The role of the teacher

In order to best facilitate creativity, there must a balance struck by the teacher that is similar to that which I discussed in my last post about the nature of creativity and learning: “No creation without tradition! or No transformation without the continuous internalisation of conventions!” (Abbs, 1989, p. 22). Therefore, the teacher’s role is very fluid and should be in response to the pupil’s needs: "Sometimes, for example, it is necessary not to interfere, to allow the crazy dream modality its freedom and inventiveness. A kind of anarchy! Allowing, permitting; and no judgements, no censorship” but at other times, "it is necessary for the teacher to actually teach, to positively introduce the nature of a form, its historical development and diverse usage, or to prescriptively draw attention to a particular technique or critical concept. Here it is a matter of ‘Let us learn to labour': to use materials, to test techniques, to raid the wealth of the past, to consciously make the work of art.” (Abbs, 1989, p. 23). Often the curriculum and pressures imposed by the exam structure do not allow this balance to be established and therefore perhaps creativity can often be stifled in schools.

Linked to this, some further conditions for creativity that I have been considering are the necessity for a relaxed atmosphere where individuals are free to focus, learn and engage with the creative process. As Csikszentmihalyi (1996, p. 8) explains, “if we want to learn anything, we must pay attention to the information to be learned. And attention is a limited resource: there is only so much information we can process at a given time… the point is, a great deal of our limited supply of attention is committed to the tasks of surviving from one day to the next”. This links to Maslow's hierarchy of needs whereby the more basic needs must be satisfied before any attention can be given to fulfilling the higher order, self actualising needs such as creativity (Maslow, 1954). This has implications for schools in that we must strive to create classrooms where pupils are not at conflict or feel threatened by their peers, expectations or the social environment before we can expect creativity to take place.

In addition to this, we must positively cultivate classrooms that provide the best opportunities for creativity to develop. One way to do this is to engage pupils with a wide range and style of art practises including contemporary art and art from other cultures. Csikszentmihalyi (1996, pp. 8-9) explains: “it also seems true that centres of creativity tend to be at the intersection of different cultures, where beliefs, lifestyles, and knowledge mingle and allow individuals to see new combinations of ideas with greater ease”. This type of exposure to other art forms is vital to encouraging creativity.

Abbs, P. 1989. A is for Aesthetic. Sussex: The Falmer Press

Atkinson, D. 2011. Art, Equality and learning: Pedagogies against the State. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996) Creativity. New York: Harper Collins

Maslow, A., 1954. Motivation and Personality. NY: Harper.