Daydream Believers is a group of passionate, award-winning educators, employers, designers and students who came together to put creativity at the heart of education because we believe innovation and curiosity are key to unlocking the potential of the future problem-solvers.
Edinburgh College has been working with us for a number of years to help develop resources, and created the qualifications in Creative Thinking at SCQF levels 5 and 6 in October 2020.
Collaboration is at the heart of everything that Daydream Believers do and we continue to work in partnership with incredible people at the forefront of innovation and creativity to develop our resources. We believe our platform for an ‘open’ model of engagement for employers and educators is an inspiring example to all our Daydreamers. We are united by a common aim of supporting our teachers to change the curriculum so that it supports our young people to progress and develop essential skills.
Learning by having fun has always been at the heart of the Daydream mission, but we want to do more than that. We want to give academic credit for completing our challenges. We set about creating the two qualifications in Creative Thinking to validate the learning taking place and highlight its value to learners, educators and society. We know Creative Thinking is what our future workforce needs, and it was clear to us that there should be a qualification in it!
To create a qualification that genuinely enables creative thinking, we had to use our own problem solving, collaboration and creative skills. Our brave team of creatives, teachers and lecturers from Robert Gordon University, Glasgow School of Art, University of Edinburgh and the University of Dundee joined forces with Edinburgh College who wrote the qualification for us, then Edinburgh Napier University credit rated it for the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, ensuring that it can be recognised for university entry.
The Awards sit on the SCQF at levels 5 and 6, with 24 credit points each. The Edinburgh College Quality Assurance Team also worked closely with Scottish Government colleagues to ensure that the Awards are listed on Insight: an online tool to help secondary schools and local authorities identify areas of success and where improvements can be made for pupils in the senior phase (S4-S6).
The programmes are flexible, with five learning outcomes, but the process is more important than the product. The idea is for learners to “fail and fix”, learning by exploration, which is a world away from the traditional methods of teaching.
Our bank of free, online resources is suitable for anyone looking to introduce creativity, critical thinking and problem solving into their learning space. With access to flexible lesson plans and real-life projects from 20 industry partners, our resources create a link between teaching essential skills in the classroom with career success.
The Creative Thinking programmes at SCQF levels 5 and 6 are currently being piloted with 13 schools, with a target of 65 schools delivering in academic year 2022-23.
“The subject allows me to be more independent and imaginative. There are no wrong answers, just development.”
“It’s all focused on expressing ourselves, just as we come, without following strict questions like with the exams.”
“The Creative Thinking qualification was developed to meet a need and gap in the skills of our children and young people that was identified by industry, academia and educators. The innovative content and model for assessment is a great addition to the opportunities our learners can have in school with a direct link to the skills industry, HE and FE are looking for.”
“Young people entering the construction sector with a grounding in creative thinking will foster better and improved collaborative construction, building smarter and faster with more sustainable materials. Qualifications like this are therefore critical in advancing a construction workforce ready for the unforeseen challenges of 21st century engineering and building.”
Get more information about the Daydream Believers Creative Thinking programmes
For all other Creative Thinking programmes, get in touch with the Edinburgh College Learning & Teaching Team
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