A Creativity Navigator to Guide Teaching for Creativity: Implementation and Teacher Impacts in a Creativity Collaborative of Schools

Abstract

While creativity has traditionally been linked to arts education, the importance of developing the ability to think creatively across the school curriculum has grown in prominence (James et al. 2019), reflected by its inclusion in OECD PISA 2022 for the first time (OECD, 2024). Creativity enables learners to thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace, with increasing AI integration, and where the ability to solve novel problems with effective solutions is emphasized by employers (WEF, 2023). We present a new Creativity Navigator framework of teaching for creativity (TfC), which integrates creative metacognition, cognitive processes, dispositional models, and creative climate research. Importantly, the framework was co-developed by teachers and researchers, enabling its implementation through a three-year Creativity Collaborative involving 16 schools, where intervention group teachers used it to plan TfC across subjects. Implementation included a multilayered approach addressing context, leadership, knowledge, agency, and pedagogies needed to embed TfC. Pre-post comparisons between intervention and non-intervention teachers revealed significantly higher scores for intervention teachers at the project endpoint in eight out of nine outcome measures, relating to TfC confidence and efficacy, creativity growth mindset, self-perceived everyday creativity, and metacognitive knowledge. Findings indicate that our approach effectively supports teachers' practice of TfC in schools.