Respected educationalist Sir Ken Robinson talks to Kate Magee about creative cultures, the state of education and why adland should drop the 'creative' label.
When Gillian Lynne was eight years old, her school said she might have a learning disorder because she would not sit still. Her mother took her to see a specialist. During the meeting, the specialist asked to speak to her mother privately, and left Lynne alone in his office with the radio on. The adults watched through the window as Lynne started to move around the room to the music. The specialist turned to her mother and said: "Your daughter isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school." She did and Lynne flourished. Lynne became a professional ballerina, choreographer and director, choreographing Cats and Phantom of the Opera, among other shows. She was made a dame in 2014 for services to dance and musical theatre. But someone else might have diagnosed her with ADHD and given her medication. This is a story that Sir Ken Robinson told in his 2006 TED talk "Do schools kill creativity?" It was a powerful, human illustration of his belief that schools around the world are using too narrow a definition of intelligence and, worse, in their obsession with tests, are actually educating children out of being creative.