Australia’s Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration outlines two interconnected goals: promoting excellence and equity in education and ensuring that all young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active, informed citizens. However, there is a real risk that we focus too heavily on the first goal - equity and excellence - without fully realising the second.
Are we willing to disrupt the status quo to create an education that genuinely serves our learners?
Beyond Mastery: The Need for Creativity and Adaptability
The increasing complexity of our world should prompt school leaders and teachers to rethink what it means to succeed—not just in education, but in life. Foundational literacy, numeracy, and content mastery are not endpoints; they are the launchpads for deeper learning, adaptive problem-solving, and creativity. We must cultivate both disciplinary knowledge AND creative intelligence to equip students to apply their learning in novel and meaningful ways.
As some in education lean towards overly standardised and outdated practices, it is worth reflecting on the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, which states that we must:
"Prepare young people to thrive in a time of rapid social and technological change, and complex environmental, social and economic challenges" and that "learners need flexibility, resilience, creativity, and the ability and drive to keep on learning throughout their lives." (Council of Australian Governments, Education Council, 2019)
This is not a moment for either-or thinking. Instead, we must integrate foundational mastery with creativity, ensuring that knowledge is not just acquired but actively used to solve real-world problems.
Mastery of the Basics: A Non-Negotiable Foundation
A rigorous foundation of core disciplinary knowledge remains essential. Without the ability to read, write, calculate, and reason effectively, students cannot fully engage with complex ideas or solve real-world problems. Structured, evidence-based instruction ensures that all learners develop the fundamental skills required to navigate their education and lives with confidence. This reflects the Declaration’s emphasis on developing essential literacy and numeracy skills as the foundation for lifelong learning.
However, mastery should not be mistaken for rote learning or inert knowledge. Memorisation alone does not equip students to value diverse perspectives, expand their knowledge, or develop creative potential. The real question is: How do we move learners beyond mastery, encouraging them to apply their knowledge, innovate through adaptive problem-solving, and generate personally meaningful solutions?
Creativity as the Bridge Between Mastery and Application
Creativity is often perceived as an optional extra - an enrichment activity rather than an essential competency. Yet, history demonstrates that creativity has driven breakthroughs in science, technology, and social change. From Einstein's thought experiments to groundbreaking medical advances, creative intelligence allows individuals to apply and generate knowledge in transformative ways.
When embedded within the learning process, creativity supports:
- Higher-order thinking skills: Encouraging students to analyse, evaluate, and create rather than merely recall information.
- Interdisciplinary connections: Helping learners see how different subjects intersect in real-world contexts.
- Deep engagement: Fostering a love of learning through inquiry, discovery, and exploration rather than passive consumption.
- Conceptual thinking: Encouraging students to develop and refine abstract ideas, making sense of complexity through structured yet flexible thought processes.
These skills align directly with the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration’s vision of young Australians as confident and creative individuals who take initiative, use their creative abilities, and demonstrate enterprising thinking.
Rethinking School Success: Beyond NAPLAN and ATAR
Current education systems prioritise measurable outcomes like NAPLAN and ATAR scores. While these assessments provide insights into student achievement, they primarily capture surface-level knowledge and short-term performance. They do not fully reflect a student’s ability to solve complex problems, adapt to new challenges, or engage in lifelong learning.
What if schools expanded their definition of success beyond standardised test results and rankings? Traditionally, success in education has been measured by scores, rankings, and immediate academic outcomes. But what if we measured success based on how well students are prepared for an economically, environmentally, technologically, and politically complex world?
A redefined approach to success would consider:
- Application of Knowledge: How well students transfer their learning to real-world challenges.
- Creative and Critical Thinking: The ability to generate original ideas, challenge assumptions, and explore multiple perspectives.
- Resilience and Adaptive Expertise: How well students navigate uncertainty, learn from failure, and adjust their thinking when faced with new information.
- Social and Ethical Responsibility: Preparing students not just for personal achievement but for meaningful contributions to their communities and the world.
By broadening the definition of success, we ensure that education does not merely prepare students for exams but for life itself. Schools could explore alternative assessment models, such as:
- Open-Ended Challenges and Portfolio-Based Assessment: Documenting a student’s work across time to highlight their growth, creativity, and critical thinking.
- Interdisciplinary Learning Challenges: Evaluating students based on real-world projects where they must transfer and apply interdisciplinary skills.
- Competency-Based Assessments: Measuring students’ ability to demonstrate mastery and application of creative thinking skills rather than just content recall.
Considerations for School Leadership
For Heads of School:
- Balancing educational innovation with community and stakeholder expectations.
- Aligning creativity-driven learning with school reputation, enrolment appeal, and strategic vision.
- Allocating resources for professional development and teacher capacity-building.
For Directors of Teaching and Learning:
- Implementing pedagogical change that integrates creativity with evidence-based teaching.
- Exploring alternative assessment models (e.g., interdisciplinary and portfolio-based).
- Ensuring teacher readiness through professional development and ongoing support.
A Call to Action
If we are serious about preparing students for a world marked by rapid change and uncertainty, we must be willing to challenge outdated definitions of success. This means:
- Recognising that mastery of the basics is a means, not an end.
- Embedding and intentionally implementing creativity as an essential competency in every lesson.
- Redefining assessment to capture the full spectrum of learning and intelligence.
- Empowering students as thinkers, problem-solvers, and active contributors to society.
The Vivedus Learning Activation Model makes it possible to balance core learning mastery with the development and application of creative intelligence. This equips students with a powerful repertoire of essential thinking skills and credentialled dispositions for navigating complexity.
The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration challenges us to prepare young people for a rapidly changing world. The question remains: Are we willing to disrupt the status quo to build an education that truly serves the world our students will inherit?
References
Council of Australian Governments. Education Council, author. (2019). Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. Retrieved January 31, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2391375250
