natalia says...

     In order to effect change, it seems we need 5 crucial steps:

    Be willing to See and acknowledge the issue we need to change;

    Decide you are in fact going to Do something about it;

    Connect with others to gain support, new ideas and collective clout;

    Find ways to Sustain your own energies to ensure you don't burn out;
    and

    Use your experience and energy to Inspire others to take action so we
    make the change become exponential.


On that basis we asked Natalia what she thinks ...






1 What issue do you see or come across that awakens the creative disruptor in you, and why does it matter to you the way it does?

>> Ha! Spoilt for choice... But if I had to choose one it would be the fact that British education aims to produce uniform, unimaginative, performance-oriented, outcome-driven, uncritical, consumption-hungry subjects instead of creative disruptors. Education shapes our society, as much as society shapes education. At the moment the two are caught in a destructive vicious cycle in which certain unhelpful aspects of our society shape the wrong kind of education, and vice versa. I want to disrupt that cycle.

2 What action are you actually taking to tackle this, and how do you feel about what you do?

>> I try to creatively inspire people at all ages, prodding them to question how they live and what they think about the future of where they live. I run an MA in Creative Education that intends to give people working in formal, informal and community education the necessary skills to disrupt and reimagine what learning is for. 

 
3 How important do you think it is to reach out to and work with others as you work for this change, and how do you do it?

It is ALL about engaging people isn't it? I try to make issues relevant to the people that I am working with. There is no point trying to engage somebody in something that has no bearing on their life... So they need to feel it is for them and then my proposition, question, invitation or offer needs to inspire them. To get that offer right, I need to LISTEN to them; to their life stories and opinions, to their worries and ideas.  


4 How do you keep that fire in your belly alight without it causing you to burn out? How do you sustain your energies and look after you, and crucially, what's your advice to others?


I have spent a long time being angry and banging my head against the brick wall of trying to change people/politics/the world. I still feel very passionate about change but I think I do it less from a place of frustration and more from joy. I just enjoy doing what I do, I work with people that inspire me, I get energy from new ideas and try to find paths of less resistance to achieve little things. 

5 Positive change is contagious. Sometimes all that's needed for someone to take action is to see someone else doing something about it. So ... how do you use your experience to inspire others? 


>> I am in the amazing position that I can teach a group of curious MA students... 

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