Pedagogy brings life-long learning. Creativity is the soul of innovation, which in turn is the soul of the survival of mankind. Emotions help children engage the mind and body to collaborate, thereby ensuring the holistic growth of the learner. Education is indispensable to society and must evolve to meet the needs of its survival. We are currently in a knowledge society where students need to master technology, skills, and information to be successful in life and work. Information is available everywhere, but the students must be skilled enough to know which information is the right one, which ones are spread for propaganda purposes, and which information is a fake narrative.
The changing face of education
In yesteryear, it was believed that education meant math, science, language, and literature, and people who were good at it were termed intelligent, and educational pedagogies revolved around it. In 1983, in his book “Frames of Mind,” Dr. Howard Gardner introduced a paradigm shift in education, saying there are eight types of intelligence: kinaesthetic, musical, spatial, naturalistic, linguistic, logical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence. This theory has caused education to move from a teacher-centric environment to a learner-centric environment. The focus is not only on logic, language, concepts, and generalization but also on creating experiences that make children learn on their own. Schools have moved away from books to include worksheets, experiences, and performing arts in their pedagogy. Now, the essence of learning and education depends on creativity and emotions. The aim of this article is to present that the inclusion of emotional and creative pedagogical approaches can make a potential difference and transform the learning process to help students in their professional careers and personal development.
Creativity and emotions
Children are curious, competent, emotional, and rich in potential. Pedagogies need to focus on the emotional development of the child. It should instil a sense of belongingness even though they come from different social, cultural, geographical, and linguistic communities. When they become adults, they need to feel accepted to become confident and have the will to succeed. The five learning outcomes we have to bring in are a strong sense of identity, a strong sense of wellbeing, confidence and involvement, effective communication, connection to peers and adults, and contribution to their world. Currently, there is a creativity gap in schools, where students are told what to learn and how to learn and think. Creativity is not enrichment for the students, but it is a much-required skill for the coming decades. Creativity is not an inherited genius but can be developed through education, and every person has the potential to be creative as creativity activates their capacities and capabilities.
The learning process
When children step into jobs, many of them are not confident enough to communicate, to express their ideas, and to step into the roles they have been assigned to. A focus on emotional quotient and adversity quotient is necessary to help children deal with failures. A high-scoring student in school gets a shock when they aren’t able to score as much in the college or university environment. In many schools, children are spoon-fed so they do not go through the process of making mistakes, constructing ideas, feeling confused, unlearning, and then relearning, which they have to do to an extent in college and continuously in their work environment.
Learning for life is a motto that needs to be inculcated in school so that, as adults, they are open to learning and do not get easily frustrated after a few tries. One failure doesn’t spell doom; a risk-taker may lose, but they should understand that every failure is a lesson, an experience for life that will help them take a step up the ladder of success.
About the Author
Umayal Subramaniam is an Early Childhood Educator with over a decade of experience and runs Squirrels play school in Thanjavur. She is a commerce graduate from Lady Doak college with an MBA in finance from Thiagarajar School of Management. She was born into a business family in Madurai, Tamilnadu. Married to a businessman, she is the mother of two lovely boys. She is an avid reader, loves crafting, embroidery and painting. She is currently pursuing her research in Multiple Intelligences. She loves seeing the world through little eyes and she looks forward to inspiring people to give back to the society in ways that matter.
She is also a blogger and a poet and is the author of the book 'Doodle with Words-sketches of life' available on Amazon. She is an awareness ambassador with 'The Spectrum-the awareness project' on Facebook which promotes inclusiveness of people with disabilities in the society.