Faber-Castell, a brand that advocates and nurtures learning and creativity, has launched the Creative Learning by Score A, Teacher’s Edition programme.

This programme is developed in response to the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) call for a strategic partnership between the corporate sector and MoE to help cultivate creativity among teachers.

Focusing on the use of various creative teaching techniques and activities as well as the use of the right stationery in different creative methods, this programme aims to enhance the teacher’s teaching techniques and the student’s learning process. It also helps promote effective and interactive engagement between the teachers and the students.

For the first phase of this programme, the company with the support of MoE collaborated with the State Education Departments in six states — Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sarawak. The first phase of the programme is expected to benefit some 1,700 teachers and approximately 200,000 students in these six states.

YB Senator Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon, Deputy Minister of Education said the Ministry welcomes any sort of collaborations from the industries in all areas that will help with the enhancement of skills, knowledge and expertise among teachers and students towards strengthening national education.

“With the incorporation of techniques in Score A and the embracement of the 21st century learning approach PAK-21 (Pembelajaran Abad ke-21) into the classroom, I believe that the classroom teaching and learning would be more enjoyable, and students will be equipped with the right skills and values for the future. With that in mind I must commend the efforts of Faber-Castell Malaysia in making this programme happen concurrently in six states,” he said.

“Creative teaching and learning are the key drivers to help students grasp information better and develop a student’s communication, critical thinking, problem solving and motor skills, among others,” he added.

Mr Andrew Woon, Managing Director of Faber-Castell Malaysia said Faber-Castell is always looking at innovative ways to improve teaching and learning techniques while at the same time engage and collaborate with educators.

“This programme is curated in line with our company’s “companion for life” tagline which aims to promote and cultivate creativity at any age, with no age limit.”

“We want to continue to inspire and offer creative experiences to our consumers while using our innovative products. Creativity is not limited to art, but also covers problem solving and learning process as well,” he said.

He added that creative learning is not just memorising information or rote-learning. It is more about acquiring and understanding information through the application of creative methods to facilitate the learning process.

For example, mind mapping uses visualisation to help with memory retention. It helps learners organise their train of thoughts by linking up information in a graphical way for better understanding and it also effective for revision. Usage of colours help with visualisation for this technique too.

“In this programme, the teachers will also be exposed to various creative and learning techniques to guide and motivate their students into finding that learning is fun and effective,” he added.

Some examples of creative techniques in Score A include River-flow Note-taking, which is a creative note-taking method when learning process-based or story-based with chronological flow. Another example is the Association Technique by breaking down information into smaller pieces and then using sensory stimuli, i.e., visual association, verbal association, and physical association, to connect with pieces of information. Teachers will be equipped with a comprehensive Handbook on all the learning techniques and its accompanying activities, in hope to become a useful guide for long-term.

This programme offers a two-pronged approach. Firstly, it will equip teachers with learning techniques enhancements. These techniques will later be transferred to students to leverage their studies in classroom and at home. Secondly, students will be encouraged to apply and demonstrate the techniques learnt. Nominated students by their teachers will compete in a nationwide Score A Creative Learning Olympic at the end of the programme. Top 10 students from the primary and secondary schools will receive cash prizes, product hampers and certificate of participation.

Creative Learning by Score A was first introduced in 2020 to primary and secondary students. In the past 2 years, Faber-Castell has conducted a few effective learning workshops which among them include 7 Intelligences Effective Learning Skills, Brain Memory, and Critical & Creative Thinking.

Additionally, other ongoing creative and educational programmes by Faber-Castell also include the Art Experience Teacher’s Edition, which has been successfully implemented since 2021, which saw 1,944 teachers from 1,702 schools participated in the workshops. This year, Faber-Castell is looking into enrolling an additional 1,500 teachers.

Within the Score A Teacher’s Edition, the company will hold expert-sharing sessions where five industry experts with different strengths and expertise in the academic field will share more practical applications of creative techniques at the workshops.