Integrating arts and sciences teaching

Pamela Burnard

Pamela believes that teaching transcends traditional subject boundaries. Arts and sciences can be integrated through transdisciplinarity, and creativity and collaboration drive learning. Pamela sees education not as a linear pipeline but as an iterative and inclusive process, embracing diverse knowledges and pluralities. Innovative teaching spaces like STEAM gardens and classrooms designed with student input can encourage hands-on and connected learning experiences. Pamela champions breaking down silos to cultivate the Leonardo da Vinci skillset, a holistic way of knowing that pushes education toward creativity and real-world relevance. She believes that mathematics gains power only when taught in partnership with other subjects. She fosters a community of learning where teachers and students co-create knowledge and break down reductive binaries between arts and academia.

Listen to Pamela

“Learners see teachers in the act of learning, the enactment of knowledge creation. They’re together as a community of practice.”

Pamela Burnard

Pamela Burnard

Pamela Burnard is Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge and Professor-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge Primary School. Internationally recognised for her pioneering research in creativities, she has authored or edited over 20 books, 25 reports, and 120 academic publications. She founded the Arts and Creativities Research Group at Cambridge. Pamela regularly delivers keynote talks worldwide and serves on multiple editorial boards. Her work builds bridges across universities, industries, schools, and communities, and she supervises doctoral research advancing diverse creativities in education.