UNLEASHING CREATIVITY IN YOUR SCHOOLS

REA S. SERRANO

Innovation is the name of the game today. Widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo in education has led to the emergence of alternative ways of thinking about school. Collective creativity comes through a combination of individual and group efforts.

These are the steps in unleashing creativity in schools. a. Identify and nurture mavens and champions. What I understand on this is to choose powerful and influential people in your school who can be catalysts of change; b. Hot groups are the engine of organizational creativity. Hot groups are frequently cross-functional, with members drawn from different units within an organization. I believe that a leader must have a hot group which guides him in the decision making. These can be School Governing Council composed of the Head of PTA, Barangay Captain, SPG president and the School Head. Aside from these, a school head must have a school planning committee within the school; c. Reduce unnecessary controls. Creativity rarely flourishes in highly regulated and constrained work environments. I learned that teachers must work in a healthy environment to have physical and mental space to unveil their talents, gifts and best efforts. d. Fail your way to success, but always make new mistakes. What’s important to remember is that failures and mistakes should become the grist for opportunistic search rather than stagnation and retreat. If a school head fails in his recent project in school, he may adjust his plans and strategies.

Unleashing creativity in schools is more than simple tolerance for risk-taking. It’s about the encouragement and active support of calculated risk-taking in pursuit of important organizational goals.

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The author is Teacher III at Cutcut Elementary School, DepEd Angeles City