Young Creators - perceptions of creativity by primary school children in Malta

Abstract

Policy makers and employers insist that educational institutions prepare workforce-ready candidates fluent in the application of the 21st Century Skills to be able to address uncertainties and be in a better position to anticipate constraints. Creativity occupies one of the top positions on the list of these skills. To date, a conspicuous body of creativity research has been dedicated to students, the future working population. Studies vary from explorations of the fourth-grade creative slump, to assessing creative potential. Other areas have focused on the creation of creative pedagogies and pedagogies that support creativity. Past research also indicates how educators feel about the creativity of their students. So far, few studies have explored the self-perceived creativity of students. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by gaining an understanding of how young students in upper primary feel about themselves as creative beings. Drawing from past research, the current study adopted a mixed methods approach to explore the perceived creative personal identity and how students define creativity. Data was collected by means of an anonymous online survey that was completed by 561 students. In-depth responses were also collected in an anonymous format from 101 students through an online form containing open-ended questions. All the students were aged 9 – 11 years and resided in Malta (EU) at the time of data collection. Data was analysed by means of regression analysis for the quantitative component and through thematic analysis for the qualitative component. Results indicate that overall students in Year 6 felt less creative than students in Year 5. Furthermore, findings indicate that the type of school attended impacted the students’ perception of creativity. From a qualitative perspective, findings led to (i) insights about the interpretation of the term creativity by the sample population, and (ii) insightful findings about the impact of the school environment and how timetabling impacted students’ creative efforts during the school day. The findings suggest that the student’s perceived creative personal identity and the concrete manifestations that they engage in are influenced by environmental factors.