Next Generation Forum

Toward the Creative Society

Next Generation Forum

Next Generation Forum is an independent organisation with the aim

of promoting the uniqueness, potential and vital importance of our
children – the next generation.

To its founding members, the need for such a forum is clear. As

technological and wide societal changes reshape every aspect of
childhood, experts from across the globe are fundamentally
rethinking the ways in which we stimulate the creativity, playfulness
and learning of adults and children alike.

By pulling together ideas from different continents and cultures, the

Next Generation Forum will act as an inspirational nerve center.
The result should be not only be the cross-pollination of ideas, but
also the establishment of a new global agenda for children, with
“creativity” as the measuring stick for the next generations.

The forum is named: Next Generation Forum, as it will - at all times

- have its focus on the next generation

The Founding Principles

The Next Generation Forum is founded on the fundamental belief,

that human creativity and interaction is the vital turning point for
development of human competence and personal self-esteem

Children are vital to this vision, not only because they are the next
generation, but also because they are the role models of the
Creative Society

Next Generation Forum shares this belief with its founder, the
LEGO Company, who is also committed to take a leading role in
supporting and coordinating the movement
The vision and mission of Next Generation Forum

The vision of Next Generation Forum is described in the concept of

the Creative Society:
The Creative
Society
Creativit Playfulne
Human s s
y
developme
nt
Learnin
g

This will be elaborated over the next pages

The mission is to inspire the world to new visions, development

projects and activities with relation to the interaction between
creativity, playfulness and learning - and its vital importance for
human development - and for our societies
.. thereby creating a movement towards The Creative Society

Objective

The Objective is to focus and boost a global movement – by:

• Propagating a serious and credible understanding of the vital
importance of creativity and playfulness for development and
learning - and for our societies

• Appealing to dialogue and participation in a global connected

network of partners, supporters and endorsers

• Building the movement through actual involvement of children,

parents, educational professionals, opinion leaders and political
decision makers

