A few weeks ago I was sent a link to an article by Alex Carter called ‘You can’t teach creativity but you can learn it?’ There has been little discussion on the forum since May so I posted the link in the #creativeHE forum and I was delighted to see that it stimulated an interesting discussion with over 40 comments
https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/ Towards the end of the conversation I tried to synthesise my thoughts and offered these perspectives which reveal some of the complexity in the relationship between teaching/teachers, learning/learners and creativity.
There are at least six ideas related to ‘teaching/teacher’ ‘learning/learner’ and ‘creativity’ 1) teaching creativity- the inference that a teacher can encourage learners to think about what creativity might mean and through their enhanced understanding guide them towards being creative in certain ways and in certain situations 2) teaching for creativity - the inference that teachers can encourage, nurture and nudge learners to be creative in their own ways and situations 3) teaching creatively - when a teacher expresses themselves and overtly models their own creative practices in situations that they create in order to reveal the nature of their creativity to learners 4) learning what being and becoming creative means when teachers encourage and enable learners to think and talk about their own practices and effects and through this reflective process recognise and value their own creativity in particular situations 5) learners teaching themselves to be creative by engaging in thinking and acting that enables them to express themselves in unique ways to produce results and effects that are new to them for the situations they are in 6) learners teaching their teachers what creativity means to them as they share their understandings of how their practices, processes, products and performances were formed and teachers experience and observe learners in creative action. These relationships reveal that the creativity and creative development of teachers and learners in an educational environment involves partnership, collaboration and interaction. Creativity emerges through their deeply entangled pedagogical-heutagogical dance either by accident or design.
Like so many things in education, where creativity is concerned, there is an ecological continuum of practices from teaching about to learning to be and become through experiences of doing and trying to accomplish something of value and significance. A continuum that embraces teacher directed practices that encourage and facilitate learners creative development and self-awareness as to what being creative means, and the self-motivated and self-directed (self-regulated) practices of learners that yield experiences of being creative and provide the experiential knowledge and emotional experience through which deeper understandings and identities are created. This continuum of interaction can take place at any level of the education system but at the highest levels, when learners engage in cognitive and practical apprenticeships for future work roles in particular domains, teaching and learning practices are oriented towards learning to be creative in that domain. In this way formal education at all levels provides the platform for learning what creativity means and what it means to be creative in different contexts and situations, and at higher levels for learning what it means to be creative in domain specific contexts and situations. At the highest level, education provides the gateway to creativity in domains where specialist knowledge, skill and expertise are essential to being creative. This is not to deny the fact that other experiences in life outside formal education can also provide affordances and catalysts for individuals’ creativity and creative development.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/ Towards the end of the conversation I tried to synthesise my thoughts and offered these perspectives which reveal some of the complexity in the relationship between teaching/teachers, learning/learners and creativity.
There are at least six ideas related to ‘teaching/teacher’ ‘learning/learner’ and ‘creativity’ 1) teaching creativity- the inference that a teacher can encourage learners to think about what creativity might mean and through their enhanced understanding guide them towards being creative in certain ways and in certain situations 2) teaching for creativity - the inference that teachers can encourage, nurture and nudge learners to be creative in their own ways and situations 3) teaching creatively - when a teacher expresses themselves and overtly models their own creative practices in situations that they create in order to reveal the nature of their creativity to learners 4) learning what being and becoming creative means when teachers encourage and enable learners to think and talk about their own practices and effects and through this reflective process recognise and value their own creativity in particular situations 5) learners teaching themselves to be creative by engaging in thinking and acting that enables them to express themselves in unique ways to produce results and effects that are new to them for the situations they are in 6) learners teaching their teachers what creativity means to them as they share their understandings of how their practices, processes, products and performances were formed and teachers experience and observe learners in creative action. These relationships reveal that the creativity and creative development of teachers and learners in an educational environment involves partnership, collaboration and interaction. Creativity emerges through their deeply entangled pedagogical-heutagogical dance either by accident or design.
Like so many things in education, where creativity is concerned, there is an ecological continuum of practices from teaching about to learning to be and become through experiences of doing and trying to accomplish something of value and significance. A continuum that embraces teacher directed practices that encourage and facilitate learners creative development and self-awareness as to what being creative means, and the self-motivated and self-directed (self-regulated) practices of learners that yield experiences of being creative and provide the experiential knowledge and emotional experience through which deeper understandings and identities are created. This continuum of interaction can take place at any level of the education system but at the highest levels, when learners engage in cognitive and practical apprenticeships for future work roles in particular domains, teaching and learning practices are oriented towards learning to be creative in that domain. In this way formal education at all levels provides the platform for learning what creativity means and what it means to be creative in different contexts and situations, and at higher levels for learning what it means to be creative in domain specific contexts and situations. At the highest level, education provides the gateway to creativity in domains where specialist knowledge, skill and expertise are essential to being creative. This is not to deny the fact that other experiences in life outside formal education can also provide affordances and catalysts for individuals’ creativity and creative development.
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