The Creativity Challenge
Dr Anthony Wilson
a.c.wilson@exeter.ac.uk
anthonywilsonpoetry.com
An introduction to creativity
• Challenge some myths about creativity
• Examine some examples of historical creativity
• Recognise some different theoretical ideas
about creativity
• Consider some implications for our practice as
creative individuals
• The ‘secret’ to creativity…
Human learning presupposes a specific social
nature and a process by which children grow into
the intellectual life of those around them…
…thus the notion of a zone
of proximal development enables us to propound a
new formula, namely that the only ‘good learning’
is that which is in advance of development.
Vygotsky, Mind in Society, 88-9 (in Bruner, Actual
Minds, Possible Worlds, 1986: 73).
The Creativity Challenge…
…is to think of creativity as a process, not a product.
‘What occurs is always a process, a doing ̶
specifically a process interrelating the person and his
or her world.’
Rollo May, The Courage to Create (1975: 50)
What is creativity?
‘An advanced learning capability which is
engaged when normal learning alone won’t do
the trick.’ (Guy Claxton)
‘The ability to come up with ideas or artefacts that
are new, surprising and valuable.’ (Margaret
Boden, 2004:1)
‘Creativity is not about our ego or about making
our mark on the world. Rather, it’s about
liberating ourselves and those around us into
the present moment.’ (Simon Parke: Solitude,
White Crow Books, 2011: 131)
‘Creativity is the encounter of the intensively
conscious human being with his or her world.’
Rollo May, The Courage to Create (1975: 54)
Creativity enables us to:
• to come up with new ideas when we need them;
• to make judgements (to tell good ideas from bad
ones);
• to have tenacity i.e. to see ideas through to their
conclusion.
Why are we talking about creativity?
NACCCE Report (1999)
All Our Futures:
Creativity, Culture and Education
http://bit.ly/1Q9Y5kV
‘human capital’
‘economic prosperity’
‘social cohesion’
‘talents of all children’
‘raising standards…will not be enough’
(p.4)
‘Standards’ vs. ‘Creativity’
‘Let’s not surrender to inappropriate forms of conversation. This is not about
‘academic’ subjects versus ‘creative’ subjects. You can be academic, and you
can be creative, about anything. Though they are vital, this is not just about
the arts. To talk about creativity is to commit to the idea of improvement.’
Sir Ken Robinson: http://bit.ly/ZDsOwI
Some myths about creativity
The Romantic Myth
The Romantic Myth: Creativity is not:
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Grand: available to only a few;
Remote: the Romantic notion of the poet in his
(sic) garret;
Divinely inspired: located in the artistic
temperament of the individual;
Always successful/right first time;
Just ‘released’: discipline and effort are
required to transform good ideas into real
solutions.
The Arty Myth
The Arty Myth: Creativity is not:
• only arty: think of scientists, economists,
engineers, surgeons…
• opposed to logic: ‘imagination versus logic’, i.e.
the notion that creative people do not make
judgements about what they do; it is a composite
of both
• ‘anything goes’: the need for pattern,
coherence and frameworks; the importance of
collaboration, teamwork, feedback
• just one trainable skill or generic faculty: it is
a composite of many skills, attitudes, learning
and habits. Creative people are ‘conductors of a
mental orchestra’ (Guy Claxton).
The Cuddly Myth
Rosa Parks, December 1, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama
The Cuddly Myth: Creativity is not:
… always desirable
It can be uncomfortable because:
 it asks questions which we would rather
overlook;
 it takes risks;
 it makes connections which are not always
obvious;
 it is not always satisfied with the status quo.