• Inspire to and initiate projects and events

We have a dream …
.. a dream of the Creative Society.
Most people generally agree that our society is rapidly evolving. But
what will take its place? What values and human characteristics will
be dominant and which will we strive for?
Next Generation Forum believes that we should strive for a society,
where we as creative individuals constantly create new possibilities
for ourselves, and our communities. Thus, we choose to call the
vision: the “Creative Society.”
The Creative Society is built on the fundamental belief, that human
creativity is the vital turning point of any development as well as for
human self-esteem.
A shift in attitude is already on its way. We have already seen the
information age and the knowledge society enter the stage, but we
can begin to envision a new era. Human resources – our creative
potential and ability to learn - are beginning to form the primary
point of attention.
Children are vital to this transition to the Creative Society, not only
because they are the “Next Generation”, but also because
childhood is naturally one of the most creative periods of our lives.
In many ways children can serve as models for the Creative Society
by helping adults to relearn what it means to be playful and
creative. In the past, it has been important for children to grow up
learning at least one skill – a craft or a trade – so they can survive
as adults. In the future, though, it is already becoming more
important to develop and nourish children’s capacity for being
creative, beyond childhood and long into adulthood.
This will lead to the ultimate goal of a society which experiences,
joy, prosperity and self-esteem through creative, playful and
learning activities.
A little boy had just begun school. One day his teacher said: “Today
we are going to draw and paint”. “Great” the boy thought, since he
loved to paint lions, tigers, birds, cattle, trains and boats. The little
boy took out his crayons and started drawing. But the teacher said:
“Wait! I’ll show you what to do!” And she started drawing a flower
on the blackboard. It was red with a green stalk. “Now it’s your
turn”, the teacher said. The little boy looked at the teacher’s flower.
Then he looked at his own flowers, which he liked much better - but
he didn’t say anything. He just took a new piece of paper and drew
a flower like the one the teacher had shown. A red flower with a
green stalk.
Then one day he had a new teacher. She said: “Today we are
going to do drawings and paintings!”. “Great”“ the little boy thought,
and waited for the teacher to instruct him. But, the teacher said
nothing - she just walked around and talked to the children. She
asked the little boy: What are you going to paint?” “I don’t know”
said the little boy, “what shall I do? “Whatever you like”, said the
teacher - it wouldn’t be much fun if everyone painted the same
thing, would it?”. The little boy chose to paint a flower. It was red
with a green stalk.
Children are Taking the Societal Centre Stage
The current economic and social trends of global development all
point towards a historically new, and ever more important role for
children in society. Profound changes within basic societal
institutions such as the family, the labour market, and educational
systems all over the world put children – their learning and
imagination – at the centre of decision making about social,
economic and technological matters.
The following general trends outline the societal background on
which the vision of the Creative Society is founded:
• A new “human competence culture”. The upspring of a
culture based on human values and competencies makes
children’s learning and imagination a new linchpin for
societal development. There are two reasons for this:
understanding children’s potentials is paramount to
understand human potential in general; and, increasingly,
children need to be regarded as the most important resource
for future growth and advancement in the economical, social
and cultural sustainability of society.
• Work life is changing. The structures of work life and
labour markets will change profoundly in the decades to
come. The labour market will be characterised by greater
individualisation and flexibility, rendering obsolete concepts
such as 9 to 5 jobs, workplace, and spare time. In the future,
the ability to recruit, retain and develop creative and learning
apt employees will be vital to forming teams and building
new competitive capabilities.
• The Knowledge economy. Economists point out that the
fastest-growing companies are those which increasingly
place their value on their human resources and intangible
assets. But information and knowledge by themselves are of
limited value until they are played with and used creatively.
Success in tomorrow’s world will not be based primarily on
information, or even on knowledge, but on how they are
used – on creativity.
• The consumer power of the 21st century. Children
constitute a new, strong consumer power. Children’s
markets are already booming, but in addition children exert a
large influence on their parents’ consumption. This power is
enhanced by the fact that children are also future consumers
of adult products. Brand loyalty starts in kindergarten.
• Children are front-runners of the digital revolution.
Today’s IT-proficient children acquire their IT skills while
learning basic qualifications such as reading, expressing
themselves etc. The digital revolution will in many ways
herald new learning processes, and is sufficiently powerful to
alter the authority relationships between adults and children.
• Children lead the path to new methods of learning. The
new information technology moves the learning process out
of schools and into children’s homes. This poses a
tremendous challenge to our understanding of learning and
the existing structure of our school systems across the
globe. Some IT “futurologists” claim that demanding children
will change the schools and learning processes from the
inside out. For instance, the number of PCs and Internet
links are rapidly increasing in children’s homes, making it
possible for them to explore this new media for learning
when most schools are still trailing hopelessly behind.
• The quest for life long learning. We are already seeing the
first generation, where ones skill will not last for a full working
lifetime. Everybody who does not want to see their skills
become obsolete, will need to learn throughout their lives.
In sum, these global trends indicate a move towards an era
characterised by substantial influence from children and childhood
in developing our future societies.
What is the Creative Society? In 1965, futurist George Land and his team developed a test for
NASA to select their most creative engineers and scientists for its
The Creative Society will: space program. The test was highly successful.

• Focus on human’s ability to grow and learn In 1968, the test was expanded to pre-school young children aged
five. The test was repeated until they reached adulthood. This is
• Focus on human resources and values, what they found:
.. less on institutions and systems
Age Creativity Potential
• Focus on creativity, playfulness and learning ability, 5 98%
.. less on memorising facts 10 30%
15 12%
• Focus on children as a valuable source of ideas, Adults 2%
.. and not just adults as the sole source of ideas
The conclusion is that children are extremely creative, but once
• Use technology to do totally new things they start schooling, their creativity drops tremendously.
.. instead of using technology to do things a little faster YKK, Quotes to unzip your mind

• Build a knowledge economy based on ideas, creativity and

other human resources … - on the foundation of the
standardised industrial economy of physical resources
“All the valuable things, material, spiritual, and moral, which we
receive from society can be tracked back through countless
generations to certain creative individuals”.
Albert Einstein
The Crucial Elements of the Creative Society

