This week the Educational world was saddened with the passing of Sir Ken Robinson.

Sir Ken Robinson, a world-renowned thinker on education innovation who passed away this month, walked onto a stage in February 2006 and delivered a speech that remains the most popular TED talk ever — now with 66.3 million views on the TED channel, translated into 62 languages and millions of more views on YouTube. Click on the link below to get a glimpse of this revolutionary thinker.

Do schools kill creativity? 

He said during that speech:

Our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability. And there's a reason. Around the world, there were no public systems of education, really, before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So the hierarchy is rooted on two ideas.

Number one, that the most useful subjects for work are at the top. So you were probably steered benignly away from things at school when you were a kid, things you liked, on the grounds you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? "Don't do music, you're not going to be a musician; don't do art, you won't be an artist." Benign advice -- now, profoundly mistaken. The whole world is engulfed in a revolution.

And the second is academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence, because the universities design the system in their image. If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can’t afford to go on that way.

I am immensley proud of the curriculum we offer at Wakari and I thank you, for trusting in us, and our entire staff for delivering each and everyday for our tamariki.

As always if I can be of assistance do drop in to see me.

Best wishes

Chris