The Academics on Creativity in Education

“the belief… that every individual has the potential to be creative is unchanged” (Lin, 2011).

Numerous research and studies have discussed the fostering of creativity in education and its importance.

As well as additional benefits such as a positive effect on health and wellbeing, most essentially creativity serves to equip us with the basic capacity for future life including the generation of ideas and problem solving skills.

Who's Responsible?

Universities have been suggested as having a significant role in fostering creativity in order to produce a more creative workforce and creative economy. It is important for these educational institutions to promote the arts and explore the practice of creativity, which in turn should help to engage students.

A survey exploring university students’ views of creative education and its impact on learning found that more than 40% of students believed current educational strategies decreased their motivation for creativity. It also found that despite acknowledging existing teaching methods were less motivating for students, institutions still relied on them. These methods which essentially ask students to accurately reproduce what has been taught leave little room for creative expression and originality.

How Can We Change?

Existing expectations and conventions in education systems can hinder creative practice. Unfortunately, when envisioning or implementing alternatives, we can be easily constrained by these existing systems. It is important to factor in not just the best way for people to learn, but also how they want to learn. An environment which is stimulating and supportive of learners' creativity and motivations is key. Creative learning should also not be confined within the walls of a classroom, in order to develop creative problem-solving skills in actuality, in local communities and beyond.

Traditional teaching methods limit the engagement of learners. It is suggested that the teacher is the critical link, and they first need to be educated in creative teaching before students can benefit from creative learning. Involving the learner's active contribution to the learning process and finding new topics for students to explore can help us to break away from traditional methods.

We need to allow space for uncertainty, ambiguity and indeterminacy. The potential for variability and precariousness in an environment built on these ideas can incubate creativity and problem solving, encouraging students to explore and question. This idea shouldn't be taken to an extreme, as student have varying levels of tolerance to uncertainty and it could soon become chaos.

Even subtle contributions, such as a student sharing a unique way of thinking about a math problem, can add to a creative learning environment.

References

Beghetto, R (2021). ‘Creative Learning in Education’, in M. Kern and M. Wehmeyer (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education. Palgrave

Macmillan, Cham. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64537-3_19 

Comunian, R. and Faggian, A. (2014) ‘Creative graduates and creative cities: exploring the geography of creative education in the UK’. International journal of cultural and creative industries, 1(2), pp.19-34. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roberta-Comunian-3/publication/283868078_Higher_education_and_the_creative_city/links/5715ec5508ae16479d8ad9bb/Higher-education-and-the-creative-city.pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2024)

Hosseini, A.S. (2011) ‘University student's evaluation of creative education in universities and their impact on their learning’, Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, pp.1806-1812. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.007

Lin, Y (2011) ‘Fostering Creativity through Education – A Conceptual Framework of Creative Pedagogy’, Creative Education, 2(3), pp. 149-155. Available at: DOI:10.4236/ce.2011.23021

Orr, S and Shreeve, A. (2018) Art and design pedagogy in higher education: knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. London: Routledge.

Szmidt, K and Majewska-Owczarek, A. (2020) ‘Theoretical Models of Teaching Creativity - Critical Review’, Creativity Theories – Research – Applications, 7(1), pp.54-72. Available at: 10.2478/ctra-2020-0004

Twining, P, Craft, A and Chappell, K. (2007) ‘Leaners reconceptualising education: Widening participation through creative engagement?’, Higher Education Academy: Creativity or Conformity? Building Cultures of Creativity in Higher Education, 8-10. Available at: https://oro.open.ac.uk/16971/ (Accessed: 24 January 2024)

Zhou, K. (2018) ‘What cognitive neuroscience tells us about creativity education: A literature review’, Global Education Review, 5(1), pp.20-34. Available at: https://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/article/view/367 (Accessed: 24 January 2024)