How can teachers promote creativity?

When planning

•Build creative objectives into your planning (you could integrate these with subject-specific objectives).
•Look for opportunities to promote creativity in your existing schemes of work and lesson plans. Could you adapt any activities so that they offer more potential for creativity?
•Devise activities that are personally and culturally authentic. Try to build on pupils’ interests and experiences (both in and out of school).
•Plan for a range of teaching and learning styles so that as many pupils as possible have the opportunity to show their creativity. Role play can increase pupils’ imaginative engagement and give them freedom to explore ideas. Hands-on experimentation, problem solving, discussion and collaborative work all provide excellent opportunities for creative thinking and behaviour.
•Never lose sight of the importance of knowledge and skills. Pupils are only able to engage creatively and purposefully with the challenges they encounter if they have a solid base of knowledge and skills.

When introducing activities

•Give pupils a clear goal that is challenging yet achievable.
•Share objectives with the pupils and give them opportunities to choose ways of working and how to shape the direction of work.
•Stimulating starting points – such as sights, sounds, smells, visits and contact with creative people – capture pupils’ interest and fire their imagination.
•Give pupils a set of constraints (for example limit time and/or resources). This makes an activity more approachable and can encourage pupils to improvise and experiment.

When teaching

•Actively encourage pupils to question, make connections, envisage what might be and explore ideas. Promote and reward imagination and originality.
•Ask open-ended questions such as ‘What if…?’ and ‘How might you…?’ to help pupils see things from different perspectives.
•Value and praise what pupils do and say. Establish an atmosphere in which they feel safe to say things, take risks and respond creatively.
•Create a fun, relaxed working environment if you want to encourage pupils to be adventurous and explore ideas freely.
•Create conditions for quiet reflection and concentration if you want to encourage pupils to work imaginatively.
•Make the most of unexpected events. When appropriate, put aside your lesson plan and ‘go with the moment’, but never lose sight of your overall learning objectives.
•Be willing to stand back and let pupils take the lead. However, make sure that you are always on hand to provide prompts and support as needed.
•Join in with activities and model creative thinking and behaviour. Showing the pupils that you are a learner too can help to create an open, constructive learning environment.
•Give pupils opportunities to work with others from their class, year group and different age groups.

When reviewing work

•Help pupils to develop criteria that they can use to judge their own work, in particular its originality and value (this can be as simple as asking, ‘What makes a good…?’).
•Stop regularly for open discussion of the problems pupils are facing and how they can solve them. Encourage pupils to share ideas with others and to talk about their progress.
•Help pupils to appreciate the different qualities in others’ work and to value ways of working that are different from their own.
•Help pupils to give and receive constructive feedback.
This content relates to the 1999 programmes of study and attainment targets.

Putting creativity at the centre

•Build an expectation of creativity into your school’s learning and teaching policy.
•Consider providing extended cross-subject projects that give pupils opportunities to take greater control of their learning, work together and make connections between different areas of their learning.
•Try to avoid over-compartmentalised teaching. If pupils see ‘the whole picture’ and are helped to recognise relationships and patterns in their learning, they will gain a deeper understanding.
•Involve all the school in an event to experience and celebrate creative learning.
•Show and share tangible changes that result from creativity.
•Encourage, recognise and reward pupils’ creativity. Ask teachers to nominate examples of creativity and celebrate these at a school or year assembly.

Providing resources

•Make sure that pupils have the resources they need to be creative (for example, high-quality materials, tools, apparatus and equipment).
•Make sure that pupils have the space they need to be creative (for example, space for dance and drama, to create on a large scale in art and design).
•Make sure that pupils have access to film, video and the internet (which help them to connect their learning to life outside school) and to first-hand experience of objects and environments (which stimulate their curiosity).
•Agree and provide key entitlements, such as working with artists and other creative professionals, going to the theatre or learning a musical instrument.
•Involve pupils in creating a stimulating environment. For example, they could help to redesign the playground or improve the school’s natural spaces.
•Work with higher education and other agencies to get access to resources.
•Tap the creativity of staff, parents and the local community.
(National Curriculum,2010)

What are conditions are necessary for a creative curriculum?

