Category: Creativity

Before exploring why creativity should be fostered within early years, it is important to first define what creativity is. Then, it will be possible to state how the Northern Ireland curriculum attempts to implement creativity within the early years to help children develop and grow. Thirdly, I aim to acknowledge the benefits of fostering creativity and how and why it is essential in helping a child to develop and learn life skills. My final task will be to highlight any potential negative outcomes that occur when creativity in the early years setting is not fostered or implemented effectively.

Initially, it is crucial to define what creativity is within the early years. Bruce (2004) says that ‘creativity bring new ideas into existence; it brings about original ways of doing things and new creations of all kinds.’ Similarly, creativity is defined by Wegerif (2003) ‘as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas and come up with different possibilities or alternatives when solving problems.’ For someone to be creative, they need to be able to view things in new ways or from another person’s perspective (Jeffrey and Craft, 2003). Creativity is the act of trying new things and bringing imaginative ideas into reality. Jeffrey (2001) reiterates this and claims that ‘it is seen as the ability to perceive the world in new ways’ by experimenting, questioning situations, making assumptions and using your imagination and synthesizing information. Francis – Gardner (1998) defines creativity as ‘the ability to make what you picture exist’ and says that to be creative one requires skills including passion and commitment. Csikszentmihalyi (1934), meanwhile, sums up creativity ‘as a central source of meaning in our life’. He believes that ‘most of the things that are interesting, important and human are the results of creativity and when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than the rest of life.’ As we can see, it is clear that many scholars are agreed on the definition of creativity – it can transform a child’s imagination and ideas and turn those ideas into a reality. When children are given well-structured creative learning experiences, they make connections which impact their holistic development.

Scholars have produced a plethora of definitions regarding creativity within the early years. Many believe that creativity has been undervalued as a skill throughout the curriculum for a long period of time (Pollard and Triggs, 2000). Indeed, historically many early year settings and schools have focused on more academic subjects due to a feeling that these would be more important for a child’s development and would make a bigger impact throughout the child’s life. In recent years, creative learning experiences have become more embedded in the curriculum and are now granted official recognition as one of the main areas that a child should explore and engage in (Craft, 2000). As such, practitioners have a duty to provide these creative experiences within early years settings.

Within the early years curriculum, creativity is relevant in all aspects and areas of learning, from art and design to ICT to the roleplay station. The Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) has set out a clear requirement that within all settings creative practice should be taught in each individual key stage so practitioners have a duty to ensure its’ provision. Within the early years curriculum, the aim is to help children reach their full potential while also helping them make responsible decisions and choices for life. The curriculum promotes this development being nurtured through creative provision. In addition, the Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) has identified a number of linked skills across the curriculum such as ‘communication, using technology, problem solving, making decisions and being creative’. Evidently, creativity has been outlined as a vital component in the early years curriculum, thus making it practitioners’ duty to ensure that effective creative learning experiences are fostered.

There are numerous benefits for children when creativity has been fostered and creative practice implemented effectively within the early years setting. Many researchers have found that children within the early years are creative and intrigued by nature, meaning that they can easily learn about the world around them by carrying out creative activities (Jeffrey, 2001, Beetlestone, 1998). In addition, Duffy (1998) acknowledges that often children can find it difficult expressing how they feel as they may experience new feelings and may not completely understand what these mean. By allowing a child to express how they are feeling through creative activities, a practitioner can help the child when discussing the meaning of each (potentially new) feeling they are experiencing. Encouraging creativity gives children experience in how to effectively cope with their feelings when a situation occurs. This will help each child’s confidence and self-belief to grow as it allows the child to see that they will be able to endure and thrive even when experiencing several new emotions (Duffy, 1998). Examples of creative activities that can help the child with their emotions include dressing up, painting and role-play. Fostering creativity in early years is essential for empowering children with a means to express their feelings.

Creativity is also effective in encouraging physical development in children. For example, dancing and physical education activities such as obstacle courses help children with their gross motor skills including balance and awareness. Creative activities like carrying out craft within a setting helps children’s fine motor skills and their hand and eye co-ordination. Hand and finger strength helps children carry out everyday tasks such as dressing themselves, writing, using scissors, brushing their teeth and many other essential activities that need to be carried out day to day. This creative practice is particularly vital when teaching in SEN schools as children’s fine motor skills are often underdeveloped. While a child is painting or colouring, it allows the child to learn how to hold, grip and control the paintbrush or pencil as well as define which hand they prefer using to carry out these activities.

Additionally, research has shown that creativity plays a major part in both the child’s intellectual and cognitive development. Carrying out creative activities helps develop the child’s thinking skills. Loris Malaguzzi of Reggio Emilia (1920) wrote, ‘Young children are active learners who gain new skills and insights best through hands-on experience’. As such, offering children a choice of activities and materials strengthens their decision-making ability and encourages child-led learning. The skills that they will gain from creative practice include problem solving, an increased independence, critical thinking and developing the child’s imagination (Craft, 2002). Albert Einstein (1879) famously said that the use of the ‘imagination is more important than knowledge.’ By their essence, child-led creative activities allow a child to explore and discover new concepts, develop their own ideas and expand their understanding of the world.

Creative activities are also effective in fostering the development of science and mathematical skills. If the child continues to practice and learn through open-ended, child-led exploratory activities, it will help them as they grow older to transfer these skills into other areas of life. Thus, creativity should be fostered in the early years setting and practitioners have a duty to implement creative provision to enhance children’s holistic development.

In addition, effective creative practice encourages social development as children build friendships and strengthen bonds with their peers and adults close to them. This could be fostered through activities such as sports. Duffy (1998) explains that practitioners are vital in modelling the creative process and demonstrating how to be creative and take risks. Jeffrey and Wood (2003) state that it is vital that children at a young age learn that all people are different and they can all carry out activities differently, even when using the same materials and resources, for example in art. This demonstrates to the child that it is perfectly acceptable to be different from others and to use individual ways of thinking.

Although there are myriad advantages of fostering creativity in schools, some would argue that there are also disadvantages to it. Often, during creative activities, adults can limit learning. Plume (1993) claims that simple acts such as telling a child exactly how to do something or being overly controlling can limit a child’s creativity and make them feel like they cannot explore. Furthermore, Skinner (2007) states that ‘the practitioner should ensure they have and use the correct attitude, training and reflection when fostering creativity.’ This suggests that fostering creativity within early years can be difficult and a child may feel discouraged if they are not properly given the space to be creative – or if a practitioner does not implement creativity effectively. Crucially, many practitioners may not be trained in implementing learning creatively.

Although most educators within early years claim to value creativity, they do not always make time for it within the children’s schedule. Settings fear that promoting creative activities in the classroom may be disruptive to academic teaching. For example, some have stated that creativity can be difficult for adults to encourage as it does not follow basic academic rules and many even feel like it is a waste of time (Craft, 2000, Duffy, 1998). Therefore, some settings will not promote creative attributes such as independence or risk taking. This means the children’s growth and development may be inhibited as the setting is not fostering and implementing creativity effectively.

Pablo Picasso (1881) stated, ‘that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe passionately that we do not grow into creativity, we grow out of it. We are educated out of it.’ This indicates that practitioners have a crucial role in fostering creativity and providing learning experiences which in turn aid holistic development. They must ensure that time is made for creativity, that creative learning is child-led rather than solely adult-led and that training is provided to ensure that educators are aware of what effective creative practice looks like.

