Fostering Curriculum for Excellence teachers' freedom and creativity through developing their intuition and imagination: some insights from Steiner-Waldorf education.
Citation
Oberski, I. (2009) Fostering Curriculum for Excellence teachers' freedom and
creativity through developing their intuition and imagination: some insights from Steiner-Waldorf education., Scottish Educational Review, vol. 42, pp. 19-31.
Abstract
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in Scotland aims for young people to develop into responsible
citizens, confident individuals, successful learners and effective contributors. It recognises
teachers need more freedom to teach in innovative and creative ways- (Scottish Executive
2006a: 16). I argue that in the light of these proposals, changes are needed to the
professional standards for teachers in Scotland and possibly also to teacher education
courses, as teachers will need to become freer and more creative to allow them to exemplify
the aims of CfE. However, even if understood in a common-sensical way, creativity and
freedom are not currently explicit in the ITE Standards. Looked at with a deeper
understanding of what creativity and freedom could mean, CfE could be seen as providing
real opportunities for teachers and pupils alike, but ITE standards are then seriously lacking in
addressing this. As the ideas of freedom and creativity have long been highly valued in the
Steiner-Waldorf (SW) sector, I will draw on Steiner's philosophy of freedom to argue that the
development of teachers' intuition and imagination should be the foundation for their creativity
and freedom.