Leadership for creative thinking in schools: How current research and innovation is putting creativity back into schools in England

BILL LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF LEARNING, UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER, UK  The curricula of both Scotland (Creative Scotland, nd) and Wales (Welsh Government, 2015) actively encourage creative thinking. In England, however, creative thinking is largely absent in the current National Curriculum. Recently, through the Creativity Collaboratives initiated by Arts Council England (Durham University, 2019), and arising from an intervention to evidence creativity in Australia (Lucas, 2021b), there has been greater emphasis on creative thinking in England. A pilot study by Rethinking Assessment and ACER UK is currently exploring ways in which teachers can evidence the development of creative thinking in pupils within the current English National Curriculum. This renewed interest is increasingly focusing on leadership (Lucas et al., 2021) and on the need to develop appropriate strategies for embedding creative thinking in schools. Lessons for creative leadership In a recent study for the Global Insti