The necessity of creativity being implemented and fostered within early years in order to enhance a child’s holistic development has repeatedly been highlighted. We have seen that creativity can be an essential part of learning when implemented correctly within early years. Interestingly, however, Westby and Dawson’s study (2010) found that teachers and staff on the ground typically favoured more academic children over those who were more creative. If this is indeed the case, then there is a real danger that creative activities may be neglected, with children potentially missing out on learning essential skills and the many other benefits of creativity.

Without creativity to boost our lives and capture our attention, life would be completely uneventful. In their article, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman state, “All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care”. This applies to school education as well. Modern kids are not creative, and we need to help them become creative. The solution to this problem is simple: boost the creativity of the teacher, and you will boost the creativity of the student. My opinion on this topic is that creativity means doing something you would normally do in a different way. Therefore, if the teacher does something that he or she could have done one way differently, that is being creative.

First of all, our subjects and the way our subjects are taught could become more interesting. For example, consider science. Instead of having students learn off of blackboards, videos, or textbooks, teachers should allow them to do experiments on their own. Allow them to discover for themselves (with additional help from textbooks) why something happens. Make science interesting for the students. Capture their attention. As George Washington Carver says, “When you can do a common thing in an uncommon way; you will command the attention of the world”. This means that if a teacher teaches creatively, in a way different from usual, he/she ‘will command the attention of the world’, or, in this case, his students.

Second, if a teacher teaches in a way that is creative, students will follow his example. It will teach them to be creative and nourish them for when they are older. Then, thanks to the teacher, they will accomplish something. The famous painter Vincent Van Gogh claimed: “Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together”. This means that if we help the kids think creatively, we will be preparing them for a more important day, the day they grow up. And when they are grown up, they will accomplish great things, not by impulse, but because we helped them when they are younger.

Third, there does not need to be a class teaching creativity. Students can learn to be creative on their own. By teaching a class on creativity, teachers are basically showing the kids how to be creative. However, that is something students should figure out for themselves. Teachers should let them be creative. Let them think up things to keep them from being bored. Let them be curious. Dorothy Parker asserts: “The key for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity”. Therefore, we do not need to teach creativity, we only need to teach creatively.

Many people, however, can argue against this statement and say, “We should teach a class in creativity”. This claim is simple to refute just by observing student behaviors. In a class that teaches creativity, how many people would actually learn? Not many. Most of the students would probably be bored waiting for the day to be over. It would just be an additional class that they have to get through before they can go home. On the other hand, in a class that teaches creatively, not one student would get bored. Why? They would be curious, they would be interested, and they would want to learn. And they would learn. Instead of not paying attention, they would listen to the teacher’s every word, until he/she has finished saying it.

We can conclude that creativity should become part of our daily life. In being creative while teaching, students will be interested in schoolwork. They will want to learn. Also, they will follow such an example, and perhaps accomplish something great in the future. Therefore, there is no need to teach creativity, only to teach creatively. Creativity is essential for life.

Now that we know that creativity is essential to life, it is the job of teachers to be role models, paving the way for students to become creative. It may not seem like it matters now, but in the future, being creative can make a big difference: in your home, at your job, and in the environment around you. Being creative is what helps the world progress. If everything happened the same way every single day, what progress would be made?

To initiate any scientific investigation, a researcher needs to collect factual information. Based on that factual knowledge; the researcher can understand where there is a gap in knowledge. This process gives birth to the problem, which needs to be solved. A problem is engendered on the ground of the existing gap in knowledge about the concept or contradiction in existing concepts. It leads to several investigations for a better understanding of the concept. The roots of the word ‘problem’ lie in the Greek language, where term stands for any proposed or constructed question or a matter state, which needs to be examined in any given situation.

According to Kerlinger, a problem is defined as ‘an interrogative sentence or statement that asks what relation exists between two or more variables. The answer to the question will provide what is having sought in the research.” So “a problem represents the information acquired by a researcher and seeks solutions for it.’ It means that the problem is any complicated situation; we need to search for a solution for it. Identification of particular research problem requires a sense of consciousness, mindfulness, and awareness about the ongoing phenomenon. Research process initiated with the identification of the problem is considered to be a building block of research. It is most challenging to frame a research problem because there are no precise rules, steps, and principles. With the assistance of previous or ongoing knowledge sources, minute observations, naturally occurring phenomena, and careful examination of the environment and its changes give a base for the identity of a research problem.

Previous investigations act as a pioneer work for the formulation of a high-quality research problem successfully. They act as a decent resource of secondary data, which can be used in systematic analytical researches. The results and consequences in the previous investigation give a platform of understanding about the concept, which gives birth to the null or alternative hypothesis. However, in the case of exploratory research work, there is no hypothesis before starting the research investigation. There are various sources from where the previous investigation can be referred (such as books, articles, Journals, internet study material, word of mouth, seminar or conferences, magazines, a cult belief and many more). As the present topic lies in ‘educational psychology’ the investigator tried to overview the nature and trend of research conducted in the past several decades, which have been covered in the second chapter.

In the modern era, Creativity is one concept, which everyone wants to achieve, but it is not an ability that one can acquire. It is an individual inculcated ability, which needs a precise source to trigger. Earlier, level of intelligence or IQ (intelligence quotient) score were considered a representative of the level of success (Strenze, 2007) but in the present day, that is not enough. Being creative is the immediate call of the hour. Creativity is a cognitive process, a mental activity that is an insight of an individual. It is a novel idea, which has been produced by an individual for solving any problem in a novel way. Enhancing creativity or creativity level in the individual (Stein, 1974) can be achieved by various techniques.

The perfect time of application of these techniques is right from the school, where the child comes to learn new things, and they create the building block of individual learning world. Erikson (1959) & Piaget (1983) suggested that the delicate phase of child development is between 11 years to 14 years. During this phase, we should focus on creativity enhancement. Early intervention of enhancing Creativity at this sensitive period of development is more effective and beneficial than a later stage. It is due to the reason the children have just started approaching puberty or just entered in adolescence, and they are still naïve and ready to learn anything that comes in their way. According to Rothenberg (2016), young kids are often unprompted, free and creative; they do not produce unique and valuable products. Meaningful Creativity initiates in adolescence due to the development of the abstract thinking capacity in addition to the creative Janusian, homo-spatial and separation & connection articulation processes (Rothenberg, 2015). These processes develop initially in adolescence due to the practical or efficient shaping and adaptive fixation as modes of dealing and experiencing with adolescent’s development. It is the perfect age for initiating the concept of being creative in adolescences.

Hence in the present research work, the selected age group of investigation is in between 12 to 16 years as it is an appropriate age group to provide interventions for the enhancement of Creativity.

Creativity enhancement is a call for the hour. Educators and counsellors should work on identification, escalate, and support numerous styles of Creativity for the enhancement of the students and client creative productivity. There are no shortcuts on the road of creativity development. In teaching, creative thinking skills play a vital role at both ends; teacher (technique provider) and learner (technique getter). Creativity thinking skills tend to develop new insight, a fresh perspective and a new way to approach a problem or things. Many methods have been designed to enhance the creativity level of the individual or to assist individuals in generating original ideas, for both the individual level and the group processing level. Individuals can use purposive strategies for channeling their thoughts in a productive new direction.

