Dame Whina Cooper, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s renowned trailblazers, once said,
Take care of our children. Take care of what they hear, take care of what they feel. For how the children grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa.
Her words are a powerful reminder to keep our eyes on what is important. One important characteristic for us to cherish is our creativity. So far, our children are ranked amongst the most creative in the world. Our ‘No. 8 wire’ mentality has become a symbol of our culture. We make do with what’s on hand to fix things or invent things we need.
There are numerous outstanding examples of our creative culture in action from John Eustace, a tinsmith from Dunedin, who invented the airtight paint tin lid in 1884; Earnest Rutherford, our most famous physicist from Nelson, who split the atom in 1917; Bill Gallagher, a dairy farmer from the Waikato, who invented the electric fence in the 1930s; Jean Batten, from Rotorua, who was the first woman to fly solo from England to New Zealand in 1936; Bill Hamilton, an engineer from Fairlie, who invented the jet boat, which transformed boat travel, in the 1950s; Colin Murdoch a pharmacist and veterinarian from Timaru, who invented the disposable plastic syringe in 1956, revolutionising medical practice – preventing cross-contamination and the spread of disease; Norma McCulloch, from Rongotea in the Manawatu, who invented the hand vacuum pump to extract air from freezer bags in the 1970s; Keith Alexander, an engineer from Christchurch, who invented the spring-free trampoline to reduce injuries, which came to the market in the early 2000s; and more recently Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket, invented in the 2010s, produced in Auckland and launched from Mahia Peninsula. The list could go on.
The question is, how do we continue to nurture this extraordinary gift in our next generation and how can education help sustain our global reputation for being inventive?
We could start by taking a broader look at our sample of inventors to see what characteristics they have in common. The first and most obvious is that they were motivated to do good for people, not just in their own country but everywhere. They advanced science for the world’s benefit, prevented wastage of paint, prevented the spread of disease across the world, made children’s play safer, managed dairy farms more effectively both at home and abroad, made space more accessible and affordable, while also enabling scientific and environmental monitoring, and facilitating improved communication, weather forecasting and global internet access.
They mostly began experimenting as children, with permission to do so. Since experiments would fail as often as they would succeed they learned not to fear failure or be deterred by it. They instead learned that failure helps the elimination process in their quest to solve problems. They were courageous, independent, self-directed thinkers who were passionate about making a positive difference.
On page 28 of this issue, Heidi Hayward recounts her experiences of visiting schools in Finland. Finland may not have everything right, but it does have some useful practices for nurturing independent, self directed learners, who have a strong sense of social empathy. These attributes are honed early on, in pre-school classes, before children begin formal school learning at age seven, and continue to strengthen as children progress through the schooling system.
We can learn from examining Finnish schooling, that to nurture the qualities we value, we first need the environment in which they can flourish. The overarching way Finnish schools achieve these qualities in their children is to create a culture of responsibility, rather than accountability. A culture of trust, rather than judgement. Shifting education to a culture of responsibility has profound consequences that are liberating rather than confining. For example, schools in Finland monitor and assess their children’s learning, but are not required to report these results to any Municipality. Teachers are trusted to undertake assessment to determine progress. If progress is not satisfactory, the teacher is trusted to seek immediate support for the child which is readily available.
Systems of accountability send a loud message to schools, that they are not trusted. This in turn negatively affects the culture of our schools. It is a simple problem to fix, but requires the political will to do so. It requires politicians to trust the teachers to do their job, rather than impose national testing regimes to judge school performance.
As Dame Whina Cooper said, how our children grow will create the shape of our nation’s future. If we limit our children’s learning experiences by imposing testing regimes, they will become stressed and limited in their thinking. Children need a broad rich curriculum to foster creativity, where each subject has equal importance. They need a safe space to wonder why or how and to ask what if? New Zealand histories, reading and art are as important as maths, sport and science. All are necessary to spark the creative mind.
If we want the shape of Aotearoa to continue championing creativity for the betterment of all people, then we must support a schooling system that nurtures our children to be creative.