Creativity through a rhetorical lens: implications for schooling, literacy and media education

This article, which is speculative in outlook and emerges from an extended literature review on this subject, takes as its basic premise the notion that the idea of 'creativity'– whether in relation to literacy, schooling or the economy, is constructed as a series of rhetorical claims. These rhetorics of creativity emerge from the contexts of research, theory, policy and practice. Initially, we distinguish 10 rhetorics, which are described in relation to the philosophical or political traditions from which they spring. The discussion then focuses on four rhetorics – play, technology, politics/democracy and the creative classroom – which have most relevance for understandings of literacies and the way in which these are nurtured, encouraged and expressed in different social settings. This article aims to summarise the rhetorics and their major concerns, while considering how selected ones might apply to an instance of media literacy. Key questions addressed in this article ask whether creativity is more usefully understood as an internal cognitive function or an external cultural phenomenon; whether it is a ubiquitous human activity or a special faculty; whether it is necessarily 'pro-social' or should be dissident; and what the implications of a culturalist social psychological approach to creativity might be for analyses of the media literacy of children and young people

The influence of the teachers' backgrounds on their perceptions of musical creativity: A qualitative study with secondary school music teachers

“The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Research Studies in Music Education, Vol. 28 (1), pp. 71-81., 2007, on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/"This paper examines the relationship between six secondary school teachers’ backgrounds and their perceptions of musical creativity. A unit of work involving composition and improvisation activities with pupils aged 11-14 was videotaped for each teacher. Participants were invited to comment on the videotapes during interviews, which were subsequently analysed using content analysis with the assistance of the computer programme NVivo. Teachers were also asked to reflect on specific instances that had shaped the direction of their musical outlook by completing a Musical Career Path questionnaire. It was observed that their experiences fell into three strands, namely musical, teacher-education, and professional teaching. The influence of these strands on the teachers’ thinking is discussed in four sections that refer to a four-fold framework outlined from the literature review: their perceptions of (a) creative pupils, (b) an environment that fosters creativity, (c) the creative process, and (d) creative musical products. Data analyses indicate that the most influential strand is ‘musical’. Participants with composing experience and practical knowledge of different music styles were more articulate at describing the environment for creativity and how this might be assessed in pupils’ work. Educational implications based on these findings are considered in the conclusion.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio