This paper draws upon preliminary findings from
research undertaken in three UK primary training
providers as part of the Creative Teachers for
Creative Learners project, funded by a Research
and Development Award from the Teacher Training
Agency. The project aims to support the
development of primary trainee teachers’
understanding of, and teaching for, children’s
creativity in design & technology (D&T) and other
curriculum areas by producing an interactive bank of
teaching and learning materials set within a Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). As an initial stage in
the development of these materials, the project team
has been exploring trainees’ current understandings
and perceptions of creativity, both as a personal
attribute and as fostered by the primary curriculum
in England. This paper will focus upon two sets of
data generated as part of this process and the
extent to which Harrington’s (1990) ‘creative
ecosystem’ is a useful theoretical and evaluative
framework for trainee teachers. At Bath Spa
University College, primary PGCE trainees have
been set a directed task in schools during which
they select lessons from two curriculum areas to
observe: one which they expect to offer scope for
creativity and another which they judge to lack
creative potential. They have evaluated the support
offered for children’s creativity in each subject area
using the framework drawn from Harrington (1990)
and have frequently found their preconceptions
challenged. At Manchester Metropolitan University
and Goldsmiths’ College, undergraduate trainees
have produced cartoons to express their own notion
of the ‘creative person’. This has produced some
interesting outcomes with regard to where
opportunities for creativity can be found