A multilevel analysis of factors affecting kindergartners’ creative dispositions in relations to child-level variables and teacher-level variables

Kindergarteners’ creative dispositions are not only affected by their individual characteristics, but also by the organizational creative climate of their kindergartens. Using the Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM), this study examined a correlation between a 5-year-old child’s variables (e.g. child’s creativity and their perceptions of creative classroom climate), teacher’s variables (e.g. the types of kindergarten, teacher’s perceptions of organizational creative climate, and teacher’s creative dispositions) and child’s creative dispositions. The study sample included a total number of 20 kindergarten teachers who teach 5-year-old children and a total number of 195 kindergarteners selected from 10 exemplary kindergartens (i.e. kindergartens recognized by the Ministry of Education in Korea for their outstanding curriculum) and 10 average kindergartens of similar size. The findings of the study are as follows. First, the levels of children’s creative thinking and their creative dispositions both were higher in the exemplary kindergartens than those in the average kindergartens. Furthermore, in terms of the levels of teachers’ creative dispositions and their perceptions of the organizational creative climate, teachers working in the exemplary kindergartens scored higher than those in the average kindergartens. Next, despite that no direct correlations existed between kindergarteners’ creative dispositions and teachers’ creative dispositions, kindergarteners’ creative dispositions were affected by the types of the kindergartens (e.g. the outstanding curriculum of the exemplary kindergartens) and teachers’ perceptions of organizational creative climate. In conclusion, this study indicates the significance of building an organizational creative climate of kindergartens not only for the children but for the teachers to foster children’s creative dispositions.