Teaching creativity
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Pupils cannot be taught to be creative
any more than seeds
can be taught to grow.
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However, we can prepare the optimum
environment for seeds to grow:
likewise we can create the optimum
environment for creativity to flourish.
Teaching creativity
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Creativity is no excuse
for woolly thinking.
Providing children with the best
environment for creativity
does not mean giving them
absolute freedom
without rules or guidance.
Teaching creativity
Why encourage creativity?
The opposite of creativity is repression.
 Thoughts are only ours
when we have thought them ourselves.
 Creativity makes money.
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Teaching creativity: nine
questions
How can I check
that a crown has been made of pure gold?
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Why do apples fall?
Teaching creativity: nine
questions
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How did Zeno’s frog jump all the
way to the edge of the pool?
Why is it so hard to cook potatoes
at the South Pole?
Teaching creativity: nine
questions
Why do cars get
such muddy behinds?
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Why do we see neither the earliest
sunrise nor the latest sunset on the
longest day?
Teaching creativity: nine
questions
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Which piece of equipment in your lounge
collects the most dust?
Why does Pernod become cloudy when
you add a drop of water?
Teaching creativity: nine
questions

What does the habit of laying flowers
at the site of road accidents
tell us about contemporary beliefs?
Graham Wallas:
the four elements
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Verification
Teaching creativity
The story of Brunelleschi
and the Florence Dome.
“Although Brunelleschi solved the
mechanics of his problem by examining
the classical architecture of Rome - on a
visit with Donatello - his design
represented the height of Gothic
architecture.”
Teaching creativity
Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
The model of GCSE/ A-level Art.
 Preparation is important: it should
become part of the final piece, and not
seen as something to be ashamed of.
 The “back of the book” mentality.
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Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
A new kind of exam paper
for more creative coursework?
Examples from art and English
Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
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ENGLISH
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Original Writing Coursework:
Writing to explore, imagine and entertain
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Time allowed: a maximum of 3 hours.
Preparatory period: 4 weeks
You have a four week preparatory period. During this time, all your homework time will be
devoted to researching, investigating and developing your ideas. Your work during this period
could take many forms: reading, note-making, sketching, planning, scrapbook-making.
Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
W S Graham, the poet, prepared carefully in order
to harness inspiration:
“Pinned to the wall [of his cottage at Gurnard’s
Head] or stuck down on old sheets of cardboard
there were drafts of the current poem, or
fragments that might turn into something.”
Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
Every novel relies on other novels
to give it meaning.
 In order to understand Hindemith,
you probably need
to have understood Mozart.
 In order to understand Matisse,
you probably need to know something
about Picasso.
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Teaching creativity
PREPARATION
Tasks must be clearly defined.
 Models must be honestly shared.
 Why do we not habitually begin our
coursework teaching
by showing pupils what a good piece of
coursework actually looks like?
Is it a secret?
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Teaching creativity
INCUBATION
The decline of the essay:
why do sixth-formers refuse to mull?

What do we do
when we’re doing nothing?
(We shall have to return to that.)
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Teaching creativity
ILLUMINATION
Analysts of the creative process recognise
that here,
in the moment of illumination,
is a collision
between lateral or associative thinking and
logical or convergent thinking.
Teaching creativity
ILLUMINATION
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This is the hard bit.
Illumination is the moment of germination.
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Practice makes perfect.
Teaching creativity
VERIFICATION
Time scale:
so many weeks of preparation,
so many hours of execution.
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Craft.
Teaching creativity
VERIFICATION
When we ask ourselves,
“How can we learn this craft?”
we realise that learning craft is the activity
which will fill our “incubation” period.
Verification also involves
reader/ audience/ testing.
Teaching creativity
Wallas’s four steps
The KS3 Strategy
PREPARATION
INCUBATION
ILLUMINATION
VERIFICATION
RECALL
MODEL
TRY
APPLY/ SECURE