Creatvity in Education

Hey Education Bloggers!

Today’s blog will be all about creativity! What creativity is, how we have explored creativity in our AOLE sessions, and academic literature to support creativity in the classroom will be discussed.

Firstly, what is creativity and why do we use it within the classroom? In 1988, when the national curriculum was introduced, it proposed that; we should enable pupils to be given the opportunity to “become more creative, innovative, enterprising, and capable of leadership to equip them for their future lives as workers and citizens” DfEE/QCA (1999). Even though Wales are currently in the process of adapting to a new curriculum ‘Successful Futures’, Donaldson (2015) still stands by this definition and states that pupils will be “enterprising, creative contributors who: connect and apply their knowledge and skills to create ideas and products. Play different roles in teams effectively and responsibly, and are ready to play a full part in life and work”. As you can see, both statements have highlighted the importance of preparing children for their future.

Furthermore, Wright (2010) supposed that everyone has potential regarding creativity, however it may be within specific aspects. For example; a pupil may be creative in art and not music, or intelligent at maths but not science (Wright, S, 2010, p.3). Donaldson (2015) identified this and proposed that all subjects be as equally important as each other; giving all pupils the opportunity to excel at what they do best; thus being supported by the quote; “The education and young people should include rich experiences that are valuable in their own right” (Donaldson, G, 2015). Rather than them being known as subjects, they are now known as areas of learning and experience, and have been split into 6 areas.

These areas are:

·         “Expressive arts

·         Health and well-being

·         Humanities

·         Languages, literacy and communication

·         Mathematics and numeracy

·         Science and technology” (Donaldson, G, 2015).

Donaldson (2015) proposed that the purpose of education experiences is to “broaden children and young people’s horizons, stimulate their imaginations and promote enjoyment in learning”.

During our AOLE lecture, we were discussing the qualities of a creative teacher, and Dylan asked us “Should sessions follow and stick to a plan?” Personally, I don’t believe you should because a lot of the time something will spark the pupils interest and it’s a clever idea to expand on that instead because that’s what they’re really interested in; this is where experiential learning takes place. You will still be able to achieve the outcome of the lesson, but through a different route. This is referred to as ‘children’s choice’ as you are allowing the pupils to take ownership of their own learning.

For example; the pupils may be learning about counting in a mathematics lesson, it begins to snow outside and all the pupils are excited and looking out the window. The teacher then decides to abandon the lesson plan and take the children outside in the snow. The outcome of lesson (counting) can still be achieved as the teacher may say to the pupils “Let’s see how many snowflakes we can catch!” or “Let’s see how many snowballs we can make”.
To summarise this example; even though the teacher did not follow through will the lesson planned, the pupils still achieved the outcome of the lesson whilst using exploration to use all their senses, such as; touch, smell, hear, see, and taste.

There are strengths but also weaknesses to using creativity within the classroom. Firstly, a strength of using creativity in the classroom is that children will learn more efficiently as they are more likely to remember things that have been creative or interactive. Creativity caters to all needs of the pupils. Whether they learn visually, auditory, or kinaesthetic, children can access learning through creativity in a variety of ways (Desailly, 2012, p. 22). Children also have autonomy over their learning and get more personal fulfilment.

However, even though there are strengths to using creativity in the classroom, there are also many weaknesses. Firstly; creativity within the classroom can be known to have issues with time management, this may be because some children may finish the activity quicker than others when completing meaningful exploration. You then must find other activities for the children to complete whilst waiting for others (Desailly, 2012, P. 23). Another weakness may be that the parents may not understand the creativity purpose within education as there may be lack of written work in pupil’s books; this can be overcome by discussing with and showing parents the importance of creativity within the classroom and how much it should be valued. Lastly, asking children to come up with their own ideas can be very threatening and intimidating. This is also known as the ‘blank sheet’ moment; this can be overcome by having a structured plan for their creativity, and gradually building the children’s confidence and skills rather than putting them on the spot (Desailly, 2012, p. 23).

Reference List

Desailly, J (2012) Creativity in the Primary Classroom. London: Sage Publications.

Donaldson, G (2015) ‘Successful Futures’ Available at: file:///C:/Users/Sophielauren/Downloads/Donaldson%20Report%20-%20Successful%20Futures%20-%20Independent%20Review%20of%20Curriculum%20and%20Assessment%20Arrangements%20in%20Wales%20(1).pdf [Accessed: 28^th November 2017].

Wright, S (2010) Understanding Creativity in Early Childhood. London: Sage Publications.