Some examples of creativity in action
Creativity is not executed by
people who work in a vacuum
Consider ‘the power of the group’…
Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, 1963
The story of I have a Dream: http://bit.ly/1cTFl8C
Video of I have a Dream: http://vimeo.com/2158959
Greensboro Four, February 1, 1960, Greensboro, North Carolina
Creativity theory
Conceptual spaces
–disciplined areas or domains which are familiar
and valued:
(e.g. science, sport, mathematics, economics,
writing, music, painting, sculpture, cooking, fashion,
surgery, civil rights, etc…)
(Mike Sharples: How we Write: Writing as Creative
Design,1999; Margaret Boden: The Creative Mind,
2nd Edition, 2004)
Where are the ‘spaces’ for creativity in
schools?
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Classrooms / resources
Lessons / episodes
Subjects / curriculum
Learners / progression
Teachers / staff
The ‘space’ we work in may also
include…
- Working with parents and communities?
- Assemblies and collective worship?
- Behaviour management / rewards etc.?
- Outdoor / informal education opportunities?
- How we engage in CPD
- Engaging with research (e.g. Cambridge Primary
Review, TLRP)?
- Teacher identity?
- Teacher professionalism?
- Teachers’ individual creativity?
How to work in ‘the space’
Creative people:
Explore the space
Merge the space
Exaggerate the space
Transform the space
…working out of, and / or in reaction to, their
tradition and / or culture….
Exploring a conceptual space
• New ways of thinking within a certain space: to
do with possibilities (‘pushing at the limits’)
• Metaphor of driving off the motorway to discover
more than you knew existed (Sharples, 1999)
• E.g. hypothetical thinking: ‘what if?’: Kenneth
Koch’s idea of poetry as a different language (cf.
‘possibility thinking’); this can be playful and
serious at the same time…
Exaggerate or overemphasise the
conceptual space
• E.g. comedy: Shakespeare, The Simpsons,
Joan Rivers, Tig Notaro
• E.g. satire: Dickens, Kafka, Orwell, Swift, Angela
Carter
• E.g. abstract art: Rothko, Pollock, Joan Mitchell,
Lee Krasner
Merging conceptual spaces
Transforming the space through merging it with
another and holding in tension apparently different
or conflicting ideas
• E.g. Keats: ‘easeful death’
• E.g. Jane Austen: pride/prejudice;
passion/convention
• E.g. George Lucas/Star Wars: the western/fighter
pilot movies
Nitin Sawhney: Breathing Light, from Prophesy
Transforming the conceptual space
Not just leaving the motorway but re-routing it, i.e.
something very difficult and resulting in ‘losing
one’s bearings’.
This embodies risk and change.
‘The deepest cases of creativity involve
someone thinking something which… they
couldn’t have thought before’ (Boden: 6)
Categorising creativity
• Psychological creativity (PC): a surprising
valuable idea which is new to the person who
has it
• Historical creativity (HC): an idea which is new
to the individual and everyone else i.e. a special
case of PC
from Margaret Boden (2004): The Creative Mind:
Myths and Mechanisms (2nd edition). Routledge.
What do we do when we get are stuck?
How do we help those around us?
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Narrow the range of possibilities at each step
Relax the constraints (or increase them…)
Return again to a previous point
Take a break…
‘Call around’ (Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird)
(Mike Sharples: How we Write: Writing as Creative
Design,1999; Margaret Boden: The Creative
Mind, 2nd Edition, 2004)
Your classroom?
Your school?
Your department?
What can I do to be a creative teacher
and/or leader?
How can I encourage the creativity of
others?
The teacher who returns home after creating
a climate of learning and discovery for a Year [2]
physics class has created just as much as Picasso;
while the supermarket manager who daily deals
honourably with staff and customers alike is
unquestionably on a par with Christian Dior’s chief
clothes designer.
Simon Parke: Solitude (131)
‘The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. He depends on his
power to make other people powerful. If their eyes are shining you know you
are doing it.’ Benjamin Zander, http://bit.ly/1jPLZmT
A headteacher’s story
The Battle of Barnet, re-enacted
by children of The Wroxham School
http://bit.ly/1h3dPch
A trainee teacher’s story
Dear Mr Whitworth,
Thank you for teaching me ukulele
at lunch.
You helped school be nice for me.