1.A programme-long approach
2.Progression (arrangements that help students become comfortable with ‘tools’, get them to use tools with less and less help and guidance, and end with them identifying for themselves situations which can be handled well by the use of a combination of the tools they have to hand).
3.Openness to choice. There may be limited choice between modules, but there can be a lot of choice within modules if they are designed on a core-and-application basis. (Teachers introduce the key tools concepts, strategies, information sources and then have students practise them on problems that they, the students, choose/identify).
4.Novel tasks. Where students are set fresh tasks that require them to draw from their learning in several modules and when these are not convergent tasks but ones that allow a variety of good responses, then creativity is favoured. Teachers might find themselves considering the plausibility of the solutions and then awarding marks on the basis of students’ accounts of their problem-working strategies. (NB. It is not a good idea to join the phrase ‘problem-solving’ with ‘creativity’. The one is convergent, the other isn’t.)
5.Differentiated assessment. Narrow, summatively-driven assessment practices will smother creativity.
6.An emphasis on learning for understanding rather than learning for extensive content mastery. There is evidence that an emphasis on coverage encourages superficiality. Superficiality is not conducive to creativity. Understanding, which comes from covering less ground with more emphasis on the underlying concepts, strategies and assumptions, is conducive to creativity. Put it another way: cover less material but in ways that help students to understand more about the domain and its complex learning outcomes.
7.Knowing students. If students understand the ‘rules of the game’ and why the programme is as it is, then they are better placed to reflect and enter into the spirit of the creativity game. Students who do not know the rules are likely to try much harder to bargain it into familiar and safe shapes (Doyle, 1983).
8.Portfolios. Owned by the student and central to metacognition, they encourage learners to sustain their own claims to achievement convergent and divergent in their own ways.
9.Openness to innovation. Possibilities for change need to be designed into the programme from the beginning.
10.Sound evaluations. It has been implied that programmes that favour creativity are rigorous ones. Good programme evaluation practices, ones that go far beyond the standard module tick-list approaches, support rigorous academic practices. (Knight,2002)

Note:The picture is from this source.

How to Assess Creativity?

Assessment key principles

The following four key principles of assessment are designed to help schools take a fresh look at their practice and consider what the experience of assessment is like for their children.

1.The child is at the heart of assessment
2.Assessment needs to provide a view of the whole child
3.Assessment is integral to teaching and learning
4.Assessment includes reliable judgements about how children are performing related, where appropriate, to national standards.

The child at the heart of assessment



Good assessment:
•helps develop successful learners
•recognises strengths and areas for development and clearly identifies ways for children to make progress
•is based around children’s needs and leads to improved attainment and progress
•encourages children to take a central role in their own assessment.

It is clear that many children feel detached from the process of assessment. They view assessment as something that is done to them rather than something they have a stake in. The experience of assessment should motivate children and help them understand what assessment is for and how they can use it to develop as successful learners.

One key way of achieving this is to ensure that all children are actively involved in ongoing assessment conversations with their teachers to celebrate their achievements, recognise their strengths and identify priorities for future learning and how these could be achieved. Having a central role in their assessment helps children to take greater responsibility for their own learning, builds their confidence and helps them make progress.

Provides a view of the whole child

Assessment needs to provide a view of the whole child:

•value and include a wide range of attitudes, dispositions and skills, as well as achievement in subjects
•draw on a broad range of evidence, including beyond the school
•involve those that know the child best – including parents, peers and members of the wider community.

The curriculum aims to develop the whole child and assessment should reflect this. Assessment then creates a rounded picture of the child that values the broad range of attitudes and skills found in the aims of the curriculum and essentials for learning and life. For assessment to be effective teachers need to draw on evidence across and beyond the school environment, and parent/carers, peers or members of the wider community could contribute to the assessment of a child’s achievement. Making these kinds of links can be particularly motivating for children as it helps them to connect the skills and aptitudes they show outside school with those needed to succeed in the classroom.

