Anna Craft Memorial Lecture

Refreshments will be available immediately after the lecture, we do hope you will be able to join us.

The CREATE Research Group (Creativity Research in Education AT Exeter)

Anna Craft Memorial Lecture

Educating for Creativity: From what is to what might be

Delivered by Professor Sir Ken Robinson PhD

OU Camden, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden Town, London NW1 8NP

Policy statements on education reform routinely mention the importance of developing young people’s powers of creativity. In practice, reform strategies commonly inhibit them. One reason is widespread misunderstandings about the real nature of creativity. Another is that the dominant structures of education were developed with other purposes in mind. Anna Craft’s work has shone a clear light on many aspects of creativity, and especially on “possibility thinking” in young children. This lecture will reflect on the practical implications of these insights not only in individual classrooms but also for the culture and structures of education as a whole. Professor Sir Ken Robinson

This is the first of the Anna Craft memorial lectures which will be given annually in memory of this influential educator and teacher whose work in creativity in education remains an important force in the shaping of theory and practice in this field. The lectures are being jointly organised by the two universities in which Professor Craft worked at the time of her death: The Open University and the University of Exeter. In addition, this first lecture is held in association with the BERA Creativity SIG which Professor Craft initiated with Bob Jeffrey.

The intention of the annual memorial lectures is to help sustain her legacy and thus to disseminate the best contemporary thinking about creativity and education, both in the UK and internationally. The first lecture will be given virtually from Los Angeles by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken is an internationally recognised leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He led the British government's 1998 Advisory services to the arts.

All are welcome: Researchers, policy makers, teachers, PhD students, colleagues, family and friends. Following the lecture, there will be time for informal discussion with colleagues attending. We recommend early booking to secure your place. Tea available from 4.45.

5.00 pm Welcome from Professor Tim Blackman, Acting VC Open University
5.15 pm Lecture by Professor Sir Ken Robinson
6.15 pm Questions and discussion with Professor Sir Ken Robinson
6.30 pm Reception (closes 7.30pm)

Professor Sir Ken Robinson PhD

Sir Ken Robinson is an international authority on creativity and innovation in education and business. Videos of his famous talks to the prestigious TED Conference are the most viewed in the history of the organization and have been seen by an estimated 300 million people in over 150 countries. From 1989 – 2001 he was Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick, and he is now Professor Emeritus. He works with governments and education systems in Europe, Asia and the US, international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. Called one of the world’s elite thinkers by Fast Company Magazine, he has received numerous awards for his groundbreaking work in education and social change. He was included in Thinkers50 list of the world’s leading business thinkers and was named one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices. His book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, is a New York Times best seller and has been translated into 23 languages. A 10th anniversary edition of his classic work on creativity, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, was published in 2011. His 2013 book, Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life, is also a New York Times best seller. His latest book, Creative Schools: Revolutionising Education From The Ground Up, will be published by Penguin in June 2015.