establish high-end ‘entrepreneurship’ programmes for learners considering self-employment, though both aims would be beneficial in themselves. Our approach emphasizes the need for education that embeds ICE as an aim of all courses at every level.
37. As Elite Sports in the UK is underpinned by Sport For All, so real-world entrepreneurship is underpinned by all learners engaging in enterprising behaviour such as: CPS, Employability Skills, Soft Skills, Mindset & Attitudinal Change. Creating opportunities for enterprising behaviour to develop through our teacher training programmes will ultimately feed entrepreneurship, creating a climate from which future entrepreneurs (students & pupils) can emerge.
38. To thrive in an economy defined by the innovative application of knowledge, we must be able to do more than absorb and feedback information. Learners and workers must draw on their entire spectrum of learning experiences including enterprising behaviour and apply what they have learned in new and creative ways.
39. A central challenge for the education system is therefore to find ways of embedding learning in a range of meaningful contexts, where students can use their knowledge and skills creatively to make an impact on the world around them. (Seltzer and Bentley, 1999)
40. The emerging emphasis on Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise as fundamentals of a 21st century economy, is strong evidence of the need to embed these qualities in education and training; nurturing this mindset in our learners, and modelling it through our teaching. Modelling = Teacher Educators teach trainee teachers through Innovative, Creative & Enterprising approaches; approaches in which they will then engage with their learners.
42. In CPS, identifying the problem is the critical first step in ownership. “When we have taken on a problem as our own, the power of thinking to unsettle and unnerve us makes us eager to solve the problem.” (Boomstrom, 2005) CPS typically follows systematic steps (6) to solve problems in ways that lead to effective action:
43. Mess Finding an effort to identify a situation that presents a challenge. Data Finding an effort to identify all known facts related to the situation; to seek and identify information that is not known but essential to the situation is identified and sought. Problem Finding an effort to identify all the possible problem statements and then to isolate the most important or underlying problem.
44. Idea Finding an effort to identify as many solutions to the problem statement as possible. Solution Finding using a list of selected criteria to choose the best solution(s) for action. Acceptance Finding making every effort to gain acceptance for the solution, determine a plan of action, and implement the solution.” (Kowalik & Mitchell, 1999)
45. In her book Creativity in Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas Anna Craft expands on behaviours for creativity: “Questioning and challenging; making connections; seeing relationships; envisaging what might be; exploring ideas, keeping options open; reflecting critically on ideas.” (Craft, 2005) Over time, learners engaged in problem solving, develop techniques and habits of mind, enabling a different approach to learning.
46. The skills, attitudes and habits of mind that underpin this approach to learning need to be taught and practiced, and some teachers may themselves have difficulty with the skills involved. Teachers may not be skilled in understanding learning as problem-solving; describing and posing ‘learning problems’; teaching the skills of group work and facilitating groups over time. Teachers may need to develop new skills in facilitating genuine problem-solving experiences for learners.
47. Both national and individual perspectives highlight the need for education with an emphasis on self motivation; self-organisation; negotiation skills; networking skills; action-planning; decision-making; communication-skills, resourcefulness and ingenuity.
49. Discovering how best to plan, introduce and support this change into the college’s teacher training programmes and ultimately the whole of the college curriculum will be the key challenge for the ICE House project over the next 18 months.
50. The common ground between employability and problem-solving skills encourages us in the development of new teaching and learning methods that allows learners to successfully develop subject skills and knowledge while also becoming more creative, innovative and enterprising.
53. 2010 ICE House Conference The inaugural ICE House Conference - Teaching for Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise will take place at the University of Plymouth on Friday 3rd September 2010. Delegates from education and industry will gather to explore ideas, listen to and share experiences of innovative, creative and enterprising approaches to teaching and learning. Further details available www.ice-house.info
55. Bibliography Allen, E., Duch, B. and Groh, S. (2001) The Power of Problem Based Learning Sterling: Stylus Publishing LLC. Boomstrom, R. (2005) Thinking, New York: Teachers College Press. Covey, S. (2004) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd Craft, A. (2005) Creativity in Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas, Oxford: Routledge. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997) Creativity, New York: Harper Perennial. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2009): Higher Ambitions – The Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy. Available at http://www.bis.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/publications/Higher-Ambitions.pdf [Accessed on 26th November 2009] Deloitte (2009): Employability Skills - About the employability initiative. Available at http://www.deloitte.co.uk/employability [Accessed on 22 November 2009] Eastwood, L., Coates, J., Dixon, L. et al (2009) A Toolkit for Creative Teaching in Post-Compulsory Education Berkshire: OUP. Gelderen, M. (2000) Enterprising Behaviour of Ordinary People, Amsterdam: Taylor & Francis. Gilbert, C. (2006) 2020 Vision - Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group Nottingham: DFES. Holt, J. (1965) How Children Fail, New York: Dell. Hornbrook, D. (1998) On the Subject of Drama, London: Routledge. Isaacson, W. (2007) Einstein: His Life and Universe, London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd. Joubert, M. (2001) 'The Art of Creative Teaching: NAACE and Beyond', in Craft, A., Jeffrey, B. and Leibling, M. (ed.) Creativity in Education, London: Continuum. Knight, P. and Yorke, M. (2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum York: HEA. Kowalik, T. and Mitchell, W. (1999) Creative Problem Solving. Available at http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/learning/Resources/Managingstress/Filetoupload,119297,en.pdf [Accessed 23 October 2009] Major, C. and Palmer, B. (2001) Assessing the Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in Higher Education: Lessons from the Literature Academic Exchange Quarterly, 5(1) Available at http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/mop4spr01.htm [Accessed 12 November 2009] Seltzer, K. and Bentley, B. (1999) The Creative Age London: Demos. Winter, J. (1995) Skills for graduates in the 21st Century Cambridge: AGR.
