Creativity: a challenge for contemporary education

ABSTRACT

In this essay, I comment on the objective of cultivating creativity in general and in schools in particular. I start by tracing the historical origin of this objective, then discuss a select set of relevant issues, including what can be considered the best practices for achieving this. I conclude by contemplating the potential for globalisation of this objective, and the portability of general pedagogies and specific approaches to cultivating creativity between different educational systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Creativity
• teaching for creativity
• classroom environment
• teacher characteristics
• globalisation

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to Ms. Mei Tan for her editorial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Elena L. Grigorenko received her Ph.D. in general psychology from Moscow State University, Russia, her Ph.D. in developmental psychology and genetics from Yale University, USA, and her re-specialization in clinical (forensic) psychology from Fielding University, USA. Currently, Dr. Grigorenko is affiliated with five universities: Baylor College of Medicine, University of Houston and Yale University in the USA, and Moscow State University for Psychology and Education and St. Petersburg State University in Russia. Dr. Grigorenko has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books. She has received multiple professional awards for her work and received funding for her research from numerous federal and private sponsoring organizations in the USA and Russia and other countries. Dr. Grigorenko has worked with children and their families in the USA as well as in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar, Ghana, the Gambia, and Zambia), India, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

Notes

1 Goal 4: Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems.

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of this essay was supported by the grant 14.Z50.31.0027 from the Russian Federation (PI: Elena L. Grigorenko)