Katie’s big idea is that great moments of creativity can be born out of experiences of negative emotion, even out of crushing loss or failure. I was intrigued, and also encouraged, by the connection the “creative-being” model makes between creativity and wellbeing. It makes sense, when you think about it, that our failures, losses and disappointments help build resilience, and that each experience of “failure” actually brings us a step closer to creative success.
In the article, the authors make the point that “negative emotion is an unavoidable reality” in the VUCA world in which we live. This is an era in which change has joined death and taxes to become the only things we can be sure of. Paul Browning and I both like to borrow a phrase coined by Thomas Friedman2, the age of acceleration, to describe these times. I suggest that the unavoidable negative emotions referred to by Beresford et al include anxiety (because nothing seems certain any more) and a sense of loss, or even grief, over that which no longer is.
In this world and in these times, the role of schools (and those who lead them) takes on even greater importance. What kind of schools are needed in this era of artificial intelligence, climate change and globalisation? I would suggest that two things are essential: a new approach to learning (with the 4 Cs of Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration at the centre) and a commitment to the flourishing of the whole child.
ViVEDUS, of course, offers such a new approach to learning. Of particular interest to me at Character Matters are issues related to student wellbeing or flourishing. The big idea of Character Matters is that the people our students are becoming is as important as the knowledge and skills they learn while at school. In the debate around the future of education, I think it is essential that we address all aspects of wellbeing, including character formation, the discovery of meaning and the acquisition of wisdom, as well as the more obvious issues of physical and psychological wellbeing.
Are creativity and wellbeing separate issues? Clearly not, as described in the article by Beresford et al (2024). Symbiotic, or perhaps synergistic, might be better words to describe the relationship between the new approach to learning and the greater commitment to holistic flourishing that are required in an education that is fit for the demands of the 21st century. Or, as I suggested in the title of this article, an old expression that could be applied here is to consider “two sides of the one coin”. Even though they may at first appear to be quite different, a new approach to learning and a new approach to “being” are, in fact, intimately related and both are needed in 21st century schools that are going to meet the needs of their students.
Learning and wellbeing cannot be separated, nor should schools try. Instead, I suggest, school leaders need to include some new words into their vocabulary (and practice - it’s essential that we walk the walk, as well as talking the talk): words like holistic, coherence, seamlessness and integrity. As Steve Garber has said, we need to “beware the temptation to believe that competence can be separated from character, that excellence can be defined in merely academic terms, without a corresponding concern for the kind of people we are.”3 Garber goes on to talk about the necessity of integrating knowing and doing, which he describes as “the most difficult challenge we face”. Challenging, perhaps, but also crucial. Never before, I suggest, have school leaders and those who direct education departments faced a challenge of this complexity or importance.
References
1The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1–13, (https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2024.2322467)
2 Friedman, T., (2016). Thank you for being late: an optimist’s guide to thriving in the age of acceleration. Penguin Random House.
3 Garber, S. (2014). Visions of vocation: Common grace for the common good. InterVarsity Press.
Image by Frederic Willocq (Pixabay)
