Creativity in schools

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Creativity is not a prescriptive, checklist approach. However, QCA have observed how teachers can identify creativity in pupils. When pupils are thinking and behaving creatively in the classroom, you are likely to see them:

Questioning and challenging
Making connections and seeing relationships
Envisaging what might be
Exploring ideas, keeping options open
Reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes

Creative pupils are curious; they question and challenge, and don't always follow rules. They:

ask 'why?' 'how?' 'what if?'
ask unusual questions
respond to ideas, questions, tasks or problems in a surprising way
challenge conventions and their own and others' assumptions
think independently

Creative pupils think laterally and make associations between things that are not usually connected. They:

recognise the significance of their knowledge and previous experience
use analogies and metaphors
generalise from information and experience, searching for trends and patterns
reinterpret and apply their learning in new contexts
communicate their ideas in novel or unexpected ways

Creative pupils speculate about possibilities. They:

imagine and see things in the mind's eye
see possibilities, problems and challenges
ask 'what if?'
visualise alternatives
look at and think about things differently and from different points of view

Creative pupils explore possibilities, keep their options open and learn to cope with the uncertainty that this brings. They:

play with ideas and experiment
try alternatives and fresh approaches
respond intuitively and trust their intuition
anticipate and overcome difficulties, following an idea through
keep an open mind, adapting and modifying their ideas to achieve creative results

Creative pupils are able to evaluate critically what they do. They: