31 August 2025

What can a TED talk change during ~20 years?

What can a TED talk change during ~20 years?

Can you believe that the most-watched TED talk ever was

…given by a 56-year-old man?
… 19 minutes long?
…about schools?

It was presented for the first time in June 2006 and has more than 78 million views (on official TED webpage) today – just think about the numbers and the context again. It was the first TED presentation for Sir Ken Robinson who by that time had worked as a teacher, trainer and examiner, had initiated his own projects dedicated to Arts in school education, had been involved in the National Curriculum formation, was invited to foreign institutions as an advisor, received numerous awards and honorary degrees. Three years before this presentation, the speaker had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts and a year before Sir Ken Robinson had been named one of the "Principal Voices" in education.

"Do schools kill creativity?" is now the most renowned question among education workers, so what was the impact of that very TED talk?

Sir Ken Robinson’s ideas were of course known to departments, institutions, ministries and other institutions involved in reformation of schools. This one video, however, welcomed bottom-up changes – now students and teachers as the main contributors and beneficiaries of the process got encouraged to call for change and to be the change.

Sir Ken Robinson also coined the terms creativity crisis and academic inflation , and introduced the concept of finding your element as a power to fulfil one’s potential.

Intertwined with humour, storytelling, professional observations, Ken Robinson’s ideas inspired and provoked further debates among parents, school workers, and students. Interestingly, there were very few to disagree – and even if there were more, it would only mean the ideas being alive, relevant and meaningful.

Watch it. Even if you did so many years ago, you will find something new and to the point today.