Edward de Bono, the world-renowned creator of systems of lateral and parallel thinking, said traditional educational establishments' aim of delivering knowledge and sharing information is in itself unable to empower people to create value. He was speaking last Tuesday to students and staff of STC Training in Pembroke at a lecture entitled 'Creative Thinking in Education'.
Dr de Bono said creative thinking needed to be included in curricula as a distinct but parallel subject. "Mankind had tended to associate the term 'creativity' solely with its expression in the arts," he said. "However, creativity was also about recognising and creating value."
His overriding message was that creative thinking was not simply an inherent skill or only for those with a talent for it, and that it could be successfully taught to and used by people of any age, walk of life or cultural background. Dr de Bono is an official EU ambassador of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009.
Earlier this year, STC Training piloted a 'Foundation course in Invention' to train students in creative and business skills to better equip them to develop new ICT services and products. The course, which was run in partnership with Edward de Bono's World Centre for New Thinking and the Fraunhofer Institute, embraced de Bono's creative thinking techniques in its curriculum. This autumn the project was developed into a fully-fledged component of the STC curriculum.
STC CEO Patrick Pullicino said the training institute's decision to introduce elements of creative thinking and innovation in its curricula was a timely step: "We know that businesses are looking for IT graduates to add commercial value by harnessing and exploiting new technologies. Being able to check the boxes in various programming languages is not enough for a graduate to excel in the IT industry these days."
STC Training, which is known primarily for ICT courses, has in recent years added training courses in complementary skills such as emotional and social intelligence, creative thinking, motivation and assertiveness, confidence building, team-building and business communications.