Creativity
Creativity is about making connections where none existed before – Before starting school children have already learned more than they
pushing the limits of own expertise - and learning in areas that are ever will for the rest of their lives. Already they have learned to
unfamiliar. handle their bodies, interact socially, talk and communicate, come
up with problem-solving ideas and much more - all without any type
“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human of formal schooling
resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and
we would be forever repeating the same patterns”.
Edward de Bono “The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable”
Carl Jung
Playfulness
Play is perhaps the most important element of human development.
Play helps us develop a social sense, physical abilities and Young children learn by games; compulsory education cannot
communicative skills. It helps us to make sense of the world. It remain in the soul.
provides a basis for our cultural development - and our civilization. Plato
It teaches us to take on different roles, to relate to our feelings and
to give us the important sense of mastery.

For the Creative Society, it is playfulness that really matters.

Playfulness is a mindset of approach, which applies equally well to
children and adults. Playfulness therefore bridges the fundamental
gap in the understanding from childhood to adulthood.

Learning
Some people when they hear the word learning, immediately think
of classrooms, teachers, curriculum and the other components of
schooling. At Next Generation Forum we define the word much
more broadly to mean exploring and making sense of the world and
the ability to do more things in it. In this sense we are all of us,
learning all the time.

Children are born curious, with an instinct to learn, and unless

something happens to them to stifle and deaden their curiosity, their
desire to learn lasts a lifetime.
 Next Generation Learning Environments
Imagine an education system where none of the educators are
trained. Indeed, where training is seen as a sign of weakness.
There is no curriculum but the amount to be learned is vast and it is
assumed that everyone knows what it is. There is no assessment,
but if people fail the penalties are severe. This is not any old
education system but the foundation for every course, job and
profession in the world. It is of course the family, the playground,
the street – and the job.
85 per cent of waking hours between birth and age 16 are spent
outside the classroom. The natural creativity and playfulness of
children enables them to learn in any environment – at home, at
school and in the play arena.
The intellectual development of formal competencies such as the
ability to read and write is still as important for children’s further
development and life chances as ever. But we need to take learning
a step further than blackboard teaching, repetitions and multiple
choice tests and find other ways to feed children’s appetite for
learning and knowledge.
If an inspiring environment - with the right opportunities - exists,
children will be naturally motivated to become designers and
creators of their own learning.
The learning environments must therefore build on the notion that
children themselves use a variety of approaches, when they try to
figure something out or become skilled at something. However, if
you look at what parents do intuitively with their children and what
children do themselves it is variety that stands out.
Wahida and Hanene are two friends attending the Majhouba School
in the northwestern part of Tunisia. Its teaching methods makes
their school quite remarkable in these parts of the world: No more
rapping on the knuckles when giving a wrong answer, and virtual
elimination of the practice of having to take the same grade twice.
The Majhouba School has expelled chastisement and involved the
learners - the children - in their own learning.
The new teaching method - strongly supported by UNICEF - is
based on the children’s own competencies and focuses on which
competencies they should be able to acquire, not on standard
assumptions about what they must be taught. As part of this
method, students sign a “contract” with the teachers about the
nature and amount of school work to be done. This involves them in
the planning and teaches them responsibility for their own
learning. Furthermore, the learning situation is based on groups
and dialogue between peer learners and a tutoring system where
the stronger students support the weaker ones. Since Wahida
tutors her friend Hanene, the two girls’ friendship from walking to
school together extends deep into their learning experiences.
In the case of the Mahjouba school the new learning methods have
improved the children’s enthusiasm for learning and reduced the
number of students that did not qualify for the next grade.
Creative tools
When Frederich Froebel created the world's first kindergarten in
1837, he filled it with "gifts" - physical objects such as balls, building
blocks and sticks - for children. The objects were helping children
explore physical shapes and spark their imaginations through open-
ended play, in which children attached symbolic meaning to their
creations.
What the educational pioneer Maria Montessori realised years ago
