Encouraging creativity in schools sounds intuitively like a good thing, but it can be a slippery concept that means different things to different people.
A new guide from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) gives pointers on how to ”release creativity in learning and teaching” and says this is particularly important in ”an uncertain economic and social environment” and “a world of increasingly rapid change”.
But what does the guide say that teachers should do?
Here is a flavour of its advice for teachers on the questions they should ask themselves “when developing and embedding creative learning and teaching”:
- Are opportunities to develop creativity skills evident across all areas of the curriculum?
- To what extent do I encourage curiosity, offering space and safety for questions and encouraging learners to follow their interests?
- Am I encouraging open-mindedness by challenging expectations, dispelling preconceptions and offering multiple perspectives?
- How well are learners’ creative endeavours at home and in the community acknowledged and celebrated?
When assessing whether an activity is likely to “help learners develop creativity skills”, teachers are advised to build on “prior knowledge, skills and experience while taking learners into unfamiliar areas”. There should also be “external stimulus” such as “contact with creative people” and opportunities to explore “unfamiliar environments”, and a “strong element of personalisation and choice”.
”Creativity is core to education and our own development,” GTCS chief executive Pauline Stephen said today. Meanwhile, Barbara Gray Atherton, development officer for creativity at Education Scotland, said: “In order to thrive in this complex and fast-changing world, learners must be empowered to be creative.”
The professional guide, which was written with the National Creative Learning Network, is linked to Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan.
Read the GTCS guide on creativity here.
