Teachers' beliefs about creativity: From individualism to activism

Abstract

Implicitne teorije kreativnosti čini skup uverenja o prirodi i razvoju kreativnosti kojiutiče na to kako će kreativnost biti percipirana i kako će biti podržana u realnimuslovima. U tom smislu, uverenja nastavnika o kreativnosti predstavljaju značajan aspekt njihovog odnosa prema kreativnosti učenika. U saopštenju se predstavljajurezultati ispitivanja uverenja vaspitača i nastavnika o kreativnosti i njenomispoljavanju u obrazovnom kontekstu. Cilj studije bio je da se identifikuju uverenjavaspitača i nastavnika koji rade na različitim nivoima formalnog obrazovanja. Uispitivanju su učestvovali vaspitači iz predškolskih ustanova, nastavnici osnovneškole, nastavnici srednje škole i univerzitetski nastavnici (N=645). Među ispitanicimasu preovladavale žene (77,7%), dok je prosečna starost ispitanika bila 42 godine.Primenjen je Upitnik za ispitivanje implicitnih teorija o kreativnosti sa otvorenim izatvorenim pitanjima. Analizirani su odgovori na pitanja o konceptu i ispoljavanjukreativnosti na svim nivoima vaspitanja i obrazovanja. Prikupljeni podaci obrađeni suprimenom tematske analize sa unapred definisanim kodnim sistemom u okviru 4PModela kreativnosti. Kvantitativna analiza je obuhvatila testiranje razlika uuverenjima vaspitača i tri grupe nastavnika. Utvrđeno je da su vaspitači i nastavnicidominantno definisa kreativnost kao kreativnu osobu (ličnost, sposobnosti,motivacija, znanje, talenat), dok su manifestacije kreativnosti češće viđene kaokreativni procesi (kognitivni, ekspresivni, praktični, imaginativni). Određivanjekreativnosti kao svojstva osobe nazvano je implicitni individualizam, a opažanjekreativnosti kao procesa implicitni aktivizam, što je bilo uporedivo sa naučnimteorijama kreativnosti. Dihotomija koja se pojavljuje u naučnim teorijama, gdedominira individualističko tumačenje kreativnosti odraslih i procesno tumačenjekreativnosti dece, kod nastavnika se javlja kao razlika između konceptualizacije ipercepcije kreativnosti u obrazovnom procesu. Dobijeni rezultati diskutovani su ukontekstu potrebe za povezivanjem procesnog opažanja ispoljavanja kreativnosti saindividualističkim definicijama kreativnosti radi pružanja adekvatne obrazovnepodrške kreativnosti. Obrazovna podrška opravdana je opažanjem kreativnosti kaoprocesa na koje se može uticati, ali ostaje nejasno da li i kada će ta podrška doprinetirazvoju kreativne osobe. Zaključeno je da vaspitači i nastavnici treba da se upoznajusa sopstvenim uverenjima u cilju izbegavanja njihovih ograničavajućih efekata nakreativnost njihovih učenika i studenata.

Implicit theories of creativity are a set of beliefs about the nature and nurture ofcreativity that affect how creativity will be perceived and how it will be supported inreal life conditions. In this sense, teachers’ beliefs about creativity are relevantaspects of the way they relate to creativity of their students. Here are presentedresults of a study into teachers’ beliefs on creativity and its manifestation ineducation settings. The goal of the study was to identify beliefs of teachers workingat different levels of formal education. Teachers who participated in the study came from preschool institutions, primary school, secondary school, and higher education(N=645). Majority of participants were women (77.7%), while the average age of theparticipants was 42 years. It was administered The Implicit Theories of CreativityQuestionnaire with multiple open-ended and closed questions. We analyzedteachers’ answers to questions regarding their definition of creativity and itsmanifestation at all levels of schooling. Collected data were analysed by means ofthematic analysis with a predefined coding system within the framework of the 4P’Model of creativity. Quantitative analysis included testing differences in beliefs offour groups of teachers. It was found that teachers from all levels of schoolingdominantly defined creativity as a creative person (personality, ability, motivation,knowledge, talent), while manifestations of creativity were more frequently seen asa creative process (cognitive, expressive, practical, imaginative). Defining creativityas a creative person was called implicit individualism, and perceiving creativity as acreative process was called implicit activism, which was comparable to scientifictheories of creativity. The dichotomy that appears in scientific theories, where theindividualistic interpretation of adult creativity and the process interpretation ofchildren's creativity dominate, appears in teachers’ beliefs as the differencebetween conceptualization and perception of creativity in the educational process.The obtained results were discussed in the context of the need to connect theprocess perception of creativity with individualistic definition of creativity in orderto provide adequate educational support for creativity. Educational support isjustified by the perception of creativity as a process that can be influenced, but itremains unclear whether and when this support will contribute to the developmentof a creative person. It was concluded that teachers need to learn about their ownbeliefs in order to avoid their limiting effects on students’ creativity.