Series 2. Episode 10. Creativity in the Classroom with Prof. John Munro

Powerful Learning Podcast

Do schools really “kill creativity”? (a claim famously made by the late Sir Ken Robinson). Does a tightly structured curriculum stifle creative potential among some students while rewarding a conformist mentality among others? How can we best foster and nurture creativity in schools whilst maintaining academic excellence?
In today’s podcast, I’ll be discussing these issues with John Munro, a distingushed Professor of Educational Psychology and Exceptional Learning at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.

John has been a tertiary educator for 45 years, and has a keen interest in creativity, gifted and exceptional learning, literacy and math learning, dyslexia and dyscalculia, indigenous learning, professional learning and instructional leadership, and school improvement.

Prior to his academic career as an educational and developmental psychologist, John started off as a secondary mathematics and science teacher. He later completed his doctorate in cognitive and developmental psychology, before becoming qualified as a primary (elementary) school teacher.

Two other interesting facts about John: First, he was one of my doctoral supervisors; second, it was one of his books, Powerful Learning, co-authored with David Hopkins and Wayne Craig, that inspired the name of my educational consulting business back in 2016, which ultimately led to the name of this podcast!

Prof. Munro is one of those rare people who embodies both academic and applied knowledge in his field, as both an educational psychologist and classroom teacher, he fully understands the challenges of day-to-day teaching and how difficult it can be to translate research into practice.

I hope this powerful learning podcast is an enjoyable and informative experience for you, as we tap John’s expertise and wisdom about creativity in the classroom.
A final point worth mentioning is that John was commissioned by the New South Wales Department of Education to write a report entitled ‘Creativity in education: what educators need to know’. This is a 26-page document that is freely accessible, and relatively easy to read, with plenty of diagrams, tables, and pictures to supplement its key ideas. It’s essentially a creative practice guide for teachers and I highly recommend you take the time to read it when you get a chance over the coming days and weeks. If you’re interested in obtaining a free copy of this document, just click this link or copy and paste the url below into your browser: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/education-for-a-changing-world/resource-library/creativity-in-education--what-educators-need-to-know

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Are you new to the Powerful Learning Podcast? Welcome to the club! I'm your host Luke Rowe, Ph.D. I'm a researcher and university lecturer who specializes in evidence-based teaching and the science of learning. I’m extremely passionate about understanding and improving learning and I started this podcast with the hope of sharing this passion with my university students and a broader audience of curious folk. I look forward to sharing our learning adventure together as we dive into evidence-based teaching and the science of learning.