We have a big problem at the moment - education is becoming so dominated by a culture of standardized testing, by a particular view of intelligence and a narrow curriculum and education system, that we are flattening and stifling some of the basic skills and processes that creative achievement depends on.
When Robert Palmer began his training at Ballarat Teachers’ College in the 1960’s his experiences had been as a receiver of education, rather than an encourager of thinking. The political climate at the time was all about ‘individual differences’ and ‘thematic studies’, but very few knew what these really meant. Robert certainly didn’t. While...