Teachers’ Perceptions of Creativity and How It Relates to Primary School Science: A Reflection

The aim of my MA dissertation was to explore teachers' perceptions of creativity and how this relates to primary science lessons through the context of an Academy mantra which stated that teachers will endeavour 'to develop a child's creativity'. My literature review makes the case that creativity is a set of skills or traits a person holds which can be developed through acts such as being taught creatively and being situated within a creative environment. These skills can be used across the curriculum, meaning creativity is not subject- bound. As a scientist one would need to: make unforeseen connections, have originality of ideas, articulacy and curiosity which are all key skills of creativity. This also demonstrates how creativity does not have one definition and how the notion that it has can blur professional judgment and cause confusion. Using a case study, a questionnaire was completed by teachers and senior leaders within the school and this was followed by three semi-structured interviews. The interviewees were able to discuss their own perception of creativity, how it appears in their classroom and what barriers they face in promoting it. These questionnaires and interviews were evaluated to generate themes. There was one unexpected finding in the first interview, so I took the opportunity to explore this further in the subsequent two interviews and discuss this in the critical review.