Singapore stood out in the 2022 PISA assessment as the world's best education system in creative thinking. At the same time, local education experts, institutions, industry professionals and policymakers have joined forces to develop a comprehensive design education reform blueprint to reshape design education.
Singapore's Minister of Education, Mr. Tan Chun Seng, actively promotes the practice of design thinking and launches a global design education alliance composed of 13 institutions, dedicated to using design thinking to solve practical problems. However, despite the excellent performance of Singaporean students in the PISA test, according to the data, only 64% of students are confident in their creativity, which is lower than the OECD average of 73%, showing the importance of confidence and courage in innovation.
"Creative System Canvas" tool, which emphasizes the core position of culture in forming individual and group innovation behavior norms.
Identify the problem: Singaporean students perform well in creative thinking, but lack confidence in self-confidence. Only 64% of students are confident in their creativity, which is lower than the OECD average.
Solution: Through design education reform, including the promotion of design thinking, the establishment of a global design education alliance, and the use of the Creative Systems Canvas tool, to enhance the norms of innovative behavior in the culture.
Result: The goal is to create an environment that encourages innovation and improves students' confidence and courage, thereby promoting innovation at the system level. This will help overcome the gap between educational achievement and individual innovation confidence.
Key knowledge points and questions to think about
- Creative Systems Canvas: A tool used to help organizations identify different types of creativity for a systematic approach.
- PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment): An international student assessment program that assesses students' reading, mathematics and science skills in various countries, and in this article, creative thinking skills.
- Design Thinking: A human-centered problem-solving approach that emphasizes understanding user needs and often involves iteration and prototyping.
- Creativity Confidence: The degree to which an individual believes in his or her own innovative ability and creativity is critical to inspiring innovation.
- Culture: In the Creative System Canvas, culture is seen as the center of the formation of innovative behavioral norms, affecting the innovative activities of individuals and groups.
Q1: Why does Singapore perform well in the PISA assessment, but students lack confidence in their own creativity?
A1: This may be because the education system focuses too much on academic achievements and neglects to cultivate students' self-confidence and courage, causing them to feel uncertain in practical application and self-evaluation.
Q2: How does the Creative System Canvas help promote innovation at the organizational or social level?
A2: The Creative System Canvas emphasizes the central role of culture in innovation. It helps identify different types of creativity and encourages the formation of behavioral norms that support innovation within the organization, thereby promoting innovation at the system level, not just at the individual level.