Brainstorming is the most used method that can be used at any point of time, even though other techniques can be used in producing insight of novel ideas in an individual, such as Synectics or SCAMPER or Torrance Incubation Model, which consist of a lot of other techniques. Those can be either used individually or together, for production of a fresh perspective in an individual. To figure out which is the best strategy, or a combination of those strategies is a task that an individual has to learn during the process of development. The teacher plays a critical role in the development of the individual. The teacher has the nation’s future in his/her hands, and they deal with the youth of the nation. Therefore, they have a responsibility of building strong pillars for better development. The selection of the right techniques and introducing those techniques at the right time for the development of the individual has to be decided by the school staff.

Through studies one thing is clear that Creative drama training (Berretta and Privette, 1990; Garaigordobil , 2006; Ma, 2006; Karakelle, 2006; Sak and Oz, 2009; Garaigordobil and Berrueco 2011; Hoffmann and Russ, 2016; Momeni, Khaki, and Amini, 2017) and divergent thinking techniques such as brainstorming (Al-Bwli, 2006; Al-qarni, 2011; Al-Khatib 2012) and SCAMPER (Moreno, Yang, Hernandezand, and Wood, 2014; Khawaldeh1, and Ali,2016; Ozyaprak, 2016) have shown positive impact on the development of various aspects of Creativity. However, they all lack in development of a fixed module for the enhancement of various aspect of Creativity.

Through the above review, it is clear that Creativity has the potential to flourish, but we have to use appropriate kind of creativity techniques in any given situation. Brainstorming and SCAMPER were two very effective techniques in which experimenter had little control over the direction of the creative thinking process. Creativity dramatic allows an individual to play in groups and enhance their thought process.

Therefore, there is a requirement of identification of fixed module or steps, which can be followed for achievement creativity enhancement goal.

Whenever we talk about the concept of creativity enhancement in educational level, one concept, which comes in everyone’s mind, is the relationship of Creativity with academic achievement. So, there is a requirement for understanding the relationship between Creativity and academic achievement. Academic achievement is how effectively student at any level can perform at their academic level. Creativity can be considered as being one of the critical elements that require special attention when we talk in terms of academic achievement.

Academic achievement and creativity is one of the most controversial relationships. Researchers are still not able to prove high Creativity influences academic achievement. The two aspects got attention during earlier studies of Getzels and Jackson (1962), they were counted as a pioneer of highlighting the role that Creativity plays in academic achievement.

Since then, various studies have been conducted to explore this relationship. The studies have shown connection (Ai, 1999; Trivedi & Bhargava, 2010; Pishghadam, Khodadady & Zabihi, 2011), no relation (Naderi, Abdullah, Aizan, Sharir, & Kumar (2009); Olatoya, Akintunde & Ogunsanya (2010) and low correlation (Rindermann and Neubauer, 2004) between Creativity and academic achievement.

Therefore, this relationship desires attention for a better understanding of the concept.

Creativity and intelligence are considered to be the basic need of an individual for survival in a progressive society. Nearly all the discoveries and intervention are the result of highly intelligent or creative people. The relationship between the level of Creativity and intelligence has always drawn the attention of researchers for many years. These shared relationships have been discussed, hypothesized, theorized and have been a matter of research ever since the psychological sciences came into existence. Kim (2005), did a meta-analysis to understand this relationship between Creativity and intelligence. In her analysis, she used 21 studies out of which 45,880 participants were selected. She found out that the shared relationship between them is not stable. Researchers like Getzel & Jackason (1962); Dellas & Marie (1971); Nakano, Wechsler, Campos, & Milian (2015) believe that there is a secure connection between these variables. Whereas some studies have shown that the relationship between Creativity and intelligence is not clear at all. (Cropley & Maslany, 1969; Furnham, Bateya, Anand & Manfield, 2008; Gino & Ariely, 2012).

Therefore, there is a requirement of research work in this area for the clear and better understanding of the relationship between Creativity and intelligence. Thus, the following objectives were postulated.

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to critically analyze the pedagogical perspectives on play and creativity, by exploring the role of the adult in these areas. Initially, I will explore my own pedagogy by discussing now the influences of my personal and professional experiences have impacted this, whilst taking into consideration the values, attitudes, and principles which have shaped my practice. In this essay, I intend to explore the pedagogy of play and creativity and its place within the early years setting.

Background

I am currently working in a private sector nursery in the city as a practitioner who sets out to ensure a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment where all children and parents are treated with respect and fairly and where they receive the highest possible standard of the service. The service offers a wide range of pedagogical opportunities which enable children to fully explore and experience all aspects of the settings teaching and learning mechanisms which will enable children to gain the most out of their learning from themselves and the staff. There is a wide range of stimulating experiences and outcomes including Forest Schools participation which originated from Scandinavia. We provide the children with the opportunity to create and engage in their own play through the use of natural resources and real tools through supervision and are privileged with beautiful, large, natural outdoor spaces throughout each age group.

Part 1

Pedagogy can be defined in many different ways and one way in my own understanding is that it is the interactions between adults and children in their provision of learning strategies. According to Leach and Moon (2008) and Stephen (2010), the term pedagogy can form a wide definition in many different parts of the world. The way we implement our practice is key as we must ask ourselves ‘why do we do what we do?’ By reflecting and extending on our own practice through observing and implementing experiences, we are ensuring each child is receiving the best possible care and education and is in a learning environment which will enable them to grow and develop as a unique individual to the best of their ability. It is important to not only think about the learners within themselves but it is equally important to consider the learning experiences offered to the individual and group learners by the adult.

“Educators who can move between thinking about learners and thinking about how their learning experiences are shaped have a powerful approach to pedagogy.” Anning and Edwards (2010, p10).

Taking into consideration my pedagogical thoughts and ideas (Appendix 1, p…..) my definition of pedagogy is The way we shape our interactions with children and support their learning and development through the learning mechanisms offered. It is about ensuring the child is at the center and reflecting upon what we do and why we do it.

It is believed that pedagogy should have an emphasis on interactions and relationships, however, this isn’t always the case as these actions, described by Stephen (2012, p227-228) can be seen as a ‘tacit understanding’. I have, in my own practice been aware of my connections made with children and families and can consider how these will positively impact them. Part of recent legislation (Scottish Government, 2014, p31) states relationships are highly significant in child development.

Taking pedagogy into consideration has enabled me to think more about my practice and consider how to conduct myself in my profession and provide an attitude and display actions that can enable me to act appropriately to the individual needs of the children and assess and monitor my practice. I am able to focus more on my work ethic with the children and within the setting to provide positive outcomes for all (Girfec). In relation to pedagogy, I am continuously aiming to ensure that positive outcomes and experiences are being met. Examples of this can include; adult-interactions which involve shared thinking and open-ended questioning to extend the children’s thinking; having a curriculum knowledge and understanding of child development; to provide formative and effective feedback to children during activities and experiences. I also feel that it is key to giving children their voice and for us adults to listen. It is important to provide teacher-initiated group times and enlightening and useful play activities. As a practitioner, I ensure a warm and interactive relationship is being formed and provided the most efficient practice towards the children which is key. Looking into pedagogy has provided me with a broader reflection and understanding of the real meaning of the term and put it into practice.

Part 2

Play contributes greatly to children’s learning and well-being in their everyday lives (Wood and Attfield, 2005, cited in Wood, 2007, p.309). Play supports children’s developmental stages cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally (Goldstein, (2012, p.27)). He has also highlighted the negative effects due to lack or a reduced amount of play time given to children due to resources and lack of play opportunities. Play contributes a great deal to a child’s life on an everyday basis enabling them to frown and develop into a unique individual.

