I have recently been pondering the benefits of creative culture in the educational realm. I was first introduced to the concept through leanring about the Pixar studio, in particular the practice of their Brainstrust and the importance of candour. The brainstrust began as regular meetings with the five people who led the the production of the famous movie Toy Story. In these meetings the five would argue and disagree with one other but never allowed themselves to take offence to anything that was said or suggested. This resulted in regular meetings where honesty and candour were at the forefront of discussion, enhacing creativity and collaboration. Perhaps coincidentally these are also two key factors of the design process! They believe this Brainstrust allowed Toy Story to be so successful and it is still implemented in their studio today.
According to Catmull (2014) authentic creative culture allows people to feel free to share unvarnished opinions, critisms, opinions. How could the benefits of creative culture be achieved in the context of education? Let’s start small. I am currently one of four Stage 1 teachers. At the beginning of each term we meet together, go over the Scope & Sequence for the term, examine each other’s programs, ask for feedback, share ideas and discuss forms of assessment we will implement. This results in all the teachers being familiar with what is happening across the Stage and allows opportunities to improve our own teaching. This is good but how could we improve this? Imagine if we had a weekly Brainstrust where we could share and discuss aspects of our week, ask for ways we would improve or extend and give feedback to other teachers safely, without fear of judgement, without people taking offence, without personal feelings getting in the way. I think it would improve our teaching tremendously! We are sometimes so hindered by fear of failure to strive for improvement. It’s not failure. It’s improvement. Collaboration and candour. I think we can all learn something from Pixar.
References:
Catmull, E. (2014, April). Inside the Pixar braintrust, Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/3027135/lessons-learned/inside-the-pixar-braintrust