Mapping creativity in the Hungarian National Core Curriculum: a content analysis of the overall statements of intent, curricular areas and education levels

Abstract

In the past 20 years, creativity has increasingly been recognised as an important aspect of young people's education around the world. The global interest in creativity is fuelled by various economic and social considerations. One concern of the approach to creativity in education is the curriculum. The research reported in this paper aimed at identifying the curriculum-level enablers and barriers to nurturing creativity in Hungarian public education by investigating the place of creativity, as well as that of creative pedagogy, in the Hungarian National Core Curriculum (HNCC) using content analysis. Findings revealed that creativity and the components of creative pedagogy were recurring elements of the HNCC. In Arts and Mathematics, the high importance of creativity was also supported by the strong presence of the elements of creative pedagogy. The barriers identified include the lack of clear and consistent definitions of creativity, the varied incidences of creativity and components of creative pedagogy, with extremely low attention to nurturing creativity in Foreign languages, Man and nature (science), and The Earth – our environment (geography). It has been concluded, therefore, that a more coherent and consistent approach to creativity across the HNCC is required.

Keywords:

• creativity
• creative pedagogy
• curriculum
• Hungary
• National Core Curriculum

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Csilla Zsigmond and Péter Nagy PhD for the assistance provided during the various steps of content analysis. I am also immensely grateful to Andrea Kárpáti PhD for her insight and expertise that assisted the research, and Krisztina Károlyi PhD, whose valuable comments greatly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enikő Orsolya Bereczki

Enikő Orsolya Bereczki is a PhD student in the Doctoral School of Education of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. She is also a secondary school teacher and teacher trainer. Her main research interests concern creativity and education, digital pedagogy and teachers' professional learning.