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Having been working extensively as an educator, a researcher, a writer and an advisor for a long time, Ken Robinson brings an influential view on the transformation of the education system. His TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has been watched more than 60 million times and seen by approximately 380 million people in 160 different countries. He has been actively involved in many initiatives and invited to countless talks all around the world. In his Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education, Ken Robinson exposes issues in education and elaborates his ideas on the transformation of troubled educational systems. He believes that the current education system, especially with the standardized tests, mimics manufacturing, where students are treated the same way and the expected outputs are roughly the same. He argues that this system should come to an end and be replaced with an organic and personalized approach to develop students’ love of learning, to engage all of them, and to prepare them for 21st century challenges. To achieve this transformation, changes should happen in all areas including in schools, teaching approaches, curriculum, testing, parenting, and finally policymaking. Schools need to use students’ passions as the basis for everything they do. In his book, he argues “At the most fundamental level, the focus of education has to be on creating the conditions in which students will want and be able to learn. Everything else has to be arranged on that basis.” The teacher’s role is to facilitate learning and create situations where students can explore the knowledge themselves. Sir Robinson mentions three important purposes every teacher needs to have. The first one is that teachers have to be passionate about what they are teaching and inspire students with their own passions. Secondly, they need to help students become confident and independent to sharpen their skills and expertise. Lastly, they should create situations where students can experiment, ask questions and assess their original thinking. As for the curriculum, Sir Robinson believes that it is important to have all disciplines equally valued and resourced, including the arts, humanities, mathematics, languages, science, and physical education. He also outlines three characteristics for a good curriculum to have. Firstly, it should allow students to find their own passions and strengths. Secondly, students should have the opportunities to learn their interests deeply. Lastly, it should be open for interaction and collaboration among students, experts, and people in the school’s community. When it comes to testing, Sir Robinson argues testing or assessment should not be seen as the end of learning but rather part of the whole learning process. It is also important to have both formal assessments, for example end of term tests, and informal assessment, such as daily evaluations of students’ projects or day to day activities in the classroom. He then mentions assessment needs to support student’s success in their learning at least in three ways, as follows: ‘Effective assessment spurs students to do well. It provides constructive feedback to help them understand how they are doing and to encourage them to improve where they can. Effective assessment provides information on what students have done and achieved. It also provides relevant comparisons with how others have done against similar criteria so that students and others can make their own judgments of their progress and potential. Standards: Effective assessment sets clear and relevant standards that can raise students’ aspirations and contribute to the guidance and practical support they may need in reaching them. ‘ In addition to changes from within a school system, changes also need to happen outside of schools. Parenting and policy makers, for example, are important stakeholders for the transformation. He suggests schools and parents need to go hand in hand. Schools need to facilitate effective communication with parents and help with their involvement, so parents can contribute to the mission and objectives of the schools. As for the policy makers, they need to be willing to listen to the school stakeholders and communities and create conditions for the transformation. Overall impression Being a teacher in an alternative education school, I often nodded my head while reading Ken Robinson’s points in the book. All of his points mentioned above, especially those on standardized testing, the roles of teachers, and the benefits of personalized learning rang true to me. I personally witness how getting rid of standardized testing and providing various assessment alternatives for students can help them focus on what they learn, not on the test itself. An additional idea that would have been helpful to see discussed in the book, is how the challenges that present themselves impact the notion of personalized learning. With my experience as an educator, some challenges include meeting various needs with lack of teacher and technology resources and time management to ensure students get everything they need. These are practical challenges in the field; therefore, it would give insightful perspectives if he talked about them and offered some practical solutions. Overall, I think this book gives a refreshing perspective on education. As Ken Robinson mentioned at the end of his book, his idea of personalized learning is not new. A few notable educators such as Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and A. S. Neill had already made an impact on the journey towards transforming education systems around the world. Through writing this book, Ken Robinson’s main aim was to continue to pass the torch to as many people as possible; he wanted to continue to shine a spotlight on the importance of student centered, passion driven, personalized learning. I believe everyone who cares about education should read this book and take a moment to explore Robinson’s account of the personalized approach.

Book Review: Creative Schools by Ken Robinson

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