Play can be seen as a natural experience for children, however, this can be argued to be more of a social experience led by various interactions with adults either within the setting or in the home environment according to Wood, (2013, p.98). However, despite this dispute, Bruce (2011, p.93) observes and supports children in ensuring they reach the highest level of achievement to their ability.

Children are able to adapt their play as and when they feel they are ready and whether this is with the aid of an adult or not they should have the opportunity offered to gain such evident experiences and skills to help them through the learning life. It is important to stop and try and think about how a child may be processing their instructions and actions through their cognitive ability which can result in why they are performing the way and what they are within their play environment.

Vygotsky who was known for his scaffolding theory believed that children’s knowledge can be built upon and developed as he obtained a ‘socio-dramatic’ play as a crucial learning cycle (cited in Hedges, 2010, p.28 in Brooker and Edwards, 2010). Scaffolding within a play provides children with outcomes where interactions between children and adults are able to build connections with each other. Therefore, it is believed that the pedagogy of play is built up through the co-construction between adult and child (Rogers, 2011, p.39).

It has been said that play inspires creativity and imagination. Creativity has been described as a ‘process where ideas can be originally developed’ (Robinson, 2011, p.3). Additionally, creativity has been viewed as the shaping of existing knowledge to form new knowledge (Craft, 2002, p.33; Beetlestone, 1998, p.3 and Duffy, 2009, p.19). It is also considered that creativity enables emotions and feelings to be expressed freely. Play can be seen as most effective when it is child-led and child-initiated in their own experiences (Sian-Blatchford, Sylva, Muttok, Gilden, and Bell, 2002, p.12). In consideration of this, wood, (2013, p.141) believes that both interactions between children and adults are paramount. Adult interactions should be responsive to the children’s ideas and interests and the adults’ involvement should be advocated by the child. This can be evident along with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development as it is clear that the interactions and involvement that an adult may have can take the child from requiring support to making achievements independently (Johnston and Nahmad-Williams, 2009, p.277).

Creativity is a fundamental attribute to enable adaptation and response in a fast-changing world (Barron, 1989; Guber, 1989; Henry and Walker, 1991). Creativity has become a growing area of interest within education and the wider society. Promoting and ensuring the development of creativity in education is in the foreground in the U.K with the influential ‘all our futures’ report from the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE, 1999). Craft, (2000, p.38) describes creativity as “all our intelligence working together” ensuring outcomes that are current and relevant are being provided. At the foundation of the creative process is the child’s determination to express themselves and their support network to act as an active thinkers. Lucas, (2001), influenced by Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983), believes that creativity involves all of our intelligence and profound knowledge working collaboratively together. Education Scotland (no date) also closely considers creativity as a way of thinking where we look at things that are familiar to ourselves closely and with an original and current perspective, study problems with an open mind, and use our ideas to search for new possibilities. Making connections is seen as central to learning and is part of many definitions of creativity (Lucas, 2001; NACCCE, 1999; Duffy, 1998; Beetlestone, 1998). This can be linked to Crafts ‘big c’ and ‘little c’.

Creativity has been divided into two forms ‘big c’ and ‘little c’ creativity. Craft, (2002, p.52) defines ‘big c’ as fresh modernism which have a great impact upon wider society, whereas, she defines ‘little c’ as everyday experiences being useful and relevant (craft, 2002, p.55). In relation to this, Beetlestone’s three-tier theory and Compton’s Continuum of creativity link in alongside the division of creativity. According to Beetlestone (1998), the three tires of creativity represent a continuance from being able to self–express to making new things, forming connections, and being able to problem solve (Johnston and Nahamd-Williams, p38-40). It is essential that children are able to gain these skills along with exploring their abilities and environment in order to flourish. The role of the adult should be to encourage the child to feel a sense of curiosity, and self-expression and promote independence for the child.

Cremin and Barnes (2010) believe there are six features of a creative pedagogical viewpoint. Alongside this, Robinson (2010) identifies three relevant tasks to take into consideration when teaching for creativity; encouraging, identifying creative strengths, and fostering which are highlighted in Cremin and Barnes (2010) features also. Cremin and Barnes (2010) focus on these six features; a learner-centered attitude; the use of questioning including open-ended questions; producing space, allowing time and freedom along with forming relationships; the take on of new and fresh teaching approaches; promoting engagement and modeling risks whilst enabling children to create their own risks (Robinson, 2011). As well as all of this, it is highlighted that there is a belief in ‘building on children’s self-esteem by Cremin and Barnes (2010) according to Robinson (2011). By ensuring this, a relaxed and trusting atmosphere within the environment must be present in order for the learner to develop further when they are at the center of their learning. As trusting and supportive relationships may be evident, there is information that creativity can be linked with collaborative and effective working opportunities (Dillan, Craft, Best, Rigby and SIMMs, 2007; Wood and Ashfield, 2008). It is also important to ask open-ended questions where there is an opportunity to problem solve and create possible thinking for children according to Robinson (2010). Asking questions, testing ideas, problem-solving, making connections, and using imagination and creativity (Duffy. 1998; Robinson, 2011) can ‘encourage deeper understanding and lateral thinking’ according to Cremin et al. (2006). It is essential for a learner to be nurtured in order for the individual to succeed and fulfill their abilities.

Part 3

Reflecting upon my pedagogical approach through play (Appendix 2), it is clear that children create their own play at times and adult interaction can be limited. However, Staff offer play experiences based on each child’s needs and interests which are vital to the child’s learning journey. As a staff, it is crucial that I support the children which can be seen as part of Vygotsky’s scaffolding theory. Children should not be left to create their own play all the time as they can learn equally under adult supervision as Fleer, (2015, p.1801) agreed. In relation to this, I have considered in great length my role working with children, taking this into consideration, my role and interactions can be seen in (Appendix 3). Due to efficient and well-structured practices and strict guidelines, it is apparent that I am unable to always interact responsively and effectively with the children at times due to such a high demand for policies and procedures to follow. However, this is something that, after studying in great length pedagogy I am open and very keen to change and also encourage and prompt colleagues to participate in the same work ethic.

Within my setting, we understand play to be a schooling cycle where our interactions are significant and of great relevance. Recent legislation (Scottish Government, 2014, p.9) states that there are many interactions towards experiences that are offered and that are supported in children’s learning process (Scottish Government, 2014, p.51). Between staff within my setting, it was discussed that we value play to a great extent and it is central to a child’s learning, but alongside this, it is equally important to have the role of an adult model such experiences and life attributes. We provide learning through play and Wood, (2013, p.101) states that practitioners should be able to offer many valuable experiences in play through the use of pedagogical approaches.

Part 4

In establishing and expanding on my professional and experienced practice it has been recognized that children’s play can be interrupted or sculpted unnecessarily, however, we must remember that although adult interaction is elementary, it is important to know when adult interaction is required. It has been agreed as a team that this is an area which is needing more time and work out into it, which may be the case of more self-reflection as a whole team. We will interact as equally as much as we stand back and observe. We must remember that children’s play and creativity can be formed through Vygotsky’s scaffolding which promotes support. As a setting, we think it is vital to listen to the children and aim to ensure that the experiences and activities we offer support the needs and interests of the children. Within the setting, we have taken pride in what we offer and an example of what we offer is Forest Schools which originated in Scandinavia. This has been a great success as it caters to all children of all age ranges in many different aspects.