Integral to teaching and learning
Embedding assessment in teaching and learning:

•is essential in creating personalised learning
•helps teachers to be flexible enough to recognise learning as it happens
•results in decisions and actions from both day-to-day interactions with children and through taking a periodic overview of progress.

To be effective, assessment needs to be flexible enough to recognise when learning is happening – which means understanding that the curriculum offers a wide range of experiences and activities, which can generate many different types of learning evidence. When assessment is at the heart of classroom teaching, it enables teachers to personalise discussions about the next steps for children and shape teaching to best suit their children's needs. Careful planning is required to make this effective – assessment information is most useful when children can take initiative in classes and pursue ideas for themselves rather than relying on their teacher's instruction.

In order to have an impact, assessment must result in decisions and actions for both the teacher and the child. This is achieved in the short term through day-to-day interaction between children and teachers, and in the medium and longer term by taking a periodic overview of progress that draws on a full range of evidence.
(National Curriculum,2010)

In 'Creativity: find it, promote it', QCA suggested that it is possible to identify when pupils are thinking and behaving creatively in the classroom by using the following framework:

* questioning and challenging;
* making connections and seeing relationships;
* envisaging what might be;
* exploring ideas, keeping options open;
* reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes. (QCA 2004)

Note:The pictures are from this and this source.

How Can You Spot Creativity?

We have already defined creativity as being:

• imaginative
• purposeful – directed at achieving an objective
• original
• valuable – in relation to its objective.

But what does this actually look like in the classroom?

When pupils are thinking and behaving creatively in the classroom, you are likely to see them:

• questioning and challenging
• making connections and seeing relationships
• envisaging what might be
• exploring ideas, keeping options open
• reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes.

Questioning and challenging

Creative pupils are curious, question and challenge, and don't always follow rules. They:

• ask 'why?' 'how?' 'what if?'
• ask unusual questions
• respond to ideas, questions, tasks or problems in a surprising way
• challenge conventions and their own and others' assumptions
• think independently.

Making connections and seeing relationships

Creative pupils think laterally and make associations between things that are not usually connected.
They:
• recognise the significance of their knowledge and previous experience
• use analogies and metaphors
• generalise from information and experience, searching for trends and patterns
• reinterpret and apply their learning in new contexts
• communicate their ideas in novel or unexpected ways.

Envisaging what might be

Creative pupils speculate about possibilities.
They:
• imagine, seeing things in the mind's eye
• see possibilities, problems and challenges
• ask 'what if?'
• visualise alternatives
• look at and think about things differently and from different points of view.


For example

In The creepy polar bear, pupils keep the image of a cold wind in their mind’s eye when experimenting with different sounds that reflect their thoughts and feelings about Antarctica. Open questioning helps them to think imaginatively and represent their mental picture through music.

Exploring ideas, keeping options open

Creative pupils explore possibilities, keep their options open and learn to cope with the uncertainty that this brings.
They:
• play with ideas, experiment
• try alternatives and fresh approaches
• respond intuitively and trust their intuition
• anticipate and overcome difficulties, following an idea through
• keep an open mind, adapting and modifying their ideas to achieve creative results.
For example

In The surfing ballerina, pupils experiment with different ways of producing movement using mechanisms and components, anticipating and overcoming difficulties along the way. They modify ideas as they reflect on their designs for moving toys and some continue to keep their options open and make changes right through to the making stage.

Reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes

Creative pupils are able to evaluate critically what they do.
They:
• review progress
• ask 'is this a good...?' 'is this what is needed?'
• invite feedback and incorporate this as needed
• put forward constructive comments, ideas, explanations and ways of doing things
• make perceptive observations about originality and value.

(National Curriculum,2010)

Note:The picture is from this source.

