Teaching for creativity : a study in reflective practice

Publication Type:
Thesis
Issue Date:
2010
Full metadata record
This thesis relies on a professional lifetime of reflective practice which is ongoing. It proposes a pedagogy derived from the distillation of that experience. The data which is examined in detail comes from classroom processes recorded over a recent period of five years. The thesis is about the role of creativity in learning and teaching. While it is true that creativity is often included as a desirable quality in a range of educational aims and methodologies, it is rarely emphasised, analysed or linked with learning and language across the curriculum. Language, in the broad sense of symbolic systems, is a necessary medium or tool for conscious awareness, action and reflection, and therefore for creative learning and teaching. Neuroscience now shows how the linguistic processing necessary for creativity occurs in the brain. The process of analysing classroom practice, student perceptions and teacher attributes is carried out using a qualitative research methodology. A simple model and a template for planning and reflection are developed to facilitate reflective practice for educators. It is argued that, under specified conditions, this pedagogy can be used by other teachers; that it is transferable.
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