Education ministers draw the future of education

Why get ministers to draw a classroom?
To let them experience the power of drawing in education.

But how did we get here?

Our organisation works mainly with adults, in projects and workshops. We run courses to share the power of drawing with as many people as possible. But the biggest challenge of teaching adults to draw is not the drawing itself. Drawing is all about making adjustments to improve an idea. Yet adults don’t like to make mistakes and everything has to be perfect right away… Why is it that when we grow up, we no longer dare to make mistakes?

We are taught not to make mistakes.

According to Pekka Peura, a teacher from Finland, this has to do with the way we have designed our education. You get grades if you don’t make mistakes and vice versa. Pekka’s vision (and that of many other teachers we spoke to) is to make education a safe place to experiment and make mistakes. With a teacher who creates a supportive environment where children reflect on the mistakes they have made. To learn to learn and continue to develop.

After delving into what drawing could mean in an educational vision such as this, we decided to share an inspiring lecture. Not only because we believe drawing can be incredibly meaningful to express the thoughts (of children), but also becausedrawing isa cross-cultural global phenomenon. Children draw a lot and it is usually well received after their tenth writing, reading or maths lesson. However, we believe that drawing is a powerful tool in many different contexts, yet it often gets stuck in art.

We want to bring drawing back to the classroom.

Not just as a subject, but as a tool. A tool for teaching, thinking, presenting and remembering. And the good news is that all you need for it is a pen and a piece of paper!

And so we went to school. We were given a class of 9- and 10-year-old students by Bastiaan Schippers at the International School in The Hague to do a few sessions with. As a teacher, he used the drawing below to explain the basics of democracy and lead a short class discussion, building on existing knowledge.

Afterwards, the class was asked to think about democracy with drawing and how they encounter situations where they could fall back on its aspects. Step by step. First, they thought about all the necessary parts that make up the democracy process, such as a group, a decision and voting.

They then linked these aspects to reflect on complex problems such as: “What if you were always in the minority?”. First they did this individually, then shared their thoughts with each other, building on a thought process with the group. “Maybe we should stand up for a minority group and vote for their plans?” The students presented their ideas using drawings, like this one:

Back to the Education World Forum.

And then we were invited to the EWF in London. During this three-day conference, we visualised talks as well as gave our own views on the role of drawing in education. During our 12-minute TED-talk-style presentation, we had also invited a guest, Zainab. We had previously met her during a course at Heathland School in Hounslow, London. This young woman explained to us that she wanted to become a politician and liked to draw to explain her ideas.

So we decided to give her career a flying start and let her draw her imaginary future classroom. And she gave a resounding speech! As a user of the education system and – hopefully – as a future politician.

Many thanks to Gavin Dykes and his team at the Education World Forum. They provided a great start to our mission: to make drawing an integral part of education again!

If you also believe in the power of drawing and share our mission, get in touch. Maybe we can do a visual brainstorm together. Or we can give our inspiring lecture to a new room full of enthusiastic people!