The effect of a teacher professional development in facilitating students creativity

Abstract

The Iranian educational system would benefit from major refinement in order to better develop the creativity of children. The extension of teachers’ understanding of creativity is one of the main factors in facilitating change. A theory and practice based professional development program was designed, therefore, to assist teachers to acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills associated with improved student creativity. In this research, the effect of creativity-oriented teaching on students’ creativity was examined using the Solomon four-group design method. The teachers and students were divided in experimental, treatment and control groups. The control group was further subdivided into two groups. Students from the experimental and one control group were pre-tested using the torrance test of creative thinking (TTCT)Teachers of the experimental group and treatment group completed a creativity training program and then used the techniques demonstrated with their students. Following the intervention, students of each of the experimental, treatment and control groups completed the TTCT a second time and the teachers completed a creativity checklist questionnaire for each student. The results indicated that teachers’ involvement in the training program had a positive effect on the creativity of their students. These results provide basic evidence that teacher professional development programs associated with the improved understanding of creativity-oriented techniques can make a positive contribution to development of Iranian students’ creativity.