Can you remember a time when you heard someone deliver a speech that significantly impacted your thinking?

I remember one such moment back in 2006 when I first heard Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk on creativity in education. This talk makes a profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

If you’ve never heard the talk, it’s worth watching, even though it nearly 20 years old!

Sir Ken Robinson 2006

In summary, the basis of his talk is about valuing the whole child and how education institutions have an obligation to constantly reflect, adjust and be flexible to make space for every child coming through the doors of our schools.

In Sir Ken Robinson’s talk, he mentions the need for students to be given the tools to cope with an unpredictable future saying “…partly because it's education that's meant to take us into this future that we can't grasp. If you think of it, children starting school this year (2006) will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue, despite all the expertise that's been on parade for the past four days, what the world will look like in five years' time. And yet, we're meant to be educating them for it. So, the unpredictability, I think, is extraordinary. ”

This is one of the reasons that at St Andrew’s, Personal Capacity is a central pillar to our strategic focus. We see this played out across the College from the sports fields to the stage, in trips, camps, and woven into lessons and planning.

One of those unpredictable events was the launch of Generative Artificial Intelligence last year. GAI sparked much debate in the education sector. The Victorian ICT Network for Education summarised this journey well saying “ In education, GAl has been presented as both a threat and an opportunity. Initial fears of students using GAl to ‘cheat’ in assignments have been superseded by the need to rethink assessments from K-12 to tertiary. Acknowledging that these technologies will become ubiquitous, it is not practical to expect educators to ‘police’ the technology, nor to expect students not to use it. ” – VINE GAI Guidelines October 2023

Last December St Andrew’s launched our AI Guiding Principles which acknowledges the role that technology has in enhancing our teaching and learning experiences, stating that we believe AI systems can be used to support our students' learning journeys. We also believe that it is essential to use these tools in a manner that aligns with our vision, mission, and academic integrity.

Some of the principles within this document are to:

• Use AI as a supplement, not a substitute.
• Understand the ‘How’ and ‘Why’ behind AI suggestions.
• Maintain academic honesty.
• Use AI to enhance creativity, not replace it.

(For a full list with example applications see the Guiding Principles document attachedHERE)

It is this last point that echoes the sentiment of Sir Ken Robinson for me. If harnessed correctly, I believe AI can be one of those tools which help us educators and students to release time for more creativity in our learning, whilst maintaining foundational elements to education such as strong literacy and numeracy skills. I see a future for education which has a shift in emphasis towards creativity, innovation and what some call the ‘soft skills’ of interpersonal and global citizenship.

In the words of Sir Ken Robinson “ Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will, and our job is to help them make something of it.”

As parent of three young children myself, I know this statement not only applies to educators, but us parents as well.