This presentation was given by Rolf Hitschfeld at the conference “Creativity and Critical Thinking Skills in School: Moving a shared agenda forward” on 24-25 September 2019, London, UK.

1. Creativity: Working with
teachers

2. ● Private school founded in
2014
● 230+ students
● 35 teachers
● Since 2016 the school
has been focusing on the
development of
students’ creativity with
Paul Collard as an advisor
SCHOOL
OUR

3. Stick to one idea
and persist
LESSON #1

4. Teachers Students Parents
Take care of three parallel processes
LESSON #2
Each one demands its own strategy and has its own timing

5. Create space for constant support
and critical reflection
LESSON #3
• Teachers will face difficulties
• Support for planning, implementation
and analysis of the lessons
• Systematic one-on-one and collective
meetings about pedagogical issues
• The management team should be
deeply involved in the learning
community

6. Improve lesson
planning
LESSON #4
• A competent professional
is required to lead the
process

7. Mitigate the risks for teachers
when they try new things
LESSON #5
• Do not say no.
• Bureaucracy is not
over learning.
• Push for students’
learning, not for
content delivering
• Help teachers go
out of school

8. Hire teachers that know well the
basics of the profession
LESSON #6
• At least two or three years of experience in
regular schools is very valuable

9. Evaluate and use the information
LESSON #7
• Teacher evaluation for focusing support
• Student evaluation including self-assessment

10. Kopernikus School founded Kopernikus Lab
Sharing our learning with others

11. 12 schools
28 teachers
700 students
23 leadership teams members
5 special needs teachers
2019
9 schools
18 teachers
300 students
18 leadership teams members
0 special needs teachers
2018

12. Lessons from working with other schools
• Creative learning is not about
having more resources.
• Creative learning requires the
willingness, involvement and
support of all stakeholders to
sustain the efforts to change.
• Creative learning helps teachers
to reconnect with their
profession and children to
reconnect with learning.

13. For the school
● Develop a good induction programme for the new
teachers
● Look for a more efficient and effective way to support
teachers
For the lab
● Find a way to work with schools in a larger scale
CHALLENGES
NEXT