Try merging the space
Some examples:
• Teaching history via mathematics
(dates….)
• Teaching science with storytelling (e.g.
Gallileo, Marie Curie);
• Teaching modern languages through
mathematics (counting);
• Teaching art with role play (e.g. teacher in
role as sitter for a portrait)
Try transforming the space
Dorothy Heathcote: The Mantle of the Expert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owKiUO99qrw
Kelly Steeples,Outstanding New Teacher of the Year, 2010, Southdale CE
Junior School, Ossett
http://bit.ly/1PMZ9Lq
Try exaggerating the space
Where merging the space and transforming the
space occurs regularly…
…and where children are invited and empowered
to co-create a vocabulary that describes their own
and others’ creativity.
This presupposes that we need to be good role
models in explaining and showing what it means to
be creative human beings.
Habits of mind which could be called inventive
operational schema: a ‘web of tactics’
(Sharples, 1999)
We can and should teach children good habits of mind:
http://www.chsvt.org/wdp/Habits_of_Mind.pdf
http://www.kenilworth38.org/cms/lib02/IL01001203/Centricity/Domain/22/
Habits_of_Mind_Summary.pdf
Resist ‘inhibiting practices’
(Alencar, 2002)
How far do we:
-Emphasise the need for correct responses?
-Emphasise reproduction of knowledge?
-Communicate low expectations of students’
creative potential?
-Emphasise students’ obedience and passivity?
-Encourage the fantasy and imagination of
students as important factors to take into
account?
Alencar, E. M. L. S. (2002). Mastering creativity for education in the 21st
century. In Proceedings of the 13th biennial world conference of the world
council for gifted and talented children Istanbul, Turkey.
Keri Smith (author of
Wreck This Journal),
The Artist’s Survival Guide:
http://bit.ly/1dBqo6F
The secret of creativity?
Keep a notebook
Who to look at next
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Bob Jeffery and Anna Craft http://bit.ly/QJAJFm
Rhetorics of Creativity http://bit.ly/1Q9XlMB
Seth Godin http://bit.ly/QJBY7o
Sir Ken Robinson http://bit.ly/1Q9WP1a
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi http://bit.ly/QJCjqG
Guy Claxton http://bit.ly/QJD9E2
Creativity Scoop.it page: http://bit.ly/1h3tXKS
Art is not a gene or a specific talent. Art is an attitude, culturally
driven and available to anyone who chooses to adopt it. Art
isn’t something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. Art is
the unique work of a human being, work that touches
another…Seizing new ground, making connections between
people or ideas, working without a map ̶ these are works of
art, and if you do them, you are an artist, regardless of whether
you wear a smock, use a computer, or work with others all day
long. Speaking up when there’s no obvious right answer,
making yourself vulnerable when it’s possible to put up shields,
and caring about both the process and the outcome ̶ these are
http://tnw.co/1h3k8wD works of art that our society embraces and the economy
demands. Seth Godin: The Icarus Deception (6-7)
Creativity in Primary Education
THIRD EDITION
Order your
copy!
By Anthony Wilson
• December 2014
• £24.99
• ISBN: 9781446280652
“A sound text to explore ideas of creativity across the
curriculum. Useful to engage students in thinking 'outside the
box' when developing teaching and learning activities to
stimulate children's minds.”
Mrs Vanessa Rawlings
Children, You, University Campus Suffolk
Some more resources to look at
http://bit.ly/1stCcDX
Gregg Fraley: The tools of creativity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fYW5iVAl3s
Neil Gaiman: Make good art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI
Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
Creativity in practice: The Write Team
My observations as researcher of writers in schools:
• Use us as a CPD opportunity
• Poetry ‘Choirs’ – poetry as performance
• ‘Writing is hard’ – here are my messy notebooks
• Less is more – constraints can release creativity
• I have a high ‘failure rate’ (Eavan Boland)
• I do not always have the answer…
• I do not always have a plan… but I do have good
habits of mind
• http://bit.ly/TlCQo6