Creative writing v Grammar

Some
years ago, I had the privilege to introduce the author Philip Pullman to an
Oxfordshire Headteachers’ conference. I recall that he was scathing about the
lack of focus on creative writing in schools.
Despite
his warnings the priority has continued to be an increasing emphasis on
grammatical sentence construction to, in my opinion, the detriment of
creativity. I am not arguing for a return to an era, such as my childhood, when
grammar was not taught in any depth. On the contrary, I think a working
knowledge of grammar is important. What I caution against is giving younger
children inappropriate teaching of grammar that is not applicable for their age
or stage of development.
I am
passionate about helping children to enjoy using their imaginations because of
the pleasure this can give and also the access it gives them into higher order
thinking skills, such as increased awareness of the environment and context in
which they live.
I have
just finished reading Philip Pullman’s latest book, The Book of Dust (see photo); a superb model for anyone interested
in imaginative writing. We are transported to a parallel world to people who
still face similar issues to those we have in our current reality: a corrupt
powerful force that keeps the truth away from people; fear driven bureaucracy
controlling systems -even universities and intellectual freedom. Above all the
book is full of hope that light can triumph over darkness.
The
battle for each one of us is I believe an internal one. We can be working on
behalf of darkness, often outside of our awareness. Professor Richard Pring, my supervisor at
Oxford, once told me that by reading literature we learn about morality and how
to be moral.
Thank you Philip Pullman for making such a powerful contribution through your writing. Let’s all read and celebrate literature and especially the gift of creativity and imagination, which has the power to help us to make wise choices.