Teaching for creativity: Examining the beliefs of early childhood teachers and their influence on teaching practices

Abstract

THE STUDY AIMED TO EXAMINE the relationship between early childhood teachers' beliefs about good creative practices and their actual instructional practices; namely, characteristics of a creative teacher, environmental settings important for developing creativity, teaching strategies used for developing creativity, and criteria for judging creativity in children. The participants were 15 early childhood teachers from five early childhood settings in Hong Kong. Individual structured interviews and classroom observations were used to collect data. Results showed that most teachers held similar beliefs about good creative practice and these beliefs generally aligned with those suggested in the literature. Findings from the classroom observation revealed both congruity and inconsistencies between teachers' stated beliefs and their classroom practice. Their actual practices were a function of many influences rather than just their beliefs. The findings have implications for professional development programs and the implementation of creativity reform.

Preschool Teachers' Beliefs of Creative Pedagogy: Important for Fostering Creativity

“…Only the last domain, teacher-oriented pursuits, is found in our study but not other studies. This domain, although it received lower ratings relative to the other domains, seemed to be related to the Hong Kong educational context (Cheung, 2012;Li, 2003) and may indicate that cultural factors play a significant role in shaping creative pedagogy in the classroom. Hong Kong might elicit teacher-oriented pursuits because Hong Kong education has traditionally emphasized compliance.…”

“…Research in Hong Kong (e.g., Cheung, 2012;Chien & Hui, 2010) reported that the current preschool curriculum in Hong Kong is less than ideal for the flourishing of creativity. Cheung revealed that the teaching approach used by preschool teachers was mainly teacher-centered, with most teachers providing explanations and instructions.…”

The effects of a cognitive pathway to promote class creative thinking. An experimental study on Italian primary school students

“…Moreover, only few previous studies (see for example Alfonso-Benlliure, Meléndez, & García-Ballesteros, 2013; Cheung, 2012;Katz & Stupel, 2015;Lin, 2011;Tsai, 2013) highlighted the importance of creating an appropriate learning environment, especially aimed at promoting and supporting students' creativity. Moreover, a proficient data comparison and integration that could lead to more systematic shared practices is still missing.…”

Creativity beliefs, creative personality and creativity-fostering practices of gifted education teachers and regular class teachers in Hong Kong

“…Such a finding may be due to Hong Kong teachers' concern with academic performance. A more recent study found that while a sample of Hong Kong teachers had adequate knowledge about good practices for fostering students' creativity, this was not reflected in their actual classroom practices (Cheung, 2012). This was possibly due to inhibiting influences from contextual factors such as limited teaching time, workload, pressure of examinations, rather than from the teachers' own beliefs.…”

“…Research has also indicated that teachers' personality traits are related to their teaching approach (Forrester & Hui, 2007;Kourilsky, Esfandiari, & Wittrock, 1996;Rushton, Morgan, & Richard, 2007). According to Cheung (2012), educators and policy-makers would be in a better position to promote creativity in schools if they were more informed about the nature of the relationship between teachers' beliefs about creativity and their practices in fostering creativity. Some research has already been carried out in this domain, suggesting that there is a relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices.…”