Teaching creativity - White Rose eTheses Online

University of Sheffield Doctoral Thesis in Education

















Educating for Creativity: Vision, Values and Leadership





Judith Blackburn





Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Education


School of Education


June 2017















































ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



I would like to thank my husband, Wilf, and five children; Felicity,
William, Gabriella, Constance and George; for their continual support and
encouragement. Your belief in me has made it possible to complete this
thesis.

I would also like to thank my tutor, Dr Roy Goddard, and Dr Chris Winter,
for their persistent commitment to my academic work.


ABSTRACT





This thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of the current position
of creativity in British schools and the impact of policy. The research
develops this discussion by providing fresh insight into head teachers'
attitudes towards creativity, an area that has received little attention to
date. The premise for this thesis is that there remains a lack of critical
focus, not only on the definition of creativity, but also on the purpose of
education itself. Arguably, progress in the discipline of education is
currently restricted by a lack of attention to educational values, the
philosophical underpinnings of the educational institution, and to those
aspects of schooling that cannot easily be assessed. In assessing these
issues, previous research is explored and semi-structured interviews
utilised to search for continuity and discontinuity in the participants'
responses. The thesis does not seek to create generalizations; rather to
build understanding.





One finding is that creativity continues to sit more comfortably amidst
traditional 'creative' disciplines like the arts. Another is that, while
head teachers were aware of the need to create appropriate conditions for
creative growth, they considered it a complement to academic processes such
as critical reasoning and subject knowledge. It was not statutory or policy
guidance, but their own personal creativity and vision for the future that
helped them cope with the challenges posed by the wider political and
educational environment and which prompted them in turn to look for better
ways to nurture creativity in their pupils.





Here, creativity is found to be more multi-faceted than anticipated, with
two different forms of creativity co-existing and aimed at fulfilling the
needs of pupils with different abilities. In this sense, this thesis
subsequently argues that there is a risk creativity could, in fact,
increase inequalities by widening the disparity in educational results,
rather than fulfilling the democratic ideal.









TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

ABSTRACT 3

INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER 1: 15

THE EVOLUTION OF CREATIVITY: CONTEXTUALISING RESEARCH TRENDS 15
Section 1: Early research and theoretical developments 15
Section 2 - The psychology of creativity and 'the Four Traditions' 18
Psychoanalysis 18
Behaviourism 19
Cognitivism 20
Humanism 21
Section 3: Unpacking the cognitive 22
Part 1: The psychometric approach 22
Part 2: The Creative Personality 23
Part 3: Creativity and Cognition 24
Section 4: The impact of social research 27
Summary 30

CHAPTER 2: 31

METHODOLOGY 31
Personal position 32
Research method 34
Research aims 36
Research approach 36
Interview Process 37
Strengths and weaknesses of the research approach 39

CHAPTER 3: 40

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF CREATIVITY, IDEOLOGY AND DECISION-MAKING 40
Section 1 - The path of creativity 41
Section 2 - Curriculum ideology 44
What is the purpose of education? 47
Can creativity be taught? 50
Teaching approach 51
The learning environment 56
Teachers' attitudes 57
Child development - what we can learn from existing education models. 59
Section 4 - The question of assessment 63
Section 5: Creativity and values 69
Summary 70

CHAPTER 4
............................................................................
..................................74

What is education policy? 74
Section 1: Policy variations 77
Conservative policy 77
New Labour policy 79
Coalition government policy 82
The present Conservative government 85
Section 2: Key documents 86
All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture, and Education. 86
Creative Partnerships (2002) 89
Nurturing Creativity in Young People (Roberts, 2006) 92
Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy, Department for
Culture, Media and Sport (2008) 93
Learning: Creative Approaches that Raise Standards (Ofsted, 2010) 96
Summary 96

CHAPTER 5:
............................................................................
.................................99

RESEARCH FINDINGS
............................................................................
...................99
The purpose of education 99
The definition of creativity 101
Can creativity be taught? 103
The school curriculum 106
The learning environment 111
The wider educational context 114
Should creativity be assessed? 122
Summary 124

CHAPTER 6: 125

ANALYSIS 125
The purpose of education and the quest for 'values' 127
Defining creativity 130
If creativity can be taught, then where does it sit within the
curriculum? 132
Creativity and skills 134
Education policy and its impact on creativity 137
Marketisation of creativity 138
The Coalition government 140
Head teachers and 'vision' 141
Teamwork and the individual 142
Creativity and health 142
Teaching creativity 143
Summary 149

CHAPTER 7: 151

CONCLUSION 151

BIBLIOGRAPHY 156

APPENDIX 1: 215

Participant Information Sheet 215

APPENDIX 2: 219

Research Questions 219

APPENDIX 3: 220

ETHICAL APPROVAL 220





INTRODUCTION



My decision to enter the teaching profession was driven by an awareness of
the importance of instilling not just aptitude for learning, but an
appreciation of its broader value on a personal and social level. To
achieve this, I sought ways to imaginatively engage with both interested
and uninterested learners, to support them in their learning so that they
might develop both the desire to discover things for themselves and the
skills to do so. I encouraged children to become independent learners, so
that they could enhance their own learning without needing to continually
rely on the support of teachers and other educators. Raising my own five
children alongside my teaching role only made me more aware of the
importance of creativity to a child's personal development, as well as the
need to help children become active inquirers in their own learning. As
part of this process of reflection and teaching I looked for ways to deepen
my own learning, including undertaking postgraduate studies in Psychology.
This provided a valuable opportunity for me to reflect on the vital role of
the learning environment on an individual's development. Furthermore, my
reading in the field of neuropsychology heightened my awareness of the
neural plasticity of the brain, especially the brain's ability to develop
and change in response to external stimuli. This ignited an even more
positive view of the education process, which excited me, because it
suggests that it is possible, given an appropriate learning environment and
experiences, for all learners to achieve remarkable outcomes. Acknowledging
both the essential role that schools play and the increasing autonomy given
to head teachers, however, I became fascinated to discover how and to what
extent they prioritise creativity.





My teaching career commenced two years after the publication of the 1988
Education Reform Act, an Act that introduced both market reforms and the
National Curriculum. This reform was underpinned by a belief that
educational standards would improve if schools were treated like
businesses, encouraging such concepts as competition and accountability.
Parents and students alike were positioned as consumers of education. This
time saw a shift from teachers having considerable freedom over what and
how they taught to one of centralisation. I found myself having less time
to allow for following learners' interests and directions, with the
requirements of the daily timetable becoming more rigid. The introduction
of mandated Literacy and Numeracy Hours are examples of the way in which
the government was seeking to control not only teaching content, but also
pedagogy. I found this pressure to plan according to attainment targets and
to measure outcomes, along with the continually changing targets, meant
that staff meetings became more concerned with ensuring that lessons were
structured appropriately than with finding ways to encourage learners'
creativity. As a recently qualified teacher, my main frustration centred
around the demands of the National Curriculum being at odds with my own
belief in the importance of teaching in ways that facilitate creative
learning.





Our world is evolving at a rapid pace. Significant innovations, for example
the internet, have placed increasing pressure on the British education
system to ensure that children are able to respond to the challenges the