How could creativity potentially impact on primary education?

How could creativity potentially impact on primary education?

Throughout this blog post I am going to explore how creativity can potentially impact on primary education, I will be looking at the positive and negative aspects within creativity and discussing what creativity is within the primary classroom. To begin, creativity can be defined as “the ability to make connections between previously unconnected ideas.” (Koestler, 1964, p.95) This could suggest that creativity links in with new ideas and information we may already previously have and linking them together, furthermore this has the idea of creativity being original and imaginative. Furthermore, The Oxford Dictionary suggests that creativity is “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.” (The Oxford Dictionary, 2017) This particular point has similar ideologies as Koestler’s in the fact that they both believe creativity is the process of imagination and originality.

The history of creativity is extremely vast, dating back to approximately the 1700’s where “the word creativity came from a divine source of inspiration. This came from origins of the word (from the same Latin root as ‘create’) coming from the context of divine creation, the beginning of the world.” (Craft, 2001) This suggests that the term creativity has been around for many years and it could be argued that it can be defined as ‘bringing something new into existence’. Fleming stated that “traditional concepts of creativity were linked to the religious idea of creation and ‘bringing something new into existence’ so creativity was segregated from innovation.” (Fleming, 2012) This particular aspect can be linked in with the primary education system as it can be associated with classroom experiences, as teachers could potentially create exciting and innovating lesson plans which incorporates creativity within, therefore ‘bringing something new into existence’. This could then lead to the students experiencing new ideologies and witness new teaching strategies which they may not have experienced before. This has strong connections with Sharp’s ideas that creativity includes productivity, which he believes is the “ability to generate a variety of different ideas through divergent thinking.” (Sharp, 2004, p.5)

 In addition, post World War 2 the term creativity developed and became more commonly used, and not solely focusing on the notion of religion and creation. This is an important development in creativity because without the development in the term, many classrooms today could potentially not have experienced creativity like we currently know it in their classrooms. I believe creativity is extremely important within primary education, as it has the ability to capture the imagination of students, and allow them to create new idea’s which they may not have previously thought about. Furthermore, with the new curriculum being implemented currently, creativity is a huge aspect within it. (Robinson, 2009) views are that creativity is extremely important now due to our world’s forever changing demands and needs. With the population growing, and natural resources rapidly decreasing, innovation, imagination and creativity is the best way to confront these problems. This is interesting, as the curriculum in Wales in currently being altered and creativity is due to be implemented within it, which shows the current demand for creativity to be taught within the classroom.


I believe It is important that creativity is taught throughout the classroom, and that it is not just limited to the arts but on a cross curricular scale. This can then allow students to possibly develop their creativity by having it incorporated throughout their curriculum. Duffy suggests that It is essential that in the classroom, creativity should not be limited to the gifted few, and also to drive away from stereotypical ideas surrounding creativity for example, certain people are more creative than others. With creativity being implemented into schools this should encourage students and teachers to become more original and creative within the classroom, driving away from potential stereotypical ideologies.

Creativity without a doubt is an important aspect within the primary education setting, and it could certainly impact on the classroom for many different reasons. Creativity has the ability to spark the imagination of students, and really allow them to express themselves. Furthermore, it can give students the opportunity to think differently than before for example thinking outside the box, and this can certainly lead to new concepts and ideologies being created. Overall, I do believe that creativity will have a positive impact on the classroom as our world is forever changing, new ideas and processes will be key in the future and implementing creativity within the primary education setting could potentially be the answer.







Reference list

Craft, A (2001) ‘Little c creativity’ in Craft, A. Jeffrey, B & Leibling, M (eds.) Creativity in education. London: Continuum, pp.45-61.
Duffy, B (2006) Supporting creativity and imagination in the early years. 2nd Edn. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Fleming, M. (2012) The arts in education: An introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. Oxford: Routledge.
Koestler, A. (1964) The act of creation.  London: Hutchinson & Co

Oxford University Press (2017) Definition of creativity in English. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/creativity (Accessed: November 2017).

Robinson, K. (2017) Educational Leadership: Teaching for the 21st Century. Available at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/Why-Creativity-Now¢-A-Conversation-with-Sir-Ken-Robinson.aspx(Accessed: September 2009).
Sharp, C. (2004) Developing young children’s creativity: what can we learn from research?

Topic (32) pp.5-12

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