Abstract
Abstract The aim of this research was to examine the role of creativity in the context of graduate studies from the perspective of students and professors. Semi-structured interviews were held with six students and six postgraduate professors from both a private and a public university. The topics covered included relevance, conception, and characteristics of creativity, as well as educational practices that foster and inhibit creativity. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data. Both students and professors considered creativity as fundamental for the development of graduate education, but both have indicated personal and institutional barriers for the promotion of creative thinking. Partnerships, teamwork, different teaching strategies and interdisciplinarity were pointed out as factors that enhance creativity. On the other hand, the participants mentioned the evaluation of postgraduate programs, repetitive classes and bureaucracy as barriers to creativity. Future studies, involving classroom observation, case studies, and psychometric measurements, are suggested.
Highlights
The aim of this research was to examine the role of creativity in the context of graduate studies from the perspective of students and professors
While professors emphasized the importance of creativity for advancing the scientific practice, students emphasized its relevance for daily problem-solving and for the progress of society, as mentioned by Student 1: “I believe that creativity is important even beyond these environments
For Professor 4: Creativity is essential from the perspective of scientific practice, which is the main goal of graduate education
Summary
The aim of this research was to examine the role of creativity in the context of graduate studies from the perspective of students and professors. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data Both students and professors considered creativity as fundamental for the development of graduate education, but both have indicated personal and institutional barriers for the promotion of creative thinking. Avaliação de programas de pós-graduação, aulas repetitivas e burocracia foram barreiras à criatividade mencionadas pelos participantes. A creative response demands unusual associations, insights, knowledge, personal characteristics, such as independence of thought, openness to new experiences, flexibility, persistence, imagination, among others, besides a psychological and social environment in which the original idea is stimulated, valued and acknowledged (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2017; Feist, Reiter-Palmon, & Kaufman, 2017). The creative phenomenon is systemic and involves multiple personal, social, cultural and historical factors that combine in different ways (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). The author highlights the influence of society on the quantity and type of creativity that emerge in a given culture at a given moment
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