References

Craft, A.; 2005.Creativity in Schools:Tensions and Dilemmas.Oxon:Routledge

Fisher,R.; Williams, M. 2005.Unlocking Creativity:Teaching Across the Curriculum.2nd ed.London:David Fulton Publishers


Lloyd, K.; Smith, P.2009. Developing creativity in the primary school: a practical guide for school leaders. National College for School Leadership

Starko, J.,A.; 2001. Creativity in the Classroom:Schools of Curious Delight.4th ed.New York:Routledge

Wilson, A.; 2009. Creativity in Primary Education. 2nd ed. Exeter:Learning Matters

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

National Curriculum.2010.How can you spot creativity?[Online] (Updated 31 March 2010)
Available at: http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and-2/learning-across-the-curriculum/creativity/howcanyouspotcreativity/index.aspx [Accessed 31 March 2010].

Rogers, M.;Fasciato,M., 2005.Can Creativity be assessed?,British Educational Research Association Annual Conference,[Online] 14-17 September 2005
Available at:http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bei/COLN/COLN_default.html [Accessed 16 March 2010].

Knight, P., 2002. Notes on a creative curriculum. Open University [Online]
Available at:http://www.palatine.ac.uk/files/1039.pdf [Accessed 14 April 2010].

Creativity for Parents

Why Creativity is important?

We live in a fast moving world. Changing circumstances in the business world have lead employers to demand not only high academic achievement but also people who can be innovative, creative and who can adapt to the changing environment with good communication skills.

Every child has capabilities beyond the traditionally academic. Children with high academic ability may have other strengths that are often neglected. Children who struggle with academic work can have outstanding abilities in other areas. Equally, creative and cultural education of the sort we propose can also help to raise academic standards. The key is to find what children are good at.
(NACCCE Report,May 1999)

The changing circumstances in today`s economy and the importance of adjusting ourselves with this conditions are explained by Seltzer and Bently as:

While qualifications are still integral to personal success, it is no longer enough for students to show that they are capable of passing public examinations. To thrive in our economy, defined by the innovative application of knowledge, we must be able to do more than absorb and feedback information. Learners and workers must draw on their entire spectrum of learning experiences and apply what they have learned in new and creative ways. A central challenge for the education system is therefore to find ways of embedding learning in a range of meaning for contexts, where students can use their knowledge and skills creatively to make an impact on the world around them. (Craft,A.2005,pg 7)

To be able to prepare our children for their future, schools are not effective enough on their own. Children also need to gain support from their families. Understanding this concept and seeking the support of families will help both children and the teachers achieve as much as possible. This can only lead to a win win situation for everyone involved.

To support families in this matter, we prepared some practical ideas to encourage creativity outside the classroom. They are easy to both prepare and practice. The greatest benefit of these activities will be in improving the quality of family time for all concerned, both parents and children. This will help parents to better understand their children's capacity for learning more and involve them in this most important time of their children's lives more actively.
This blog is dedicated to all teachers and parents who have opened the doors to a bright and a creative world.

Note:The picture is from this source.

Creativity at home with Early Years

There are a lot of different ways of promoting creativity in our daily lives. Children will enjoy spending their time creatively with their parents rather than sitting in front of the television and not doing anything. Some ideas suggested here for parents to do with their children. They do not only help them to spend quality time with their children but also help them to develop a range of skills.

LADYBIRD




What you need:
What you need:
Black coloured paper
Red coloured paper
Scissors (child friendly)
Pencil
Glue
CD just to draw a big circle for the body of the ladybird




Draw the circle on to the red paper. You can ask your child to help you. Do not worry if it is not a proper circle.Remember, this is a child friendly ladybird and the most important one, so whatever your child draws is better than the most perfect one you can find in a book or in a shop. You need to encourage her for the effort she is making.




Make small circles out of the black paper for the ladybird’s spots. She can glue these on to the ladybird. Playing with such small pieces of paper will help children's hand-eye coordination and will develop their motor skills.


COOKING AND BAKING




Cooking and baking with children is a great way of involving them with early Science and Maths. Children will learn the importance of numbers and measuring while they are cooking and they will also experience scientific facts such as, heat, solids, liquids and how they can be separated.