Through the reflection process, as a staff team, we must question our practice more and ask ourselves why? what? and how? It is important that as a service, we look to promote the thinking of how we can maintain a pedagogical approach to support and work alongside play and creativity. For this to be successful we will focus more on our own values and principles, both as a team and as individuals. There must be more effective and relevant adult interaction. In reflection of myself as a practitioner, I am aware more since focusing on pedagogical perspectives, involving play and creativity, I must observe more and be prepared to interact and offer children the experiences they deserve. Adult interaction is present within my setting, however, there could always be more or less at times given each situation. A lot of adult interaction can be seen as common according to Samuelson and Carlson, (2008, p.623) who propose this is the case where most children’s learning vines from adult-controlled activities.

Conclusion

To conclude my findings, I have arrived at the conclusion of play and creativity are fundamentally linked with one another in the progression of children’s learning. From the perspective of one’s own pedagogy, it is crucial that as practitioners within a setting to think about our individual values and principles, not only within pedagogy but within our practice in reacting to children’s learning and development. It is evident that it is our values and principles which is at the center of why we do what we do. By taking all of the above into consideration whilst we push forward with our pedagogical outlook, it is important we look and focus on the adult interaction displayed as it is those which children’s learning and wellbeing are influenced.

Whilst looking in detail into the readings neighboring the pedagogy of play and creativity, my findings have been significant in evidencing that adult interactions play a large part in children’s learning, however, it is equally important to enable children to take control and shape their own relationships and interactions. We must carefully consider the pedagogical impacts more and offer more of a shared focus a d understanding in order to shale our pedagogy and develop play and creativity within our settings. How much adult interaction should be provided? Can too much adult interaction be effective or too little adult interaction be seen as being unresponsive to children’s needs?

Referencing

1. Beetlestone, F, (1998) Creative Children, Imaginative Teaching, Buckingham: McGraw-Hill Education.

No one refutes the enormous advantages of education to humans, and for thousands of years, schools have been considered the most powerful representative of education. Parents always have a desire to send their children to prestigious schools with the belief that kids will benefit the most from the educational programs offered at schools. However, it remains controversial whether schooling systems all over the world are really the best place to educate our modern offspring. It seems to have an obvious answer to it, but many educators now regret saying no. I believe that schools have more disadvantages than we traditionally think, which are creativity limits, potential deterioration, and natural learning restrictions. This essay will focus on those limitations and point out clearly the reasons behind them as well as make some specific recommendations on overcoming those existing drawbacks.

First of all, schools fail to foster students’ creativity. Creativity here is defined as an essential cognitive process by which ideas are generated, developed, and transformed. Creativity is well developed through the way children make a diversity of questions to draw newly profitable conclusions, nevertheless, in the majority of contemporary schooling systems, teachers impose their knowledge on their students, which eventually makes kids neglect to ask why. Most Vietnamese teachers, for instance, only train youngsters to solve equations with repeated formulas or write an essay with a detailed given outline but do not let them come up with anything original. Thus, all that children can do is become a copycat since they are forced to obey the rules as well as the formats of provided paradigms, and any novel idea made by children on their own that do not meet the mold is highly rejected. This passive teaching deprives students of their curiosity and the ability to “discover new information about a problem and to create a new and unexpected solution” (Gopnik, 2011). In other words, current methods of teaching at schools are likely to make children become learners lacking their own initiative, hence not only do they not advance their creativity, but they show less interest in researching and extending their grasp of school subjects as well.

In the famous Ted-talk, “Do schools kill creativity”, Robinson (2007) claimed that “schools kill creativity”, arguing that “we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather we get educated out of it”. Like other recent studies, Robinson’s statement proves that children’s creative ability is hindered by schools. According to Runco, Acar & Cayidgag (2017), there was a discrepancy between creativity displayed in and outside of the school. Significantly more creativity was reported in the activities occurring outside compared to in school. A number of students surveyed say that they can obtain practically handy knowledge and trigger their imaginativeness thanks to outside experience rather than sole rigid lectures in class.

Secondly, the public instruction system is gradually oppressing children’s endowments. The hierarchy of subjects which mostly prioritizes Maths, Science over Art or Music orients children to invest their efforts in the seem-to-be-crucially-important subjects and weakens their true potential. Case in point: there are students who have talents in Arts, but they do not have favorable conditions to further develop their skills as what they are good at is often ignored or even stigmatized at schools. Instead, children must mindlessly follow career paths laid out in advance for them by adults.

In addition, public education places a lot of emphasis on testing which requires lots of memorization. Not only do these grading systems evaluate students’ limited understanding of their wide ranges of knowledge outside schools, but they also cause intelligence loss (Peter, 2015). These examinations only assess students based on their academic abilities rather than other kinds of intelligence. Without successful test achievements, the school system deems kids a failure. Consequently, many highly-talented, brilliant people who perform poorly on academic tests often fail to recognize who they really are and what true abilities they can accomplish. For example, Gillian Lynne, a choreographer, was thought to have a learning disorder when she was at school as she could hardly concentrate. It turned out that she had an aptitude for dancing and the normal schooling system was not suitable for her. In short, our curriculum, as well as an assessment system, continuously contribute to the negative traditional stereotype that not-left-brains cannot succeed.

Furthermore, even grading systems are currently marked as faulty sometimes because of increasing grade inflation happening at various schools throughout the world. In the article “Grade Inflation Gone Wild” by Stuart Rojstaczer, he states “Today grades continue to go up regardless of the quality of the education and “A” is average at many schools.” Grades thus can no longer reflect exactly and effectively students’ capabilities as A now is much easier to achieve. What is worse, the inflated grades have had negative influences on students and led to potential deterioration, which includes students tending to give minimal effort in class and spend much less time studying as they assume that only with little effort can they easily get an A in their exams. This may result in a generation of students with bad habits of learning and poorly-educated background.

Moving on to the next point, school is separating children from the real world, which narrows their ability to natural learning. Children are compelled to be in school for at least 4 to 10 hours a day, so they just have only 3 to 6 hours out of school. But that is not all, moreover, the schoolwork does not end there; they have to waste half of their imagined-free time finishing homework and other extra tasks. A simple calculation reveals that children have only 2 to 4 hours available for self-discovery. However, compelling research indicates that natural learning without top-down instruction and coercion helps children absorb knowledge much better. Buchsbaum et al. (2011) wrote that it was self-directed learning, not forced instruction, that elevated both learning outcomes and creativity.

Before exploring why creativity should be fostered within early years, it is important to first define what creativity is. Then, it will be possible to state how the Northern Ireland curriculum attempts to implement creativity within the early years to help children develop and grow. Thirdly, I aim to acknowledge the benefits of fostering creativity and how and why it is essential in helping a child to develop and learn life skills. My final task will be to highlight any potential negative outcomes that occur when creativity in the early years setting is not fostered or implemented effectively.

