Ogunleye, James (2002) An investigation of curriculum arrangements conducive to fostering creativity in post-compulsory education and training institutions. PhD thesis, University of Greenwich.

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate curriculum arrangements conducive to fostering creativity in post-16 (further) education institutions and classrooms, to analyse factors promoting or impeding creativity, curriculum content and processes, and also to offer/develop models of good practice for encouraging creativity in a further education context.

The study addresses among others the following questions. What are students' perceptions of their creative attributes? What are students' perceptions of their classroom behaviours and practices? What are students' perceptions of teachers' classroom behaviours and practices? What are leaders', managers', teachers' and students' perceptions of creativity? To what extent are colleges' institutional variables, curriculum arrangements and teaching approaches driven or not driven by the leaders', managers' and teachers' conceptions of creativity? What factors impede or promote creativity in a further education context?

10 further education colleges in four of the seven regions of the (former) Further Education Funding Council in England took part in the study. The study adopts an appropriate mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. 800 students from the four qualification areas of academic, applied vocational, occupational and Access to HE returned a survey-questionnaire, which explored their creative attributes, their classroom behaviours and practices, as well as their perceptions of their teachers' classroom behaviours and practices. Complementary research methods include classroom observations, designed to cross-check or corroborate certain information in the student questionnaire; semi-structured interviews with leaders, managers, teachers and students, explored their conceptions of creativity, constraints to creativity, and the extent to which college institutional variables, curriculum arrangements and teaching approaches were driven or not driven by the leaders', managers' and teachers' conceptions of creativity. To achieve a comparative perspective, two case study institutions - one community college and one high school in the USA - were presented to portray good practice in creativity facilitating
curriculum arrangements and delivery.

The results showed highly significant differences in students' self-perceived creative attributes. The students' creative attributes and their self-perceived classroom behaviours and practices are found to be significantly related, but the relationship is complex – there is little evidence that students express their creativity in classroom discourse. The study also revealed that teachers in further education currently spend a disproportionate amount of lesson time on subject matter and less on creativity-supporting activities such as motivation, questions, thinking, practical examples and reference to real-world contexts. Leaders, managers, teachers and students in the study showed familiarity with the word creativity and related concepts and their characterisation of creativity as a product, a process, a personality and as a condition of the environment were consistent with the literature themes on creativity; but college institutional variables were found not to be driven by the interviewees' (excluding the students) conceptions of creativity. Several external and internal constraints to creativity were identified.

The implications of these findings in terms of post-16 education policy, curriculum arrangements and teaching practices (teacher pedagogy) were highlighted and, in conclusion, a model for fostering student creativity in post-16 (further) education context was developed.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	uk.bl.ethos.571391
Uncontrolled Keywords:	curriculum developments, post-compulsory education and training, PCET,
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Education School of Education > Department of Professional Learning & Development
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:22
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8751

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