Researchers claim the evidence is now obvious – education systems that value creativity produce students with better creative thinking skills.
Their research supports the idea that creativity is not a fixed trait – and they say that educators who hold that view risk constricting the potential of students
But if creativity can be taught and learned, there is an important opportunity for Australia to harness its success in creative education.
“This debate should be over – the real question is how to get on with it, says Professor Daniel X. Harris, a research professor in the School of Education, RMIT University, and the director of Creative Agency research lab: www.creativeresearchhub.com. Harris is also the editor of the book series Creativity, Education and the Arts (Palgrave Macmillan), and has authored, co-authored or edited 22 books and over 150 books and articles on creativity in education, industry and culture.
“The debate over whether creativity is teachable is often rife with misinformation and distraction from the real issues,” Harris says.
“It is not a coincidence that Australia, as with other countries that scored highly on the PISA test, has teachers who highly value creativity and put their values into practice, regularly, intentionally, and skilfully.
“It is not a coincidence that the high-performing countries in this test, including Australia, have education systems that implement fundamental approaches to developing creative thinking.
“It is not a coincidence that participation in the creative arts at school is associated with higher performance in creative thinking assessments, nor is it a coincidence that high performance in these areas is associated with better performance in maths, science and reading.”
Harris points to what he says is Australia’s long history of producing “robust, empirical data that shows as much, but this has not been taken up by policymakers”.
“Regardless of opinions, we are already committed to teaching creative thinking in Australian education. This commitment is underpinned by participation in the PISA test, as well as the inclusion of creative thinking in the national curriculum and the general capabilities,” Harris says.
“When we see a concerted effort to pursue that commitment, it will be no coincidence when we see measurable benefits.”
Teaching creativity in the classroom
Dr Kylie Murphy is an expert in the application of educational psychology principles in classroom teaching and is the Academic Programs Director (Postgraduate) in the School of Education at La Trobe University
“Studies show certain teaching programs improve creativity,” she says.
She is particularly interested in how the science of learning shapes more effective teaching of critical and creative thinking in schools.
“The assertion that creative thinking cannot be taught is questionable. You don’t need to look hard to find studies that show certain teaching programs improve creativity.
“The question of whether creative thinking can be taught depends on how you define both creative thinking and teaching. The argument that creative thinking is unteachable is untenable unless you assume unreasonably narrow definitions of these terms.”
Ensuring educators are equipped
Murphy says teachers already know how to teach skills.
“It always boils down to the same things. If you want to teach a skill, you do things like name the skill so you can talk about it, what it is, and when and why it’s worth doing. You demonstrate or model the skill at an appropriate level.
“You prompt students to try it, with enough guidance if they need it. You give them encouraging constructive feedback if they could do the skill better. And, importantly, you try to make sure students feel good when they do the skill, so they’ll keep doing it,” she told EducationDaily.
The weakness about creative thinking, Murphy says, is that not all teachers are clear about exactly what skills contribute to it.
“Creative thinking is a pretty vague construct in many people’s minds,” she says.
“That’s where I think teacher education could be tightened up a little. There’s a bunch of specific skills that contribute to creative thinking, but our research is showing that teachers miss opportunities to explicitly teach and improve these skills because they’re not attuned to recognise and harness those opportunities.”
And while there is scope for improvement, Murphy says she’s “excited by the potential of teacher education to turn that around, as the quality of teacher education continues to improve”.
“What I’d like to see is all schools really value-add for all students through enthusiastic and explicit teaching of creative thinking skills in all subject areas, including for children and young people who don’t necessarily have what can be considered a ‘creative talent’,” she told EducationDaily.
“My view is that schools are for teaching valuable knowledge and skills, and critical and creative thinking skills have huge value – in their own right and also for promoting better learning across the curriculum. Talent is not something teachers can control, so I don’t think that kind of creativity should be the focus in schools.”
She told EducationDaily that, “if a learner frequently sees teachers engaging in imaginative ways of thinking and they experience reinforcing consequences each time they engage in those ways of thinking, they will almost certainly learn to think in those ways”.
“It’s basic psychology.”