was that children who are allowed to explore regard a toy or tool as
a chance to be active, along the lines of “What can I do with this
toy”. Those children will manipulate the tools to create play, stories
and subsequently something, which is meaningful to them.
As a contrast, children who are not encouraged in their explorative
activities develop a passive attitude to toys along the lines of “what
can this toy do for me”.
No tool guarantees creativity. But some tools are in fact more likely
to foster creativity than others are. Therefore, the capacity for
creative use must be taken very seriously into account when
designing the tools. They should be used as “finger-paint” rather
than “television”.
The right learning tools are essential for building the foundations of
the Creative Society.
Research shows that pre-school children spend approximately
seven hours a day playing, very often with toys. Another research
project has shown that children born two months prematurely will
have a higher IQ at the age of two if they have had access to many
different toys in their first six months.
“New technological tools should be seen as the digital equivalent of
Froebel’s set of gifts. Like the gifts the new technological tools
should support children’s efforts to explore and make sense of their
world.”
Mitchel Resnick, member of Next Generation Roundtable
A teacher tells the story of how - ever since computers
entered the classroom - she was afraid of the day her
students would know more about programming than herself.
The first few times the students had problems that she could not
understand let alone solve, she tried to hide it. Eventually she broke
down, confessed she did not know and suggested that the students
discussed it among themselves. And working together a solution
was found. The remarkable thing was that what the teacher had
feared turned out to be a liberation. Giving up the monopoly on
answers has changed her relationship with the children and with
herself. The class has become a much more collaborative
community in which everyone is learning.
Building Partnerships
The Creative Society must be built on partnerships. Partnerships
which are driven by a common interest for our future societies. We
are all dependent on the next generation growing up to become
sound, creative and innovative.
The most important partnership in children’s lives is - of course - the
parents. However, as family situations throughout the world
undergo significant change, others will need to join the group of
responsible partners in the development of children’s potential.
The construction of partnerships must also involve children
themselves, who should be viewed as competent partners in the
shaping of their own lives. The goals will only be achieved if adults -
governments, educators and business - will cooperate and
involve themselves more actively in the development of the
Creative Society.
The challenge is to construct partnerships and ways of living that
will boost creativity, and increase children’s inborn curiosity and
instinct for seeking information and learning. Projects of this kind
already exist in all corners of the world. We just need to bring these
forward and to engage ourselves in the quest for a creative world.
At Blue Mountain School in Cottage Cove, Oregon, the children are
the ruling power. The Head of School Council is a 16 year old boy.
The overall principle of the school is that the children decide what
they want to do –whether they want to learn or not.
The school stands out from traditional schools in most countries
since there is no predefined curriculum, no division of the day into
subjects. There are no teachers either since all the adults are
referred to as “members of staff”. Instead of directing classroom
sessions, the children can call them in as active and inspiring
partners - when needed.
Teachers believe that the children learn faster at Blue Mountain
School because they decide when and what to learn. In fact, the
children are extremely eager to learn, and very aware that
knowledge is the key to future success. As a result of the success
of the alternative school in Oregon, the state is about to pass a law
on systematic state support for such schools.
The Japanese Ministry of Education now recognises the need for
change toward creativity. Whereas the key slogan ten years ago
was ‘internationalisation’ it is now ‘getting children to be creative’.
Education planners are now recognizing that creativity is a key
element for the future of Japanese society.
One longitudinal study in the USA showed that for every single US
dollar invested in quality day-care the American government made
a long-term profit of seven US dollar due to reduced social costs,
less crime etc.
How to make this dream come through

The Creative Society is an image of the future. The task at hand is

not to predict the advent of this society but to enable its realization.
This will require fundamental changes in the way we regard society
and childhood. It requires us all of us to take part in the unfolding of
our own and of our children’s creative potential.

Meeting the needs of the next generation will require a change of

thinking and a change of action at several levels. Real change only
happens when local action and initiatives goes hand in hand with
supporting strategic initiatives on a larger scale.

Published January 2000 by: