Creativity and Curriculum Structure

Summary

It is contended that present assumptions regarding the relationship of creativity to curriculum structure are inadequately supported by both experimental findings and theoretical rationale. There are two main issues requiring further elucidation: the first concerns the influence of school environment on creativity directly: the second comprises an examination of the interrelationships of creativity, intelligence and curriculum structure.

The evidence presented demonstrates that school environments have a perceptible influence upon creativity but the generally held assumption that progressive environments are more favourable is shown to require careful qualification.The findings also suggest that the interrelationships of creativity, intelligence and curriculum structure are highly complex. Structure does not seem to affect creativity‐intelligence correlations to any great extent: the major influences here would appear to be largely dependent upon the average intelligence of the groups and the extent to which the creativity tasks require school learning and especially verbal skills for their performance.