Browsing by Author "Ijäs, Anni"

Creativity is highly valued in the world of education and developing children's creative skills is considered important. This is reflected, for an example, in the early learning plan (finnish “varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteet”) and in the national core curriculum (finnish “perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteet”). The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers (early education teachers and primary school teachers) perceive creative children and creative process. The research is carried out as a qualitative theory-based content analysis and the research material is based on three Finnish master's theses. One master's thesis examines the views of early childhood educators on creativity, the second on the perceptions of early childhood educators and primary school teachers, and the third is solely about the perceptions of primary school teachers. Early childhood education teachers perceptions and primary school teachers perceptions on creativity have been considered separately and as a whole. The study revealed that both early education teachers and primary school teachers think that a creative child is insightful, enthusiastic, interested, determined, distinctive, free and brave. Creative children have the courage to think outside the box and do things their own way, even against the rules. Creative children are intelligent, have a good imagination, come up with solutions to problems, know how to identify problems and give new meanings to things. Creative children have knowledge and skills of the field that they are creative in, they are gifted, artistically talented and rich in ideas. Teachers recognized the stages of the creative process and other factors related to the process. They think that creative process can be the result of a brainstorm or a new idea, and that the beginning of the creative process can be preceded by a chaotic state. The communal aspect of a creative process was particularly present in the primary school teachers comments and the early education teachers comments included clear stages of the creative process. Teachers believe that an adult plays a significant role in the generation of children's flow experiences. Teachers play a key role in the development of children's creativity and through their perceptions, one can increase understanding of how well the early education or school environment supports children's creativity. Finding out the teacher's perceptions provides a good starting point for further research to find out, for example, how well teachers' daily activities with children support the development of children's creativity.