Teachers’ Understanding Of Creativity In The Korean School Context

Abstract

As teachers’ understanding of creativity is considered significant in their development of students’ creativity, this study aimed to explore Korean teachers’ understanding of creativity. The research questions were 1) How do teachers conceptualize creativity? and 2) What value do teachers ascribe to creativity in education? Ten middle school teachers, required to teach more creatively than in the past, were interviewed. The findings showed gaps between the conceptualizations of creativity of national education policy and the teachers themselves, and between eastern and western cultures. In terms of the value of creativity, the findings revealed that the teachers’ perspective, which focused on individual students’ personal growth, differed from that of national education policy, which centers around economic competitiveness enhancement.