Locus and Psychological and Educational Functions of Creativity in the Preschool and Basic Education Implemented Curricula: Contributions from a Focus Group with Portuguese Teachers
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Abstract
Guidelines asserting the urgency of addressing creativity as a vital goal for the future of education have been multiplying in recent years. Western education systems struggle to (re)invent themselves and become capable of adequately responding to the demands for renewal and increased efficacy of contemporary societies. Despite agreeing on the importance of including creativity in educational curricula, most tend to acknowledge it in an implicit and ill-defined way in terms of its conceptualization and operationalization within the scope of educational interventions. Aiming to contribute to this discussion, we sought to critically analyse the approach to creativity in the Pre-school and Basic education curricula in Portugal, equating the implications of this framework regarding teachers’ pedagogical practices in the classroom. Through a focus group interview session with six teachers and the subsequent content analysis of the session, we explored their perceptions about creativity and how it was (or not) fostered by school curricula. Our main findings underline a consensus regarding the relevance of promoting creativity in educational contexts, despite the disarticulation between school curricula and pedagogical practices associated with creativity. A plethora of factors contribute to this, including difficulties in reconciling the pressure associated with educational marks with creativity development goals, the complexity of the creativity construct itself, the crystallization of practices of the teaching class, gaps in their training, or even social and cultural prejudices around creativity. Beyond the possible social and cultural repercussions, these results can contribute to defining curricula based on pedagogical strategies better able to nourish the holistic development of creativity in children and adolescents.
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