The influential teacher, speaker and author championed an education system that cultivates creativity and divergent thinking rather than one focused on simple, measurable academic knowledge.
He told interviewers that too heavy a focus on literacy and numeracy in education was a false priority. 'That’s like saying let’s make the cake and if it’s all right we’ll put the eggs in,' he said.
Another memorable comment was 'I often tell politicians: If you want to stop the problems in education, stop causing them.'
‘I trusted that his principles, values and visions were the answer to the future of education, especially in the early years,’ says early years consultant and trainer Alice Sharp.
She said listening to Sir Ken speak was ‘like a live version of the word “inspiration”’. His 2006 TED Talk ‘Do schools kill creativity?’ is the most watched online with more than 66 million views.
‘I always thought his talks were more a call to action that just a shared view of the importance of the arts and creativity in education,’ says Ms Sharp.
‘He never seemed hesitant to push “buttons”, to provoke through motivation. Everything he said appealed to my emotions and made me want to be a better educator. He saw the value in people, seemed sensitive to the need for beauty, creativity, and inventiveness in every child’s life.’
Sir Ken claimed that creativity in education is as important as literacy or numeracy and that we should give ‘academic’ and ‘non-academic’ subjects the same status. He warned against educating children ‘out of their creative capacities’.
‘One aspect that he heralded was the need for children to learn that it is OK to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes,’ says Dr Tanya Richardson, senior lecturer in early years at the University of Northampton.
‘This is essential for young children’s learning – without the ability to have experiences that allow trial and error children will not learn to be creative adults. They will not learn to find solutions to problems and will not be the resilient adults that this world needs.’
He spoke out against the dangers of ‘disembodied’ learning, prompting early years consultant and trainer Anne O’Connor to comment on what a loss his death is ‘at a time when we really need his eloquence and understanding’.
‘He drew attention to the narrowness of our education system that increasingly educates children “progressively from the waist up, and then we focus on their heads, and slightly to one side” so that creativity is discouraged as well as full-bodied learning and movement,’ she says. ‘He spoke so eloquently about the importance of connection and relationships and evidenced in his talks how laughter and humour are so important in teaching and learning.’
After studying English and drama at university Sir Ken, who was born in Liverpool, completed a PhD with research on the function of drama teaching in secondary education. He went on to be professor of arts education at the University of Warwick for 12 years.
His career, which was later split between Los Angeles and London, focused on the arts in education. He was a best-selling author and was knighted for services to the arts in 2003.
While Ms O’Connor believes Sir Ken spoke to professionals across the breadth of the education sector she says, ‘It always felt like he was reaffirming how everything we believe to be important in the early years has relevance to learning at any age and in any field.
‘A re-imagining of education that puts relationships, creativity and embodied learning at its core would be a fitting tribute to his memory.’
Tributes to Sir Ken have poured in from around the world, from leading sources of the educational establishment to actress Goldie Hawn and Everton Football Club, for which one of his brothers Neil played professionally in the 1970s.