Following the instructions from a recipe book will also help children to learn in different contexts. Using a cooking book is also a good way to introduce different types of books. There are a lot of Children’s Cook books available both in libraries and bookstores. These books are full of pictures describing each stage of the cooking process. Therefore, it is also easy for a child to follow the instructions. This will give the children a sense of achievement.



By measuring the ingredients and mixing them is a fantastic way for children to see real life Maths and Science in action even before they start studying them. When the children come across small problems during cooking, encourage them to use their problem solving skills to come up with a solution. It is important to be patient and get the answer from the children rather than telling them.








Note:Pictures are from the blog owner`s own archieve.They can not be used without permission.

Creativity Today

The National Advisory Comitte on Creative and Cultural Education published a report called `All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education` in May 1999. According to this report; education faces challenges that are without precedent. Meeting these challenges calls for new priorities in education, including a much stronger emphasis on creative, cultural education and a new balance in teaching and in the curriculum.

According to the National Advisory Comitte on Creative and Cultural Education`s (NACCCE) report; the biggest misconception about creativity is being only associated with foundation subjects such as art or drama. Or they think creativity is about having gifted skills. It is suggested in NACCCE`s report that creativity is possible in all areas of human activity and all young people and adults have creative capacities.

According to the Rose Report;

Our primary schools also show that high standards are best secured when essential knowledge and skills are learned both through direct, high-quality subject teaching and also through this content being applied and used in cross-curricular studies. Primary schools have long organised and thought much of the curriculum as a blend of discrete subjects and cross-curricular studies in this way. Subject disciplines remain vital in their own right, and cross-curricular studies strengthen the learning of the subjects which make up its content. From the standpoint of young learners, making links between subjects enriches and enlivens them, especially history and geography

The National Curriculum Handbook (QCA,
1999) states:

“The curriculum should enable pupils to think creatively and critically, to solve problems and make a difference for the better. it should give them the opportunity to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership to equip them for their future lives as workers and citizens.”

Ofsted’s Section 10 inspections also recognise the importance of schools promoting creativity, as well as supporting the aims and principles described in Excellence and Enjoyment. The following extracts from the Handbook for Inspecting Nursery and Primary Schools, (Ofsted 2003), confirm this:

•Effective teaching extends pupils intellectually, creatively and physically.

•Look for… practical work, investigations and problem-solving exercises that develop pupils’ skills, creativity and understanding.

•Where a school is very good at enriching the curriculum, it provides a rich and varied programme of experiences for all pupils. They respond positively and achieve very well. Visits by a wide range of
enthusiasts or experts are well established and beneficial.

•Give credit for imaginative lessons and learning that is vivid, real and relevant.

•Assessment that enables pupils to play a very strong part in making and recognising improvement in their work is likely to be excellent.

The findings in the Ofsted report confirm that:

•thinking and behaving creatively bring vitality to learning, providing the motivation to tackle bigger challenges and, when effective, increasing pupils’ confidence and self-esteem

•where creativity has an important place in the curriculum, pupils generally have very positive attitudes towards learning and enjoy coming to school

All schools should:

•from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards, ensure that pupils are actively encouraged to ask questions, hypothesise and share their ideas, and that these skills extend into their writing

•in curriculum planning, balance opportunities for creative ways of learning with secure coverage of National Curriculum subjects and skills

•provide continuing professional development to ensure that teachers and support staff have the knowledge, skills and confidence to encourage pupils to be independent and creative learners, and to monitor and assess the effectiveness with which they develop these capabilities

•ensure that all pupils develop skills in technology to support independent and creative learning

•support and sustain partnerships that have the potential to develop pupils of all abilities as confident and creative learners.

“Today’s essential life and work skills include innovation, creative thinking, complex problem-solving, imagining what the future holds and, above all, the ability to cope with choice, uncertainty and the unknown.”
Creative Partnerships in Education (CAPE) UK, 2004
(NCLS,2010)


Note:The picture is from this source.

