Evidencing creativity in educational settings

Abstract

There is increasing interest amongst educators in transversal domains such a creativity, including not only how students can be supported to develop these skills and attributes, but how their demonstration by students can be more formally recognised. In this context, a project undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and funded by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IB) and Jacobs Foundation focused on how student creativity can be evidenced for the purpose of developing creativity-focused student transcripts for use in IB schools. In this paper, we outline the process undertaken to develop these transcripts as well as the resources necessary to theoretically underpin them and to facilitate their use. This included the development of a definition and conceptual framework for creativity, a ‘creativity thermometer’ self-assessment tool to enable students to ‘take the temperature’ of their creativity, and various other resources designed to assist IB teachers to understand how an intentional focus on creativity might lead to an environment that supports and enables creativity in classrooms. While empirical validation of this suite of resources is yet to be undertaken, the conceptual advances in this project contribute to an enhanced understanding of how support for creativity – and indeed, other transversal domains – can be actualised in schools around the world.