Initially, it is crucial to define what creativity is within the early years. Bruce (2004) says that ‘creativity bring new ideas into existence; it brings about original ways of doing things and new creations of all kinds.’ Similarly, creativity is defined by Wegerif (2003) ‘as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas and come up with different possibilities or alternatives when solving problems.’ For someone to be creative, they need to be able to view things in new ways or from another person’s perspective (Jeffrey and Craft, 2003). Creativity is the act of trying new things and bringing imaginative ideas into reality. Jeffrey (2001) reiterates this and claims that ‘it is seen as the ability to perceive the world in new ways’ by experimenting, questioning situations, making assumptions and using your imagination and synthesizing information. Francis – Gardner (1998) defines creativity as ‘the ability to make what you picture exist’ and says that to be creative one requires skills including passion and commitment. Csikszentmihalyi (1934), meanwhile, sums up creativity ‘as a central source of meaning in our life’. He believes that ‘most of the things that are interesting, important and human are the results of creativity and when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than the rest of life.’ As we can see, it is clear that many scholars are agreed on the definition of creativity – it can transform a child’s imagination and ideas and turn those ideas into a reality. When children are given well-structured creative learning experiences, they make connections which impact their holistic development.

Scholars have produced a plethora of definitions regarding creativity within the early years. Many believe that creativity has been undervalued as a skill throughout the curriculum for a long period of time (Pollard and Triggs, 2000). Indeed, historically many early year settings and schools have focused on more academic subjects due to a feeling that these would be more important for a child’s development and would make a bigger impact throughout the child’s life. In recent years, creative learning experiences have become more embedded in the curriculum and are now granted official recognition as one of the main areas that a child should explore and engage in (Craft, 2000). As such, practitioners have a duty to provide these creative experiences within early years settings.

Within the early years curriculum, creativity is relevant in all aspects and areas of learning, from art and design to ICT to the roleplay station. The Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) has set out a clear requirement that within all settings creative practice should be taught in each individual key stage so practitioners have a duty to ensure its’ provision. Within the early years curriculum, the aim is to help children reach their full potential while also helping them make responsible decisions and choices for life. The curriculum promotes this development being nurtured through creative provision. In addition, the Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) has identified a number of linked skills across the curriculum such as ‘communication, using technology, problem solving, making decisions and being creative’. Evidently, creativity has been outlined as a vital component in the early years curriculum, thus making it practitioners’ duty to ensure that effective creative learning experiences are fostered.

There are numerous benefits for children when creativity has been fostered and creative practice implemented effectively within the early years setting. Many researchers have found that children within the early years are creative and intrigued by nature, meaning that they can easily learn about the world around them by carrying out creative activities (Jeffrey, 2001, Beetlestone, 1998). In addition, Duffy (1998) acknowledges that often children can find it difficult expressing how they feel as they may experience new feelings and may not completely understand what these mean. By allowing a child to express how they are feeling through creative activities, a practitioner can help the child when discussing the meaning of each (potentially new) feeling they are experiencing. Encouraging creativity gives children experience in how to effectively cope with their feelings when a situation occurs. This will help each child’s confidence and self-belief to grow as it allows the child to see that they will be able to endure and thrive even when experiencing several new emotions (Duffy, 1998). Examples of creative activities that can help the child with their emotions include dressing up, painting and role-play. Fostering creativity in early years is essential for empowering children with a means to express their feelings.

Creativity is also effective in encouraging physical development in children. For example, dancing and physical education activities such as obstacle courses help children with their gross motor skills including balance and awareness. Creative activities like carrying out craft within a setting helps children’s fine motor skills and their hand and eye co-ordination. Hand and finger strength helps children carry out everyday tasks such as dressing themselves, writing, using scissors, brushing their teeth and many other essential activities that need to be carried out day to day. This creative practice is particularly vital when teaching in SEN schools as children’s fine motor skills are often underdeveloped. While a child is painting or colouring, it allows the child to learn how to hold, grip and control the paintbrush or pencil as well as define which hand they prefer using to carry out these activities.

Additionally, research has shown that creativity plays a major part in both the child’s intellectual and cognitive development. Carrying out creative activities helps develop the child’s thinking skills. Loris Malaguzzi of Reggio Emilia (1920) wrote, ‘Young children are active learners who gain new skills and insights best through hands-on experience’. As such, offering children a choice of activities and materials strengthens their decision-making ability and encourages child-led learning. The skills that they will gain from creative practice include problem solving, an increased independence, critical thinking and developing the child’s imagination (Craft, 2002). Albert Einstein (1879) famously said that the use of the ‘imagination is more important than knowledge.’ By their essence, child-led creative activities allow a child to explore and discover new concepts, develop their own ideas and expand their understanding of the world.

Creative activities are also effective in fostering the development of science and mathematical skills. If the child continues to practice and learn through open-ended, child-led exploratory activities, it will help them as they grow older to transfer these skills into other areas of life. Thus, creativity should be fostered in the early years setting and practitioners have a duty to implement creative provision to enhance children’s holistic development.

In addition, effective creative practice encourages social development as children build friendships and strengthen bonds with their peers and adults close to them. This could be fostered through activities such as sports. Duffy (1998) explains that practitioners are vital in modelling the creative process and demonstrating how to be creative and take risks. Jeffrey and Wood (2003) state that it is vital that children at a young age learn that all people are different and they can all carry out activities differently, even when using the same materials and resources, for example in art. This demonstrates to the child that it is perfectly acceptable to be different from others and to use individual ways of thinking.

Although there are myriad advantages of fostering creativity in schools, some would argue that there are also disadvantages to it. Often, during creative activities, adults can limit learning. Plume (1993) claims that simple acts such as telling a child exactly how to do something or being overly controlling can limit a child’s creativity and make them feel like they cannot explore. Furthermore, Skinner (2007) states that ‘the practitioner should ensure they have and use the correct attitude, training and reflection when fostering creativity.’ This suggests that fostering creativity within early years can be difficult and a child may feel discouraged if they are not properly given the space to be creative – or if a practitioner does not implement creativity effectively. Crucially, many practitioners may not be trained in implementing learning creatively.

Although most educators within early years claim to value creativity, they do not always make time for it within the children’s schedule. Settings fear that promoting creative activities in the classroom may be disruptive to academic teaching. For example, some have stated that creativity can be difficult for adults to encourage as it does not follow basic academic rules and many even feel like it is a waste of time (Craft, 2000, Duffy, 1998). Therefore, some settings will not promote creative attributes such as independence or risk taking. This means the children’s growth and development may be inhibited as the setting is not fostering and implementing creativity effectively.

Pablo Picasso (1881) stated, ‘that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe passionately that we do not grow into creativity, we grow out of it. We are educated out of it.’ This indicates that practitioners have a crucial role in fostering creativity and providing learning experiences which in turn aid holistic development. They must ensure that time is made for creativity, that creative learning is child-led rather than solely adult-led and that training is provided to ensure that educators are aware of what effective creative practice looks like.

The necessity of creativity being implemented and fostered within early years in order to enhance a child’s holistic development has repeatedly been highlighted. We have seen that creativity can be an essential part of learning when implemented correctly within early years. Interestingly, however, Westby and Dawson’s study (2010) found that teachers and staff on the ground typically favoured more academic children over those who were more creative. If this is indeed the case, then there is a real danger that creative activities may be neglected, with children potentially missing out on learning essential skills and the many other benefits of creativity.

This paper aims to explore the importance of leadership in the current innovative world, where many businesses are venturing into innovating new ways of doing business to grow. Creativity in any company does not occur by accident; leaders must drive the changes in structure, culture, and process to achieve growth. Therefore, creativity and innovation are what drives business success in any sector; leaders must collectively implement strategies that encourage change. They are vital to the entrepreneurship that makes new businesses get started and that sustain a present trade; they’re catalysts that drive organizational growth. Therefore, leaders must ensure companies achieve constant innovation through establishing a favorable environment to renovate and shape the managerial culture that inspires creativity and innovation. Additionally, leaders must encourage and manage diversity in the company and cultivates an effective leadership structure that sustains the innovation process. Leaders must apply leadership theory that is favorable to the organization.

