Nineteen years ago, Sir Ken Robinson stood on the TED Talk stage and delivered a 20-minute speech titled 'Do schools kill creativity?'¹ He spent much of his career sharing his concern that standardisation in education, with its focus on literacy, maths and STEM (but not through creative approaches), was failing children's development. This 'narrow focus on academic subjects that are given value' overlooked what children truly needed. That initial TED Talk has now been watched 79,300,917 times.
‘My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status’, Sir Ken stated, and I agree.
As nations around the UK grapple with their PISA testing performances (undertaken at age 15) in literacy and maths, and Ministers question why UK children are not ready for school;
'We've got to transform school readiness in our country.' (Bridget Phillipson MP, July 2025)²
I consider the value of creativity for children, practitioners and educators, and why more formal and systematic approaches too early are detrimental to our children and young people.
What is creativity?
I favour Sir Ken Robinson's simple description from his TED Talk: 'the process of having original ideas that have value.' I also consider creativity a way of being and interacting with the world, rather than a specific talent in the traditional arts, though I didn't always think this way.
When I started as a primary school teacher in Reception over 25 years ago, I would have considered myself one of the least creative teachers in the school. My gratitude for early 2000s clipart in reducing the amount of drawing I undertook was considerable. However, my journey in education and my reading and research inform me that I am highly creative. I solve problems almost daily as CEO of a third-sector organisation; I play with language; and rarely accept things as they are without considering alternatives. I am resilient, persistent, learn from mistakes; in fact, I use Professor Bill Lucas' five creative habits daily³:
- Imaginative
- Inquisitive
- Persistent
- Collaborative
- Disciplined
I'm not alone; many early years practitioners and early educators do too. And the children we meet in early years settings certainly do.
Children in early years are creative geniuses
Anyone who has worked with a child in the early years knows they are inquisitive explorers who share their thoughts, feelings, and interests in illuminating ways. Using divergent thinking, Sir Ken's TED Talk illustrated how children take risks and are prepared to be wrong, whereas older children become more constrained by seeking the 'right' answer.
Dr George Land and Beth Jarman tested creativity through convergent and divergent thinking for NASA in the 1960s⁴. Their results: 98% of 5-year-olds were in the genius range for creativity. Shocked, they tracked this longitudinally:
- By age 10, only 30% remained in the genius range
- By age 15, only 12%
- By adulthood, only 2%
Perhaps in searching for the 'right' answer to pass tests, or to conform with society's expectations of normal, we lose our creative selves.
Peter Skillman demonstrated similar findings through the Design Tower (the Spaghetti Challenge).⁵ Why are kindergarteners so effective? They don't spend '15 minutes deciding who will be CEO of Spaghetti Corporation.' They build, learn, take risks, reiterate their design as they go, and achieve. Skillman explains: 'Team success is about leaving your ego at the door, diving in with the wonder and selflessness of a kindergartener and sharing your vulnerability. The business school students were distracted by status transactions, wasting time seeking control and power rather than acting as a single team.'
The enabling adult - meeting children where they are
In Wales, our Early Childhood Play Learning and Care (ECPLC) approach and our Curriculum for non-maintained nursery settings both outline the importance of the enabling adult. In my five years as CEO of Early Years Wales, I have met some of the most creative practitioners in my professional life. The best practitioners are creative and work creatively to provide experiences, environments, and caring, attentive support for children's learning and development. When I speak with practitioners, I gain a real sense of this creativity and joy for working with children. This connects the workforce across all settings—schools, private childcare, local authority provision, or not-for-profit provision. These inspiring professionals working with children up and down the country are highly creative individuals.
Sadly, the current landscape forces people to be creative. Budget limitations mean we all recognise the pressure on the sector. The workforce is overworked and underpaid for the vital role they play in young children's development. These constraints prompt creativity; practitioners must find ways to provide what children need and deserve despite daily challenges. Early Years Wales research⁶ indicated that Early Years staff "love their jobs but struggle to balance the needs of all." We, like many sector organisations, continue advocating for the workforce, calling for better pay and more supportive policies. This will take time and Ministers' willingness to match value statements with investment to develop the sector and workforce.
Meanwhile, we know that creative and playful practice benefits practitioners as well as children. This is why, like many organisations, we promote play and creativity (not as arts and crafts but as a way of being and doing, embodied and experienced daily). Humans are playful and creative mammals; we encourage practitioners to reconnect with and use their creative and playful authentic selves in practice. Very many do.
Future opportunities
Over the coming years, early childhood will undoubtedly have government focus. I share my aspirations for a more attuned, playful early years’ experience that facilitates play, connection, belonging and learning. I fundamentally believe that better learning for children as they progress into school and beyond will be enhanced by a more playful, creative start.
Creativity from adults, meeting the 'creative geniuses' – children in our settings, is a significant part of the solution to 'school readiness.' Giving children meaningful firsthand experiences rooted in play and their innate interests and fascinations will support school readiness. To achieve this, we must trust the professionals around children, supporting them with training, pedagogy and knowledge exchange to enhance existing practice.
My personal opinion is that children aged 3, 4, and 5 do not need more systematic formal approaches at these young ages; they don't support where children are developmentally. They need to move, develop their sensory integration and motor coordination through play. Children need time. As Professor Jack Shonkoff from Harvard University frequently says, 'it takes time to build a brain.' Exploring this time with children creatively and playfully supports all children in building brains and bodies prepared for the life and learning journeys ahead.
If you've read this blog and still struggle to consider yourself a creative leader, my closing question is: what was your one contribution to your practice, setting, or a child that was 'an original idea of value?' No matter how small, these are the creative interactions that AI cannot replace. If they helped a child, family or colleague, if you persisted, if you collaborated, tried something new to overcome a challenge, you are a creative leader and I applaud and support you for your unique contribution.