What is creativity and how can it be included in a classroom?

Hello Education bloggers, I hope you are all keeping well! As I said in my first blog post, today’s discussion is going to be about something that seems so simple, but is sometimes difficult to include within a classroom environment to keep the children engaged throughout, creativity.

So, what is creativity? How would you describe it? “Few of us can imagine treading in the footsteps of Picasso or Mozart” Starko (2017, no pg.) who are on different ends of the creativity scale with regards to what they did; “Pablo Picasso is the most widely known painter today” Penrose (1981, pg.1) therefore focusing on the creative arts side of the curriculum. Children are sometimes asked to imitate his work, by looking deeply into his paintings, which is an obvious method of using creativity within a classroom. Similarly, Mozart is focused on music within a classroom and links in with the creative arts aspect to engage children in different ways. Piaget “believed that during the pre-operational learning stage (ages 2-7), children begin to react symbols…this is perfect for starting the process of learning music” cited in Fox & Barden & Surnami & Lancaster & Kowalchyk (2004, pg.5). This is a good example of how creativity can be incorporated into a classroom to see how children react to the sound, because it will show how attentive they are to their surroundings by using their senses.

Although children should be creative with their childhood, the influences of their teachers and parents play a huge role to encourage them. In our lecture, we looked a couple of examples of how teachers can be creative with their students; doing hands on activities rather than just copying from a whiteboard. As well as hands on activities, “a creative teacher is passionate and interested in what children have to say” Copping (2016, no pg.), and is an easy way to show creativity in the classroom as well as a good form of communication between a teacher and pupil. Additionally, this is an example of empowerment because pupils can give a voice on their interpretation of some topics, and teachers will then have an indication of where their students are at with their work.

Could we imagine a classroom without creativity? Where children have no right to play and have no right to share their creative minds with their peers. Sometimes, “our education system often seems to push creativity out of the curriculum, increasing the emphasis on literacy and numeracy” The Guardian (2016), because it could lead to stress on the teacher’s if they are more focused on creativity within a classroom rather than the academic purpose of education. As the curriculum becomes harder and harder, it is difficult for teachers to find the time to give something that it is sometimes seen as a luxury.

However, the article from The Guardian (2016) goes on to highlight that “an Oxford student found as technology races ahead, low-skilled workers become more susceptible…47% of current jobs at risk…schools will have to increase their creative and social skills”, meaning that creativity is a necessity at this stage to help pupils figure out their future, so they open up their imaginations of how they want to progress. Donaldson (2015) supports this study as he stated that “creative contributors and ready to play a full park in life and work” is one of the key purposes to develop children and young people. The idea of pushing out creativity may have been something that was considered beforehand, but realised that this feature is what guides children through their lives to open the up to society.

So, that is all for today’s blog guys but before you go, I want you to think about something; do you think being creative in a classroom helps children and young people for their future jobs? I want you think about whether you need to have that creative skill for all jobs, or just some. Also, take into consideration the evolvement of technology and how that helps workers to progress further. Donaldson (2015) thinks that “good teaching and learning will employ approaches including those that promote problem solving, creative and critical thinking” and from this, I believe that most of the skills mentioned by Donaldson are used in a workplace, and being creative can prepare children and young people for their futures but, it all depends on the job they decide to go for. An article from the Independent (2016) state that “the onus is now not just on academic achievement, but instead showing how well-rounded an individual is and how they integrate with the company culture” therefore implying that it isn’t all about getting that academic qualification, you must also have a range of skills to help provide the best outcome in the workplace. However, as this source is an article, it is liberal bias; meaning that it has the view of trying to prepare young people for the future, so they have an idea of what society is like today.

Thank you for reading, I look forward to reading your thoughts and comments! See you in the next blog!

References:

-       Copping. A (2016) ‘Being Creative in Primary English’, India, no pg.

-       Donaldson (2015) ‘Initial Highlights of the Donaldson Report’

-       Fox & Barden & Surnami & Lancaster & Kowalchyk (2004) ‘Alfred's Classroom Music for Little Mozarts 1’, pg.5

-       Penrose. R (1981) ‘’Picasso: His Life and Work’, Berkeley and Los Angeles, pg. 1

-       Starko. A J (2017) ‘Creativity in the Classroom: Schools of Curious Delight’, Eastern Michigan, no pg., Chapter 1

-       The Guardian (2016) ‘Why pushing creativity out of classrooms will stop children succeeding in the 21st century’, 16^th November, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/nov/17/why-pushing-creativity-out-of-classrooms-will-stop-children-succeeding-in-the-21st-century (Accessed: 10/11/17)

-       The Independent (2016) ‘Creative and arts graduates have the soft skills needed to make them ‘work ready’’, 22 June, Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/creative-arts-graduates-soft-skills-graduate-employment-university-subjects-work-ready-a7095311.html (Accessed: 10/11/17)