Creativity through RE

A teacher who does not feel confident and competent is likely to restrict themselves to tried, tested and predictable teaching strategies and is unlikely to venture into the often unknown waters of creativity. But if it is true that religions, in essence, are dynamic, and are about change and creativity, then to teach about them in ways devoid of creativity is to misrepresent the nature of the subject.

Religions are multi-dimensional and use visual imagery, sounds, smells and touch to convey message and meaning, and this should be reflected in the religious education classroom.

Phenix (1964) considered that education was a process of engendering essential meanings, that one of the threats to meaning-making was the volume of knowledge to be learned. A religious education without meaning-making would result in a programme of sociological fact-gathering. We need, therefore, to undertake a review of the amount of knowledge to be learned and the quality of the learning which is to take place, and to reinstate teachers, pupils and syllabus constructors.

So, creativity through religious education? It is possible, challenging, and necessary.`.(Fisher,R.; Williams, M. 2005,pg.145-150)

The main objectives of the Religious Education in the DfES are explained as:

This area of learning contributes to the curriculum aims for all young people to become:

*successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
*confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
*responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.

Schools should consider how RE contributes to the five outcomes of Every Child Matters:

* offers information and insights on the impact of beliefs, practices and values, and whether they might be healthy or unhealthy;

* allows pupils to explore the valued of safety in relation to attitudes to authority, property, relationships and the impact of ideas, and to develop social skills and empathy for others on considering these issues;

* challenges pupils in ways that stimulate them and given them an ejoyment of learning, a sense of achievement leading to better motivation, and a belief in their capacity to respond well to people and ideas;

* fosters a sense of self-awareness, belonging and identity that manifests itself in positive participation in school and community life; and

* raises issues of immediate and future relevance to pupil`s economic well-being, for example attitudes to wealth and poverty, skills for living and working in a diverse society, the ethics of war, sustaining the planet, and the use of money. (QCDA,2009)

Ideas on Teaching Religious Education Creatively:

Religious Education can create excellent example for cross-curricular subject projects.

Note:The picture is taken from this source.

What is Creativity?

The word `creativity` has variety of meanings. It can be about problem solving skills or exploring and enquiring new dimensions to our already found facts. Whatever it means to people, it means a lot to teachers and educational practioners. The creative approach is possibly the only way to distinguish thin line between purposeful learning and old fashioned one way teaching.

According to the National Curriculum,a good starting point for defining creativity is 'All our futures: Creativity, culture and education', the National Advisory Committee's report (DfEE, 1999). This report states that we are all, or can be, creative to a lesser or greater degree if we are given the opportunity. The definition of creativity in the report (page 29) is broken down into four characteristics:

First, they [the characteristics of creativity] always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively. Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an objective. Third, these processes must generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective.

Debating the characteristics highlighted by this definition can be a helpful starting point for agreeing what your school actually means by creativity.

As it is suggested in the National Curriculum, the development of the creative potential of children is essential for our future. This goes with National Curriculum`s aims and values.


Curriculum aims

The National Curriculum has three broad aims. It should enable all young people to become:
• successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
• confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
• responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
These aims should inform all aspects of teaching and learning and be the starting point for curriculum design.

Successful learners

Successful learners:
• are creative, resourceful and able to identify and solve problems
• have enquiring minds and think for themselves to process information, reason, question and evaluate
• enjoy learning and are motivated to achieve the best they can now and in the future.

(National Curriculum,2010)

Howard Gardner(1997) has described it as `the ability to solve problems and fashion products and to raise new questions`. Bill Lucas (2001) says that ` a state of mind in which all our intelligences are working together`,and Ken Robinson (2001) states that it is `imaginative processes with outcomes that are original and of value`.(Fisher,R.; Williams, M. 2005, pg.150-155)

Maslow(1954), the founder of the humanist psychology movement described creativity as`a fundumental characteristic, inherent in human nature, a potentiality given to all or most human being at birth, which most often is lost or buried or inhibited as the person gets enculturated`. (Starko, J.,A.,2001,pg.52)

Note:The pictures are from here and here.