How Leaders Encourage Creativity and Innovation

Innovation is not dependent on the participation of high-status executive positions but on all workers who know their customers and the exact needs. In this way, they will analyze their competitors, assess the industry, products, and evolving role of technology. Therefore leaders should see, plant, nurture, and share opportunities with employees. According to Yoshida et al. (2014), servant leaderships affect both employee creativity and group innovation. Also, servant leadership encourages employee rational, empathy, and collective participation, which results in fostering individual creativeness and team innovation. Additionally, leaders should create a conducive climate for change; the mediated result of leader empathy is most reliable when the team environment for innovation is high. Leaders can do this by ensuring friendly and inclusive conditions for the members.

Leaders should effectively encourage organisational creativity and innovation through scheming businesses to adopt an environment that is conducive to flourish. They should identify what the organisations take for granted Hughes et al., (2018) and improve on it. Chen and Hou’s (2016) study shows that the voice behavior of followers serves as a way of reflecting on how ethical leadership affects individual creativity. Therefore, to inspire creativity and innovation, leaders must ensure there is a significant relationship between employee’s awareness and staff voice behavior, the voice behavior should positively link to individual creativity. Also, the leader should ensure the secondary effect of ethical leadership on their creativity through voice behavior. Through these, leaders will provide creativity and innovation.

Chen et al. (2016), studies show that organisations with friendlier workplace achieve more innovative success, mostly where innovation is challenging to achieve. Leaders should ensure that employee has a welcoming workplace that helps them develop lenience to failure, which consequently encourages engagement in innovation. Additionally, organisational reassurance, time pressure, resource allocation, staff freedom, and teamwork have an impact on the creative workplace; enhance the creativity of the staff and performance of the business achieved. Leadership has to consider these factors to foster creativity in employees.

The Importance of Leaders in the Innovation Process

Innovative leaders are original visionaries who have vast ideas, and they can inspire people around them to turn those ideas into reality. Koen et al. (2014 analysis revealed that for a business to achieve front-end performance, specific leadership attributes must in place, which include senior management commitment, vision strategies, capitals, and culture. According to Khalili (2016), organisations should capitalize on transformational leadership training and selection of leaders with this leadership ability if they aim at adopting and improving employee creativity and innovation. Besides, the company should invest in climate improvements to ensure a vibrant platform for being creative and innovative in the workplace.

Therefore, organization structure, technology, and other management tools bring effectiveness and competitive advantage to the business. However, these alone cannot fetch the competitive edge, leaders must stare at the change; they are the most significant source of competitive advantage. Özarallı (2015) stated that current businesses are facing challenges in creating a corporate ethos that improves creativity and innovation in employees. Thus, leaders must influence it, though organisations must empower leaders for them to affect the same to employee creativity. Leaders must inspire their followers.

Consequently, leaders empowering behavior have a strong influence on seeming creativity when staff feels empowered than when such a mental state of mind is low. According to Slåtten and Mehmetoglu (2015), transformational leadership and worker creativity behavior expressively affect business innovation or growth. Thus, workers will willingly place the company or group interest before their interests; hence the business will achieve change.

Organisation culture is a crucial determinant for business innovation, and it can foster it, although it can still act as a wall against change. Naranjo-Valencia et al. (2016) show that company culture can inspire or confine innovation, hence affects company performance. The study on Spanish industrial companies shows that organisational culture is the best innovation and performance, interpreter. Therefore, the organization culture, as leaders install it, is a link between leadership and innovation. According to Serrat (2017), creativity is the most significant human input of all, without which there would be no growth, and companies would be reiterating the same patterns. That is to imply that creativity is key to business survival, and leaders should be keen on it. The main aim of a company’s existence is to satisfy the need of its customers and the target market while building innovation capabilities desired for a robust set of abilities and gear activities toward serving the market needs and organisation objectives, Racela, (2014).

Current leadership issues in the changing world

No matter how hard a business strives to create unwavering health organization, companies have and will always experience stagy changes beyond its control. As a result, leadership is facing the same challenges or issues since they are the same people driving the organisation growth, Eberhardt and Majkovic (2016). Therefore, leaders are fighting to develop and relevant skills that will ensure effectiveness, tactical thinking, and decision making, among others. They need to address the issue of motivating and inspiring followers to ensure they are satisfied with the jobs and that they can deliver through creativity and innovation. Accordingly, leaders are unable to instill pride and offer support, especially where they are leading a big team. Abalkhail (2017) stated that women leaders, in most cases, were banned from attaining equitable representation in the leadership positions, which makes it difficult for them to manage stakeholders, hence affecting creativity and innovation. Moreover, this brings a challenge in mobilising, and change, difficult for leaders to overcome the issues on resistance to change.

Critical analysis skills for leadership

The leader must know that by taking direction critical thinking process, they are taking action to decision making and process solving approaches. They put companies in a sturdier position that leads to success in the business world. According to Collins (2014), leaders must apply wise judgmental that enable them to make to make a sound decision. Additionally, Ay, et al. (2015) research stated that self-leadership and critical thinking were the essential factors presented to the students to be useful in future organisations quality decision making. It means that there is a positive relationship between self-leadership dimensions and critical thinking. Leaders should exercise critical thinking skills when making decisions and influence employees, which will make them have creative skills that will drive innovations. Innovation begins with people through making the human capital within the staff. Van Laar et al. (2017) research shows that 21st-century digital skills are driving organisations’ effectiveness and innovation capacity. Leadership should strive towards developing human capital that will ensure a competitive advantage in the market or industry. Thus, leaders should apply these core skills; technical, problem-solving, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, among others, to ensure good leadership, Liaw, et al. (2014). The same skills should be shared with the followers since innovation must apply in the entire team.

Appropriate leadership theoretical concepts for creativity and innovation

According to İşcan et al. (2014) study, James Macgregor Burns identified two types of transformational leadership theories that are still applicable to date. They include transitional where the leader influences others by what they offer in exchange, and the transformational model, which show how leaders interact with followers to raise their level of motivation and molarity. Among the theories, the transformational concept seems to merge well with creativity and innovation. Kao et al. (2015). The study accepts a dual outlook approach that considers both motivation and social-political method to provoke further the effect of transformational leadership (TFL) on the service innovation behavior of frontline employees. The concept influences the employee to have creative self-efficacy and expected image gains. Bai and Li, (2016) study support transformational leadership too, and the emphasis that employee creativity is key to organisation growth and, more so on, team dynamics. However, the research shows that there is team skirmish and knowledge sharing involved but still support this concept. Therefore, through learning alignment, transformational leadership (TFL) and employee creativity seem to have a positive relationship. Jyoti, and Dev (2015), the study carried on by Airtel and Aircel call centers of J and K (India), show that leaders promote employees’ creativity, finds it viable to train and test high caliber candidates who have the potential of becoming transformational leaders. Thus, this leadership concept yields positive results in the form of employee creativity, which can generate a competitive advantage for the organisation.

Encourage and enable collaboration.

