Are Schools Killing Creativity? Professor Pamela Burnard on The Soul of Education Podcast

In ancient Ujjain, the first thing students learned was how to sing. Then how to dance. Then how to play an instrument. Logic came later. Somewhere along the way, we flipped it. In this episode, James Biddulph, CEO of Avanti Schools Trust, sits down in Cambridge with Professor Pamela Burnard, his first teacher in initial teacher education, PhD supervisor and friend of nearly three decades. Together they ask what happens when the arts are pushed to the margins, and why reclaiming them may be essential to preparing young people for an uncertain world. This episode explores: Why the arts are a way of knowing, not an add-on for Friday afternoons Whether arts education is just for the middle classes Moving beyond “creativity” to plural creativities Curiosity, AI and the risk of a rush to mediocrity What schools can learn from a Coldplay concert about hope and belonging The Vedic idea that truth is one, but sages call it by many names Pam also answers the challenge head-on: is this all just a cosy Cambridge conversation? Her answer begins in a small country town in Australia. A conversation about curiosity, relationships, and education as an act of love.