Think Fresh in Stockholm

Tornadoskolan school in Skarpnack, Stockholm, recently hosted the third Think Fresh Comenius 1.3 project meeting. The aim of this project is to help pupils, teachers, school administrators and parents to develop skills in problem solving, decision making and creative and analytical thinking.

Tools employed to achieve this aim include Edward de Bono's Six Hats and CoRT 1 methods. These skills are being implemented in Malta in various schools as part of the National Minimum Curriculum requirements. Schools from five participating countries - England, Sweden, Holland, Malta and Belgium (the organising country) - attended the meeting.

I represented Guzè Muscat Azzopardi (St Sebastian Primary B) School together with Shirley Pulis Xerxen, who is also a Thinking Skills teacher implementing De Bono's programme.

The plan is that by the end of this Comenius project the schools become breeding grounds for creativity. Within this context teachers should not be central actors but facilitators who think with children and explore ways of dealing with situations together.

Thinking skills and experiences were shared during the project meeting. Lessons in thinking skills which were delivered by Swedish teachers were also discussed. Similarities and differences were observed in the way thinking skills are taught in the different countries.

Teachers and headteachers present, among whom was St Sebastian Primary B head Emmanuel Grech, could also practise various thinking techniques, like appreciative inquiry, so as to share the benefits of teaching how to think. VOSTA (Vision, Objectives, Strategies, Tasks and Activities) and word pictures techniques were employed by the participating schools to plan the way forward in teaching how to think.

A visit to Stockholm City Hall with Erik Nilson, deputy mayor of Stockholm and head of the city's school division, was truly remarkable, the perfect oppurtunity to learn about Stockholm's educational system. A schedule, devised for upcoming project meetings, also included plans for the final meeting in Bruges.

St Sebastian Primary B currently provides Edward de Bono's Thinking Skills programme. Its CoRT1 and Six Hats methods are being integrated within the school curriculum.

Ms Mercieca is a Thinking Skills teacher/researcher in state schools and an accredited trainer in the Edward de Bono Six Thinking Hats Method