As discussed earlier, transformational leadership involves learning and knowledge sharing, which is a fundamental concept to encourage and enable collaboration amongst team members. According to Piscicelli et al. (2015), collaboration is a socio-economic model based on sharing, swapping, and borrowing, among others, that allows the use of network technology to attract idle assets and promote re-use of possessions that are no longer wanted. Through collaboration, sharing, and communicating with others, offer employees an enriched opportunity for learning. Leaders should encourage and enable collaboration to drive the innovation that the company aims to achieve; since followers can learn from each other as well from the leaders, Hsu et al. (2014). Since collaboration is about sharing, leaders and their followers will as well share their problems that affect their development or organisation challenges and come up with a solution. It becomes a team problem, hence solving it through brainstorming encourages participation; therefore, followers will feel being part of solution-solver, thus motivates them, Tausczik et al. (2014, February), the study of Math Overflow. Through collaboration, leaders are informed of followers’ reactions and can take the corrective measure to address the issue in advance before it escalates, according to Panagiotopoulos et al. (2014) study.

Additionally, leaders should encourage Intra team trust and performance because, according to De Jong et al., (2016), they contribute to team performance. The research shows that the trust performance relationship is depending on the level of the task performed, skills differentiation in the team, among others. Leaders must show trust to the followers to encourage team trust among members.

Therefore, leadership in any business is a vital aspect of organisational creativity and innovation.

Companies must ensure they have an excellent team of leaders to implement the changes, to guide the employee and give guidance in terms of decision making. Additionally, a company should have creative leaders to manage the innovation process. Leaders should design an organisational culture and climate that is favorable and allows creativity development. Also, the way leaders manage diversity and ensure employee satisfaction will determine if the employee will be resistant to the changes or not. They should provide friendliness to the staff and motivation while watching on time contains or duration for the difference. Innovation should be implemented in phases to ensure its effectiveness. Leaders should know that they are the catalyst to the creativity and innovation changes, and thus, they should drive the change through thinking critically and making the right decisions. Finally, leaders should know that motivated employees strive to work to better develop themselves and for company growth. According to the transformational leadership concept, as illustrated above, leaders who want to drive creativity and innovation should apply the same in their business to achieve their goals. They should allow knowledge sharing between leaders and followers and among teams.

The articles examine concerned of management of creative journalistic work in a media organization. It is draws on the literature and research about creativity management, the author emphasizes that there is scarcity of in-depth research evidence on process of creativity management. The article is based with empirical research with a case study that investigate and explores the experience of set up an international media corporation. Developing new personal competencies and skills are vitals factors given that many journalist felt that developing personal skills and open to change in media work is increasingly important. Creating new things, practices and processes has also inspired and motivated journalist, not just about individual improvement on professional skills, but also make improvement to overall organization’s practices and processes. Collaboration is the ideal and production as it gave the opportunity of mutual learning and support among colleagues. The main limitation of the article is that there is lack of information in the participants that participate in the research that write weekly diary for the data. It will be more useful if more data is disclosed to meet the study of a specific criteria needed for assignments.

The articles compare two different managerial styles of two BBC directors-general, John Birt and Greg D. The author view that there’s a debate underlines between creatives and managers. Birt and Dyke pursue a different approach on their creativity management strategies. Birt pursue a quasi-market oriented strategies, whereas Dyke’s ‘neo-managerial. It says creativity have been argued to be diversely defined and form with different managerial styles over time. Moreover, it has come to a contention that business involved in cultural production do not have a criteria or guidelines for the requirements of owners and shareholders. The analysis of this article has found that the role of creativity in BBC managerial styles have been implemented wit Dyke’s culture change and his belief in leadership result in shaping ‘creative ecology’. The article leave the conclusion with the question of whether Dyke had developed a reproducible model for change. The limitation of this article is that there is only comparison between the internal of leading company in the media industry-BBC, where if there are more comparison to the managerial style of the second or third company in this industry will result in a better conclusion. The article will only be useful if the assignment main focus is on the media industry, because managerial style of creativity may differ in different industry.

The article studies the six key paradoxes of managing organizational creativity in three of the successful creative organizations that embrace these paradoxes. An inductive research design was used to explore how these organizations embrace these paradoxes and sustain their creativity in the organizations. The six paradoxes in managing organizational creativity is listed as firstly, support employees’ passions, but achieve financial goals. Secondly, challenge employees, but build their confidence. Third, encourage personal initiative, but maintain a shared vision. Fourth, encourage diversity, but build cohesive work teams. Fifth, learn from the past, but seek new areas of knowledge. Lastly, take incremental risk, but break new grounds. The author view that to understand these paradoxes is easy but to manage them is hard. It is view as a conflict and organizations need to deal with manage these conflicts accordingly. The article concludes that the current ways of managing creativity tends to ignore valuable knowledge about embracing these paradoxes, it is important for organizations to addressed it within the working environment to enhance creativity. The article is well present in clearly stating out point to manage creativity, and it is useful to examine the paradoxes stated in this article for future research.

The article examines the determination of organization creativity. It views as organizations are starting to become more creative and capitalize on the benefits of creativity. Organizations are sensing the importance on development of conditions that encourage creativity in the work environment as a long-term progression rather than just short term fix to existing problem. The competence of an organization need to be start at the level of individual creativity and it often ignore the component of creativity occurs at the organizational level. The article focus on the identification of the factors that influence organizational creativity, there are five key factors which are organizational climate, leadership style, organizational culture, resources and skills and the structure and systems of an organization. The author concludes that these factor is arguably condition that enhance creativity at individual and team level. This article provides a useful factor for an analysis for creativity management in organization.

The article examines an advanced understanding of managing creativity by identifying and analyzing 400 academic articles and 40 books published over a 25-year period, from 1990 to 2014. It present creativity definitions includes in different dimensions and brought together the conceptual categories in a theoretical framework. The study first defined the terms creativity as a process and it associated with four core processes namely, synthesis, engagement, interaction and creation. Secondly, it links different streams of research in management of creativity and highlighted multi-dimensional nature of the creativity concept and its influences. Lastly, it examines vital linkage of main categories and across levels, suggesting main directions for creativity management for future research. It concludes that the articles have few key activities to be manage in organization for creativity. Such as ensuring not only individual engagement, but also collective interaction; by articulating important dualities it emphasis managerial attention on balancing acts that need to be achieved for creative process and outcome to be successful. Moreover, managers should also understand the implications of beyond novelty for realizing change in the organization. The limitations for this article is based on selected journal with the key terms of creativity. It will be helpful for research purposes that mainly focus on creativity management only.

The article examines the external inputs for organizational creativity. The author view that to link different thought worlds and cross-organizational barriers, managers are encouraged to start and motivate boundary spanning processes. It this article, it finds how boundary spanners manage creativity projects across organizational boundaries. The methodology used to research for this essay is through a comparative case study of managerial practices for managing creativity projects and data were collected through interviews and secondary materials. There are three meta-practices for managers to manage boundary-spanning creative projects, namely defining the creative space, making space for creativity and acting in the creative space. It points out a process-oriented perspective that raises some doubts about some of the prescriptions for creativity management. In which it fails to solve the real problem and distract attention from managers situated context. The author believes that literature on creativity management would be beneficial by discussing how managerial practices and organizational structures are consistently shaped and re-shaped in a process where each conditions the other. The articles are useful to help on examining barriers in organizations among creativity management, but there are limitations where it only focuses on boundary spanning as a management process instead of the competence of self-organization.