Creativity in the classroom


The focus of this blog post is to evaluate and review our current educational system and look at the delivery within the classroom. We need to ask our self's as teachers are we being creative and are we being artistic, within the classroom? There are a lot of views out there around 'creativity' but mainly all agree on these...

These include:
Image result for creativity classroomImagination
Originality (the ability to come up with ideas and products that are new and unusual)
Productivity (the ability to generate a variety of different ideas through divergent thinking)
Problem Solving (application of knowledge and imagination to a given situation) (Sharp 2004, p.5)

Over the last decade many teachers have exercised their professional artistry and sought to teach more creatively and nurture children’s creativity (Jeffrey and Woods, 2003; Grainger, Goouch and Lambirth, 2005; Craft, Cremin and Burnard, 2007) This has proven hard due to the recent budget cuts to education from the government and the use of standardised exams such as SATs and other classroom exam based tests even though it tries to renew effects around creativity.

Creativity looks like it being phased out and more and more worksheets for children to complete to count as collecting evidence for Ofsted to see overall progress from that child. I personally feel it helps develop their other skills which are needed to be a fully rounded person. These are some of the skills children gain when they are being creative or in a creative environment. Appreciation of different ways of looking at the world, communication - developing better communication through talking, listening, writing or pictures, concentration - focusing on what they are doing, imagination - bringing ideas to life and adding excitement to their world, independence of thought - discovering things for themselves and interact with others but also having that peer support. 

Creative teachers’ pedagogic practice is seen to be most effective when they help children find relevance in their work either through practical application or by making emotional and personal connections (Abbs, 2002; Woods and Jeffrey, 1996). Children find it much easier to relate to what has been asked of them if it's interactive, engaging and them using their creative skills as opposed to preparing for tests and filling out worksheets. 
Mathematics 

Mathematics is a creative discipline. It can stimulate moments of pleasure and wonder when a pupil solves a problem for the first time, discovers a more elegant solution to that problem, or suddenly sees hidden connections. (Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), 1999, p. 60, emphasis added)

A publication Creativity and education: "Comparing the national curricula of the states of the European Union and the United Kingdom"  back in 2014 from the British Educational Research journal investigated creativity between the different states within the European Union and the United Kingdom. Within the last 20 years, there has been more of a focus towards creativity and the value it can add to a child's education as it gets them to think and come up with their own ideas not to mention the other benefits.  ‘confident and creative individuals’ [MCEETYA) The Australian's have put that in their educational goals to meet for their learners. They feel creativity is key to the future generation for them to come up with innovative ways for society's future.    
Barriers to Creativity in Education: Educators and Parents Grade the System,” recently sponsored by Adobe found that creativity is very rare in the classroom due to a limited curriculum and rigorous testing and assessments within classrooms. There are a lot of reasons and issues for this and the problem isn't just in the UK National Curriculum but other educational systems around the world. The study has also said there needs to be transformative change to inject into the current educational system. (Adobe,2013) This study also highlighted the lack of training, resources and the time needed to achieve a better standard of creativity within educational systems. Educators and parents alike feel there is too much effect put on testing and assessments and less on creativity which brings out new ideas, technologies and advances to society but without that how will us as society progress?

References: 
  • http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1475730/1/Wyse_Ferrari%20Paper%20Final.pdf
  • https://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/07/02/todayss-schools-lack-creative-teaching-and-learning-study-says/
  • https://theblog.adobe.com/study-reveals-education-system-is-stifling-creativity-education/

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